What is the Longest You Can Keep Hamburger in the Refrigerator?

A common question asked by any ambitious chef is the shelf life of certain foods. At some point, the question "how long does hamburger meat last?" is going to come up, simply because the use of hamburger meat (or, ground beef) is nearly limitless. When it comes to preserving the integrity of your stomach, and the stomachs of others (as well as your future ground beef consumption), here's the easiest way to find out.
It may be disappointing to know, but there is not fixed rule to determine the amount of time that hamburger meat will last once defrosted. Given that, there are some things you can look for - the smell of the meat, the discoloration, and the texture can all tell you how good (or bad) the hamburger meat it.
In most instances, the meat you see at the grocery is at least a few weeks old. After slaughter it is hung, probably frozen, and then defrosted before sold as fresh (maybe a few times). You can safely ignore the sell-by date as supermarkets can always take the meat off the shelf and repackage it multiple times before you buy it. The date placed on the packaging is there for supermarket recycling purposes, not your health considerations.
Refrigeration certainly slows down the decomposition, so depending on how old the meat was at the store when you bought it, you could be looking at anything from 3 to 30 days. Just use your nose - if it smells rotten, it is. The best advice is to buy from a local butcher, and buy organic if at all possible. That way you can "know" the meat you're eating. Knowing the quality, source and approximate age of the meat you purchase will better equip you to determine whether or not the meat you are about to cook is worthy of consumption.
There are a few other things you can look for, too. If the meat is hugely discolored, that is another sign you should probably not eat it. If it smells just a little bit, you can probably still eat it if cooked at a high enough temperature and covered with enough spices - that is, if you are that hungry! In most cases, the smell of rotten hamburger meat is enough to ruin the appetite. As long as there are other options, it's always better to be safe and healthy than sorry and sick.
So, when asking "how long is hamburger meat good for?" forget a hard, day calculation - only your nose and eyes can tell you. If it smells rancid, it is. If it looks rotten, it is. If it looks fine, and there is no obvious odor, you shouldn't worry about eating it at all.

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Wesley Mouch is the pseudonym of an amateur, albeit committed, chef. If you ever questioned things like What is the Longest You Can Keep Hamburger in the Refrigerator?, his site is for you. Oh yeah, don't forget the free recipes, too!

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