Why Our Meat Arrives Flash Frozen: The Secret to "Fresher Than Fresh"

At Ottawa Valley Meats, our goal is to deliver the highest quality, locally sourced proteins directly to your door. To ensure that the steak on your plate tastes exactly like it did the moment it left our butcher shop, we use a combination of vacuum sealing and industrial flash freezing.

1. Flash Freezing vs. Home Freezing

Standard home freezers take hours to freeze meat, which allows large ice crystals to form. These crystals puncture the meat's fibers, leading to a "mushy" texture and the loss of natural juices when thawed.

The OVM Difference: We use high-powered equipment to drop temperatures to ultra-low levels in mere minutes. This creates tiny ice crystals that leave the cellular structure of the meat intact. When you thaw an OVM steak, it retains its original texture, color, and—most importantly—its flavor.

2. Locked-In Nutrition and Flavor

The moment meat is processed, its "freshness clock" starts ticking. By flash freezing our products immediately after they are hand-cut by our in-house butchers:

• Nutrients are preserved: Vitamins and minerals are "locked in" at their peak.

• No Preservatives: Because the cold acts as a natural preservative, we never need to use chemicals or additives.

• 28-Day Dry Aging: For our beef, we dry-age it first to maximize tenderness, then flash freeze it to stop the aging process at the perfect moment.

3. Professional Vacuum Sealing

Every cut is individually vacuum-packed to remove oxygen. This serves three vital purposes:

• Prevents Freezer Burn: No air means no dehydration or oxidation.

• Extended Shelf Life: Our meats can stay in your freezer for 12–24 months without any loss in quality.

• Convenience: You can easily thaw exactly what you need for dinner without having to defrost a massive bulk package.

4. Safe and Sustainable Delivery

Your order is delivered in freezer-refrigerated trucks or specialized insulated boxes. Arriving frozen ensures that your food stays at a food-safe temperature throughout its entire journey, giving you total peace of mind.

Pro Tip for the Best Experience: For the best results, thaw your meat slowly in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Because it was flash-frozen at peak freshness, it will cook up with the same succulence as a cut fresh off the butcher's block!