Stains in clothes

I work in a meat packing plant and occasionally I come home from work with dried meat on my pants legs. I found the best way to get this out is to soak my jeans for about 1 hour in a cold water and soap solution to loosen up the meat before I send it through the washing machine. If I do not soak my jeans I found that the meat gets hardened even tougher into the material. I also keep all my work clothes separate so I do not move the stains to all my clothes. I generally make this a small load so there is plenty of movement of the clothes in the washer. This has worked out best for me.