HOW TO WORK OUT PORTIONS

To work out portion sizes for smaller cuts simply count the amount of chops or rashers or small cuts.

For big pieces such as roasts, calculate the portion sizes as follows:

150g – 180g of raw, boneless pork is enough for a moderate portion for one person when it is cooked. This means you divide the number of grams of pork in your roast without a bone as follows:

If your deboned roast weighs 1,1 kg (1100g) a) divide 1100 by 150 = 7,3 portions

b) divide 1100 by 180 = 6,1 portions

Now you know that your roast of 1,100 kg (which has no bone in it) will feed between 6 and 7 people when cooked.

For roasts with a bone in it, allow a raw amount of 200g – 220g per person for a generous portion.

If a roast (with bone) weighs 1,45 kg (1450g)

a) divide 1450 by 200 = 7,25 portions

b) divide 1450 by 220 = 6,5 portions

This means your roast with a bone in that weighs 1,450 kg, will feed between 6 and 7 people when cooked.

Make it easy for yourself

Write this information on a sticker or a piece of masking tape and mark the roast with this once wrapped in plastic.

Wrap with the thickest possible plastic or use thick plastic bags, and exclude as much air as possible from the bag. When air comes into contact with your frozen pork, it can cause dry meat and can shorten the life of your frozen meat.

To protect your meat quality, you can even double wrap the cuts if using cling wrap. The thicker the wrapping material around your pork, the more it will be protected against drying out, and the long you can freeze it.

Label each packet with the name of the cut, the date that you purchased it and the number of portions in the packet. Now place in the freezer.

You will be happy about this information when you are looking through the contents of your freezer, as you can see at a glance what you have in your freezer and how long it has been there.

Pork that’s bought in individual packets from supermarkets (for example, when you buy a single packet of chops or one roast) can be frozen in the same wrapping as what it was bought in, but then should be used within 1 – 3 months of freezing.

If you would like to protect the quality of your pork and perhaps freeze it for longer, it’s best to double wrap the packets with cling wrap or thick plastic packets.

Vacuum packaging

Vacuum packaging is a great way to protect the quality of pork in the freezer and is highly recommended.

How long to freeze pork?

The wrapping plays a big part in the period of time you can freeze pork before using it. The thicker the wrapping and the more air is excluded from the packaging, the longer it can be frozen.

If larger pieces such as roasts are packaged very well or vacuum packed, they can be frozen up to 6 or 9 months.

Small cuts such as packets of chops will