How Long is Steak Good Inside a Fridge?

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We all know that steak is among the best meats to cook in a pan or on a grill, but they don’t come cheap, so the last thing you’d want is for it to expire before you can even savor the taste. It doesn’t matter whether you’re working with cooked or raw meat; it’s important to understand how long leftover steak can be left inside your fridge to ensure food safety. Here, we share the proper way of freezing steaks through the process of vacuum sealing, along with other great information that answers the question, “How long is steak good inside a fridge?”

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How Long Can I Leave Raw Steak in the Fridge?

According to the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture), raw steaks should only be left in the fridge for 3 to 5 days. This is because even if you keep your fridge running below the “Danger Zone” between 40°F to 140°F, you can’t really stop meat from spoiling. Doing this only slows the growth of bacteria, but you can keep your steaks safer by storing them inside vacuum-sealed bags or airtight containers.

By keeping your meat in proper storage, there’s less exposure to oxygen, which can help keep it safer for longer, but it should still be kept frozen within those 3 to 5 days. It’s also important to keep in mind that even though your fridge will keep your steak cold and help to prevent bacteria growth, steaks that are barely wrapped will spoil more quickly.

Keeping Steak Fresh: Best Practices

If you want your steaks to last as long as possible inside your refrigerator, it’s important to follow the best practices shared below to ensure their freshness while minimizing the risk of foodborne illness. Much like any kind of meat, raw steak needs proper storage and handling techniques to keep it safe for consumption and of high quality. Even if you think you know how to store food inside the freezer, it’s always a good idea to understand food safety when it comes to raw beef or other meat products.

Using the Right Temperatures

First of all, it’s important to remember that raw steak shouldn’t be left alone at room temperature for long periods of time. This is because bacterial growth thrives at temperatures between 40°F (4°C) and 140°F (60°C) — to prevent harmful bacteria from growing, it’s best to refrigerate fresh meat as soon as possible. One of the easiest ways to keep your meat cool is to store it inside an insulated bag; the good news is that these are relatively inexpensive.

Wrapping Your Steak Properly

Whether you’ve purchased your steak directly from your local butcher, who then wrapped your meat in butcher paper, or you bought a vacuum-sealed package, your raw steak has already been wrapped well enough to protect it from potential air exposure. Unfortunately, a cooked steak won’t have any of this, and you can’t pull your steak off the grill then wrap it up immediately. You’ll need to wait for it to cool down before it can be stored.

While you can vacuum seal your steak, it can be a hassle if you plan on eating it after a few days, so it’s not always the best solution.

How to Properly Freeze Your Steak

Freezing your steak can be a great way to help it stay fresh for extended periods without the worry of spoilage. Whether your steak is cooked or raw, be sure to wrap it up tightly since loose wrapping can lead to freezer burn. This occurs when dry and cold air comes into direct contact with the surface of the meat, producing ice crystals and ruining the texture and flavor of the beef.

If your steak has been kept inside its original packaging, it should go straight into your freezer, but if your steak came inside a container with a thin film, it can become punctured and may result in freezer burns inside the fridge. However, if you have a big enough freezer bag, it should be fine to place your package directly inside before placing it in the freezer. Using these two layers is a key component to securing proper packaging for your meat.

Alternatively, you can also break down the packaging and wrap up your steaks individually. Whether you have cooked or raw steak, you can freeze each one on its own, but you’ll want to have two layers to prevent moisture from seeping out while preventing punctures and tears as much as possible. You can use some aluminum foil over a layer of plastic wrap or whichever you prefer before putting it inside a freezer bag to be placed inside the freezer.

Moreover, if you have access to a vacuum sealer, sealing your steaks first before putting them inside your freezer bag can be one of the best solutions to preserving your steak inside the freezer.

How Long Can Cooked Steak Stay in the Fridge?

While it might be hard to believe, there will be occasions when leftover steaks just can’t be avoided. Finding out that they’ve gone bad is the last thing you’ll want, especially if they’ve been perfectly seared or beautifully grilled. As such, it’s best to eat your steak within 3-4 days, which is the proper time frame, according to the USDA guidelines.

How to Tell if a Steak’s Gone Bad

While you can try to ensure that your steaks are perfectly wrapped and freeze them straight away, sometimes time can escape from us, and all of a sudden, they’re past their expiration date. Perhaps you had a busy week, or you’ve simply forgotten about your steaks inside the freezer. But regardless of what happened, you need to be able to identify once a steak has gone bad, even if you can’t see its expiration date.

Apart from looking at the sell-by date, there are other ways to tell whether your steak has spoiled, and we’ll also share why looking at its color isn’t always the best way to tell if your steak should no longer be consumed.

The Steak Smells

This is among the easiest ways to identify whether or not your steak has spoiled. Smelling the steak works much better when it’s raw rather than cooked, so be sure to keep this in mind. Once you open the package or unwrap your steak and you’re hit with the smell of rotten eggs or ammonia, then it’s time to throw it out, regardless of how long it stayed in the fridge.

This technique can be used on other types of meat as well, including chicken and pork.

It Feels Slimy

Touching your steak can also be an easy way to tell if your steak has gone bad or is going bad; if it feels slimy, then chances are, it’s no longer safe to eat. This slimy texture is the result of bacteria reproducing on the meat’s surface. Meat that has properly retained its moisture won’t feel slimy or slippery at all.

Steak Shelf Life FAQs

Below are the most commonly asked questions when it comes to how long steaks can stay fresh inside the freezer.

How Long Should Steaks Stay in the Freezer?

Fortunately, as long as your steak has been packaged well and is in good condition before being frozen, it can technically be stored inside the freezer indefinitely. But for the best results, be sure to thaw them out completely and cook them no more than 12 months after putting it in your freezer.

Is it Still Safe to Eat Gray Colored Steak?

As mentioned above, the color of the steak isn’t necessarily an accurate indication of when a steak goes bad. This is because meat has a different reaction to oxygen, which causes it to turn gray over time. So if your steak has been inside the fridge for the past few days, it can certainly turn gray if you didn’t vacuum seal it.

You’ll want to closely examine your meat for various signs of spoilage, but obvious tell-tale signs are its smell or texture. So be sure to perform the smell and touch tests to check the texture of the steak and make sure it’s still good to eat.

How Long is Steak Good in the Fridge?

Knowing how long a steak can stay in your fridge without spoiling is an important skill to have, especially if you love eating it daily. This little bit of information can save you from the heartache of seeing your steaks going bad, and it can also keep you safe from food poisoning after consuming a spoiled steak. Remember, raw stakes can last between 3 to 5 days inside the fridge, but cooked steaks will only last around 3 to 4 days, so don’t be discouraged from grabbing a fresh steak from your local grocery store.

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