Freezing/thawing Chicken

[catsrcool]

I had a 1Kg bag of chicken breasts in my freezer which my girlfriend removed while looking for something else. I found them on the kitchen worktop about 3 hours later and they were well on the way to being defrosted completely. I put them back in the freezer but I am tempted to chuck them out. What would you do?

[pastafreak]

Cook them...then freeze. Its not necessary to waste them.

[Sycamore3House]

Let them defrost fully. Cook them and then refreeze. As long as you alter the state of the food (ie raw to cooked) before re freezing they will be fine.

[retrocop]

I hate food waste but I would bin them once defrosted unless you knock up a curry or something with them and then refreeze once cooked. I often make a large curry with chicken.Eat what I want that day and make individual meal portions to freeze for a later date.You can't take risks with refreezing defrosted meat if it hasn't been cooked.

[whiskeryron]

Dump 'em,you only need one error to get a nasty dose of food poisoning.

[pastafreak]

^^^ why should they be dumped? They were only defrosted...not left out for 24 hours. So...not long enough for bacteria to flourish,but long enough that they should be used/cooked promptly.

[fiction-factory]

Is it okay to refreeze defrosted chicken then, pastafreak?

[pastafreak]

No...not if it is raw. But cooking,then freezing is fine.
BUT...the government website states that if there are still ice crystals in food, it can be re-frozen. Not sure I would with chicken,though.

[fiction-factory]

I read catsrcool's post as saying he partly defrosted it then put it back in the freezer, so I assume by now it has refrozen again. I probably wouldn't risk it now but I'm pretty sure this happens a lot when people buy frozen goods and then wander round the store then get the bus home and stick it in the freezer maybe 90 minutes later

[woofgang]

"well on the way to being defrosted completely" and then refrozen. If it was me I would bin them. I know its a waste but food poisoning is horrible.

[retrocop]

I have read that fresh chicken in many cases is a breeding ground for bugs let alone refrozen defrosted chicken

[Prudie]

Rightly or wrongly I'd bin them as I'd be so worried when I ate them that I might give myself food poisoning that the stress would bring on an upset anyway! These have been thawed and refrozen while raw.

[diddlydo]

Why are most people so wimpish? That chicken will be just fine if thoroughly cooked once de-frosted (again!)

[jomifl]

If the temperature hasn't got more than a couple of degrees above freezing for a couple of hours then there isn't a problem. The rule about not refreezing food is because people easily forget the history of frozen food and it could be thawed long enough and often enough for the development of food poisoning bacteria. If it is never re-frozen then this cannot happen.

[mastercraft]

1KG of chicken breast = probably around 4/5 chickens lost their lives. An upset stomach is a small price to pay.

[sherrardk]

Bin 'em - chicken is tricky at the best of times.

[Retrochic]

mastercraft - LOL! each chicken has two breasts each weighing approx 250 grms so only two chickens were sacrificed for this particular event.

catsrcool -it would have been better to let them defrost fully then cook them. i would have no problem defrosting them again and cooking them in a casserole or something that would make sure they were really well cooked.

[Zacs-Master]

The price of chicken? Bin em.

[woofgang]

I am wimpish because I dislike self inflicted illness. Thaw completely cook and refreeze, no problem. Thaw almost completely and refreeze? hell no.

[Retrochic]

I've done it loads of times. I've even totally defrosted cubed meat,realised I did not need that much and refrozen it to use later. What happens when you buy chicken breasts from a supermarket and by the time you get home they have started to defrost? Chicken stinks if its even a little bit off so use your common sense and your nose.

[FrogNog]

As they became part thawed in an unregulated temperature environment for a while, I would bin them.
If it happens in future, let them fully defrost, cook them and then you can freeze again.