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So basically I bought some chicken a couple of days ago and I unexpectedly ended up shopping for a few more hours before I got back home.
When I got back I tossed the chicken in the freezer and didn't really think about it. Now I'm kinda wondering if the chicken is still ok to eat...
I was walking around with it for about 3 hours and I'm not 100% sure but I don't think it was really frozen when I got it in the store, just refrigerated.
So TL experts, is the chicken still ok to cook after being possibly (probably) thawed and refrozen?
What are the risks?
I've googled around a bit and there's seemingly a lot of different responses and opinions on this matter.
What do I do with my precious chicken?
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I'd cook it and eat it. But that's just me. I guess I just trust my immune system to keep me out of harms way.
I have no scientific basis for this oppinion though.
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eat ur delicious chicken. Meat doesn't have to be frozen or cooled all the time. As long as it wasn't warm for more than mb 1 day it's not a problem at all
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I'd recommend that you don't chicken out now. Go for it.
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Belgium1847 Posts
That's not a problem, go right ahead and eat that chicken. Personally wouldn't eat it raw but then again, I wouldn't do that with fresh chicken either.
Make sure that your freezer is cold enough, it should be below -18C (That is what, 0F?)
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On August 10 2011 16:36 NeoLearner wrote:
Make sure that your freezer is cold enough, it should be below -18C (That is what, 0F?)
Don't worry, we use the metric system in Canada  (thank god).
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I wasn't even aware there was a potential issue arising after thawing and refreezing, simply because I don't think of the chicken as yogurt--For the record, I'd still drink thawed, refrozan and re-thawed yogurt.
As long as you cook it and you keep the chicken temperature over 60C at the time of serving, you should just enjoy your delicious chicken in any fashion you'd like.
Edit: But, as pointed above, bear in mind that none of us are experts in the field of poultry. I'm just saying I'm too cheap to waste an entire chicken.
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So here's how it works. Bacteria is the main worry. Chicken can be contaminated with salmonella, which is very nasty kind of bacteria. Now, a small amount of bacteria won't hurt you, and cooking your food (getting it above a certain temperature) will kill a lot of bacteria. Keeping the temperature low stops it from growing; bacteria grows very slowly at fridge temperatures, while freezing stops bacteria growth completely (but doesn't kill bacteria). Bacteria grow very well when food is kept warm, so you shouldn't keep food on the counter for more than an hour or two after cooking, and reheating leftovers repeatedly can also cause problems. Incomplete cooking and keeping food warm for an extended period are the two main dangers.
Since your chicken stayed relatively cool, and you plan on cooking it, you should be fine. When you should worry is if you buy a ready-to-eat (ie. cooked and warm) chicken and leave it in the car for a few hours.
Edit: quality. Also, it's at your own risk obviously.
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Smell it. If it smells bad, it's bad. If you don't know what bad meat smells like, trust me, you'll know when you smell it. The other concern would be bacteria so just make sure it's cooked all the way through. Eat that shit IMO.
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I have a similar question but with eggs. I made some scrambled eggs I think around 7 pm and after eating forgot to put it out back in the fridge and left it there while I took a nap. I don't know how much time passed but I'm pretty sure around 4 hours passed. Our the eggs safe to eat?
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OP : You can eat it without any risk.
On August 10 2011 17:21 Ilikestarcraft wrote:
I have a similar question but with eggs. I made some scrambled eggs I think around 7 pm and after eating forgot to put it out back in the fridge and left it there while I took a nap. I don't know how much time passed but I'm pretty sure around 4 hours passed. Our the eggs safe to eat?
I don't know if you're serious or if you are laughing OP. Cooked eggs are just fine.
What's dangerous are stuffs containing raw eggs that you freeze / unfreeze / refreeze, typically ice cream.
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cook it thoroughly and it will be fine.
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On August 10 2011 16:55 munchmunch wrote:
So here's how it works. Bacteria is the main worry. Chicken can be contaminated with salmonella, which is very nasty kind of bacteria. Now, a small amount of bacteria won't hurt you, and cooking your food (getting it above a certain temperature) will kill a lot of bacteria. Keeping the temperature low stops it from growing; bacteria grows very slowly at fridge temperatures, while freezing stops bacteria growth completely (but doesn't kill bacteria). Bacteria grow very well when food is kept warm, so you shouldn't keep food on the counter for more than an hour or two after cooking, and reheating leftovers repeatedly can also cause problems. Incomplete cooking and keeping food warm for an extended period are the two main dangers.
Since your chicken stayed relatively cool, and you plan on cooking it, you should be fine. When you should worry is if you buy a ready-to-eat (ie. cooked and warm) chicken and leave it in the car for a few hours.
Edit: quality. Also, it's at your own risk obviously.
Pretty much this, so as long as it wasn't hot as hell in your car during those few hours it's okay to cook and then eat. But if you don't cook it well (raw) that's another story ... lol
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Just cook it well and then come play some alti.
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Cook it until well-done. Then any bacteria is dead.
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On August 10 2011 17:05 Dampe wrote:
Smell it. If it smells bad, it's bad. If you don't know what bad meat smells like, trust me, you'll know when you smell it. The other concern would be bacteria so just make sure it's cooked all the way through. Eat that shit IMO.
Pretty much this. On the day you plan to cook/eat it, I'd just smell it to make sure all was fine and dandy. If it passes the smell test then I'd personally be fine with eating it.
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On August 10 2011 17:25 endy wrote:OP : You can eat it without any risk. Show nested quote +On August 10 2011 17:21 Ilikestarcraft wrote:
I have a similar question but with eggs. I made some scrambled eggs I think around 7 pm and after eating forgot to put it out back in the fridge and left it there while I took a nap. I don't know how much time passed but I'm pretty sure around 4 hours passed. Our the eggs safe to eat? I don't know if you're serious or if you are laughing OP. Cooked eggs are just fine. What's dangerous are stuffs containing raw eggs that you freeze / unfreeze / refreeze, typically ice cream.
Oh I forgot to say I left my egg carton with raw eggs out. Not the cooked eggs. I ate those already.
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I would err on the side of caution and throw it out. A chicken probably doesn't cost very much ($5-20 tops?) so I would just get new food. I once had food poisoning after eating fish and it sucked... I stayed inside for like 2-3 days and I couldn't bring myself to eat anything because I felt so sick that I was afraid of eating food because I didn't want to re-experience feeling like that. Lost like 5 pounds lol
Anyway its probably still safe but why take the chance. just toss it..
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Why did you buy a live chicken on a whim? What makes you think it likes being in that freezer?
You're a horrible person.
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EPT
