In a fridge BTW , how long is it still good after being thawed ? I took it from the freezer & placed it in the fridge last Sat. I would like to crockpot it Christmas day ...... will it be good [safe to eat] ?
A week in the fridge thawed, but not cooked yet? No way would I trust it. IOW, it will be an entire week, 7 days, that it has sit in your fridge! We are too old of folks to take any kind of chance on food poisoning!
Thanks ..... I think I'll just 'pitch-it' and buy fresh . When I took it from the freezer ..... It just didn't occur to me that Christmas was a week away.
Just to make it a little clearer, fully thawed poultry is generally good for a couple days in a food safe 38-42 degree fridge. That said, if there is no indication of bacterial damage such as sliminess, discoloration or bad smell, I will normally wash it and cook it but bring it up to temp as quickly as possible. 165 degrees is a rule of thumb to kill most bacteria but I will normally bring poultry up to 180 not only to be on the safe side but because I like it that way also. Note: Even if damaged food is brought up to temp and deemed safe to eat, the harm the bacteria has produced will not change. In years past, many spices and sauces were employed simply to hide the taste of damaged food.
If you put it in the fridge on Saturday, and it was frozen, it would take 2-3 days to thaw completely, so I think that it should still be okay to cook on Saturday. I usually smell the meat (when I have forgotten to cook it ), and if it smells okay, and doesn’t feel slimy , like Bobby mentioned, then you can probably cook it. If it worries you at all, then probably just throwing it out is the best thing. Or cook it a day or so ahead of time, and once it has been cooked, it will still keep in the refrigerator for a few days longer.
That's the unknown here...when were the last ice crystals gone? As you said, the 2-3 days start from there. When Ron posted his question I had to go refresh my memory because I freeze everything in vacuum seal bags and thaw it in chilled water. But many websites said that water-thawed chicken should be used within a day, which kind of surprised me. I guess all this advice is best-safety, which is the right thing to do with things that can kill you.
It probably won't harm you if it is brought up to the proper temperature, but quality suffers, so even though it is safe to use if cooked properly, it may not taste like you want it to taste.
If it were up to me, which it isn't, I would buy what I needed when I needed it, and not freeze anything but ice cream. However it's done, there is a noticeable deterioration in the taste of anything that has been frozen.
I've posted so much verbiage about my vacuum sealer I'm surprised I've not been levied a Server Overuse Charge. I have a ton of different raw and cooked things frozen (beef, chicken, lots of different seafood, side dishes, main dishes) so nearly all my of my meals are impulse decisions. Anything vacuum sealed can be thawed in a bowl of water in well under an hour (individual servings), so I can go from "What do I feel like for dinner tonight?" to making it in no time flat, regardless of what the meal might be. Other than fresh veggies, my options are pretty much unlimited. The downside is that it's tough to keep track of everything I've got. And it's not easily organized in a freezer. Tracking systems get implemented but not maintained. And sometimes I take up freezer room with stuff I'm tired of. But when I throw together a Quesadilla made with frozen leftover rotisserie chicken, it's nice to have homemade refries, queso and Spanish rice already made to heat up along side of it. If need be, I could go for months without buying anything but produce. The downside is a power outage is probably a more catastrophic event for me than it is for you.
Sounds like you need to take an inventory complete with FIFO ( first in-first out) dates and post it to a clip board next to the fridge. Maybe one of these days when we get bored, we’ll do the same. We have 2 combo fridges and a low boy freezer and I think the only one who might know everything we have is Yvonne because Lord knows, I don’t. And yes, we have 2 vac machines but I only use them when I cut bulk meats such as whole pork loins, t-bones or ribeyes.
I've had stuff that is several years old and it's been fine. I tried doing a list but there are so many different items. They are well-organized, there's just a lot of stuff. Like everything else, making a system is easy to do. Maintaining the system ain't gonna happen. I swear I'm a reincarnated Depression-era kid.
When I buy a whole chicken I buy thawed. When I buy pieces, I'll buy thawed or frozen. If frozen I put them on the counter and turn the table fan on them to fast thaw.
I’m not discrediting how you do things but in commercial kitchens there are only 3 methods that can be used for thawing proteins. 1. refrigerated. 38-42 degrees 2. under running water 3. microwave If caught by a health inspector, any other method could get a restaurant kitchen shut down. Granted, you’re probably looking at using the chicken directly after thawing with the fan but if you should change your mind about what you’re going to eat, the rule of thumb would be to wash the chicken thoroughly before storing.