Because it's illegal to transport abalone after they've been removed from the shell, most abalone is taken home before cleaning. Preferably, they will still be alive when you get around to either cleaning them or storing them long term. If you happen to be spending a few days at the coast, you can keep them alive by storing them "on ice" so long as your remember that abalone and fresh water do not mix. If they are mixed, the abalone will quickly die and, in the process, the meat become so loose it's almost impossible to slice and use. If you're going to put abalone in an ice chest, it's best to put the abalone in a small bucket that will fit inside the chest and keep melt water and abalone separate. Alternately, you can leave the drain plug open and put the abalone on the opposite side of the ice chest on some kind of raised platform. The point is simply to make certain the abalone stays well away from fresh water. With that done, abalone will survive for 3 to 4 days without any problems.

Keeping abalone over an extended period of time pretty much requires that they be frozen during storage. Some abalone enthusiasts consider freezing to be sacrilegious so be forewarned up front. If you decide to freeze regardless, remember the legal requirement that abalone not be removed from their shells except for immediate consumption. And that means that you are required to freeze them whole and in their shells. That's the bad news. The good news is that freezing a live abalone in its shell results in virtually no need to tenderize the animal after cleaning it. Rather than the violent death of being cleaned alive, with the resultant tightening, freezing a live animal causes it to completely relax before expiring. If you've ever cleaned and tenderized a live abalone, this definitely qualifies as good news.