How to thaw raw meat quickly?

[susan8020]

Thawing slowly in the fridge or cold water doesn't work in our chaotic schedule. We need to thaw it quickly for immediate use. Microwave or hot water have obvious problems. Any workarounds, or other approaches?

Comments

[twistedchick]

You might consider packaging your frozen meat in smaller amounts, too. Five pounds of anything is going to take a considerable time to thaw, whereas five one-pound packages will be much faster. It's a trade-off, the time spent packaging or the time spent waiting for it to thaw. I've found that putting a double layer of wax paper in between pieces of meat or fish will do it, and the paper will come off as it thaws.

[susan8020]

Following this idea, we bought our meat yesterday at CostCo where they have some frozen meats already divided: hamburger patties with wax paper between, chicken thighs packaged two or three in small bundles inside the big bundle, wonderful tamales easy to break apart while frozen (corn husks are a great invention! ;-)

Unfortunately we're limited on prep time before freezing too, because going to town is an all day exhausting trip for us, and if things sit in the fridge waiting to be divided for freezing, then things happen.... Fortunately, we have plenty of freezer space for sticking the big CostCo bundles straight in, and enough money to buy big bundles.

But I'd still like more good ideas for thawing stuff that isn't pre-divided.