I Froze chicken breast and took it out a day earlier? Is it still safe to eat?
I brought some chicken breast which was vaccum sealed in a package. It was due to expire in a weeks time (9th), but I was going to be on holiday, so therefore decided to freeze it.
I defrosted it on the 7th and was planning on cooking it on the 8th, but I got too busy. So therefore it was defrosted in my fridge for a day longer with today being the expiry date.
Is it still safe to eat?
Hope it makes sense!
Best Answer
I somehow think that there should be a duplicate somewhere but, as I haven't found it, I will venture an answer.
The simple answer is that your chicken should be perfectly safe.
While most fresh meat is sold with a 'sell by' date rather than an actual expiration date, in this case, it doesn't really matter.
You bought the chicken around the 2nd of the month and, as you weren't going to cook it right away, froze it for a few days. On the 7th, you placed it in the refrigerator to thaw.
First, even if you hadn't frozen the chicken and had just kept it in the refrigerator until today (the 9th), it should be perfectly safe to use.
Second, the short period of freezing should not leave you with any noticeable difference in quality, especially considering that it was vacuum sealed.
So, enjoy your chicken!
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Quick Answer about "I Froze chicken breast and took it out a day earlier? Is it still safe to eat?"
The myth that it is not safe to re-freeze chicken meat that has been defrosted is a mix between two issues: quality and safety. While it is safe to put chicken that has been defrosted below 5 degrees, back into the freezer, freezing and re-freezing chicken may deteriorate the quality of the meat.Can you eat frozen chicken that has been left out overnight?
No, if anything is left out for that long, it will go bad and you will have to throw it away. Even if you prepare it, eating it after it has been out for 24 hours might make you sick. The refrigerator, rather than the counter, is the ideal place to defrost frozen poultry.Can you eat chicken that was defrosted the day before?
Answer: If you thawed the chicken in the refrigerator, you don't have to cook it right away. Poultry that's been defrosted in the fridge can be safely kept for an additional one to two days in the refrigerator before cooking, says the U.S. Department of Agriculture.How long can chicken be out after being defrosted?
Per the USDA's guidelines, you should never thaw chicken (or meat of any kind) on the counter or in hot water, nor should you leave it at room temperature for more than 2 hours. The best way to thaw chicken is to move the frozen package from the freezer onto a plate and into the fridge, and then let it thaw gradually.Here's How To Tell If Chicken Has Gone Bad
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Answer 2
A key question is how long the item was frozen for. In general, freezing is considered to slow the aging clock nearly to a stop, but there are factors. Aging is not entirely stopped, but close. The act of freezing and thawing though does damage. Plant and animal cells are damaged by the expansion of water during freezing and the sharp ice crystals for instance.
These are made up numbers, but what I personally tend to go by, and it is not true for all things, but I will use say chicken as my example. To me, just the act of freezing and thawing costs me one-two days of age. So if I was only freezing for 1 day, then I have wasted my effort and may have made it worse. If I am going to store it for days, or weeks, then I feel it ages in a good, cold, steady temperature freezer, I feel it ages under freezing at about one day per month the rate as in the fridge.
So, if I froze it on say the 4th with a use by date of the 9th I would have had 5 days of potential age left when I froze it. If I thaw it a month later, I would call that 1 day for the month in the freezer, 2 more for freezing and thawing, and say I had 2 days to use it, and its quality would be downgraded to chicken that is almost at its expiry date. At 6 months, it would already be past its used by date to me. Those are only a general guide, but that method has worked for me looking at both what is safe enough for me, and high enough quality.
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