Prime grade Rib roast storage

pescadorzih

I picked up a Prime grade rib roast at Costco last weekend. It is a 17# COV roast. The sell by date was yesterday.
How long can I refrigerate this before breaking down and freezing?
I want to cut a roast off of it for Christmas and will be freezing the rest.
Can I go until next weekend or should I cut up and freeze tonight?

DoubleEgger

You can wait a week 

Sea2Ski

Within reason you can hold it as long as you want. If you know you want to freeze a bunch of it, I would cut the steaks off and leave as big as a roast that you want, whole. Freeze the steaks. Dry the roast in the fridge until Christmas. Just leave it unwrapped. You won't get the full effect of dry aging but you will get a killer crust and it will not hurt it at all. It'll be fine in the fridge. 

I got some in my fridge as I type this.  My wife does not want uncovered beef, so I appease her by putting in a bag. If I could get away without it, I would. I am somewhere about 30 lbs.  

saluki2007

@Sea2Ski are those the bags that Ron likes or just regular plastic bags?

Sea2Ski

@saluki2007 They are in bags Ron likes. (There is a roast on the middle shelf just wrapped - that is dinner tonight). I do like the bags because as I said, my wife would not let me do this if they were uncovered. Also, they keep any odors in the bag, and although there is that much meat in the fridge, you open it and you do not smell a thing. There are pros and cons to them.  For me, the pros far outweigh the cons.

These are in the kitchen fridge. Thankfully my wife is understanding and is very much a carnivore. Still looking for the perfect "meat locker" fridge though. I have a lead, we will see where it goes....

JustineCaseyFeldown

if you call it 'wet aging', you can go six to eight weeks in the original cryo.

if you want to call it 'dry aging' you can take it out and let it dry for the saem six weeks or so. 

if you want to play by the 'rules', a week past sell by is probably the general comfort level in the US

Eggcelsior

JustineCaseyFeldown said:

if you call it 'wet aging', you can go six to eight weeks in the original cryo.

if you want to call it 'dry aging' you can take it out and let it dry for the saem six weeks or so. 

if you want to play by the 'rules', a week past sell by is probably the general comfort level in the US

This. I've done 12 weeks or so with a brisket in cryo. Zero issues.

JustineCaseyFeldown

Eggcelsior said:

This. I've done 12 weeks or so with a brisket in cryo. Zero issues.

alton brown (for those who feel better with references) admitted on his show (the one where he has 'lawyers' stand behind him if for the least bit of safety-related advice) that he goes six to eight weeks as a regular habit. 

one of the really sad things about the food supply in the US is how afraid people have been made of it, and how the "sell by" date has been interpreted by the vast majority of people (it seems to me anyway) as the "expiration date".

there is literally no such thing as an "expiration date" (*except baby formula), and packaging dates have virtually nothing to do with food safety.