Frozen/Freezing food question?

Living on my ownsome, most supermarket meat packets contain to much meat for me to eat in one go, so I split the packs to eat half now and freeze the remainder for a later meal.

So I did this with some chicken breasts and froze the remaining. A couple of weeks later I used those remaining chicken breasts to make a large pot of curry, but once again, it was to much, so I split it into portion sizes and put them into those plastic Chinese food type containers with lids and put them in the freezer.

They had been frozen about a week, I defrosted one for dinner last night and it tasted great, but I've had the trots all day today.

Thinking about it, I split the chicken breasts, froze half them, then defrosted them and cooked them and then froze them again, after cooking them first. Then defrosted it and ate it.

Does this count, as they say, don't re freeze food that's already been frozen, even tho I cooked it after defrosting it the first time?
Brian.
No! Freeze once only, you can cook a batch of meals and then freeze and take out when needed. :) always best to let chicken defrost before cooking also. P.
 
You can't freeze raw chicken twice. However, as far as I know, you can freeze fresh chicken, defrost it and cook it, then let the food cool and freeze it for consumption at a later date. The problem you experienced could have had to do with storage containers or preparation surfaces not being sterile, cooked food still being warm when put in the freezer, the chicken you bought could have already been frozen at the store, etc. etc. There are too many potential problems to list... but in principle you did nothing wrong.
 
I looked this up for you. It's a webpage from the NHS (How to store food and leftovers safely). Scroll down to "Re-freezing meat and fish" and also "Using leftovers" for the information you're looking for.

Good luck with your future meals :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: BJS
It's not always easy to know if your chicken breasts have been frozen or not before landing on your supermarket shelves so it is always best to assume they have unless you know for sure or buy your meat from a local butcher who will be able to tell you along with which farm they have come from ect......is it worth the risk? :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: BJS
I had a housemate who used to freeze loaves of bread. That was a step too far in my books.

I go on the 'rule' that you only ever re-heat food once and freeze food once. I've never got round to freezing meals with defrosted food as I tend to only freeze the 'raw' ingredients (pun unintended).
 
  • Like
Reactions: BJS
It might not just be bacteria (that will be killed by proper hearing) that you should worry about. Toxins that could have been produced by bacteria will remain after heating and can make you ill.
Eg mycotoxins, found in mouldy bread - they can spread to unmouldy areas so cutting off that first slice might not help. Also microwaves are weird in that they irradiate areas of food rather than the entirety of the food. Ie you'd have areas that might be bacteria/toxin free but some which still aren't. To eradicate all bacteria/toxins in a microwave I'd imagine the food would resemble a charcoal briquette :D
 
  • Like
Reactions: BJS
I looked this up for you. It's a webpage from the NHS (How to store food and leftovers safely). Scroll down to "Re-freezing meat and fish" and also "Using leftovers" for the information you're looking for.

Good luck with your future meals :)

I read that NHS webpage, very informative.

We regularly buy fresh meat or chicken, divide it up into meal sizes and freeze it. Then, when ready, defrost a portion or two cook it (e.g. curry or stew) then re-freeze if too much. Later we defrost and reheat the cooked food. Never had a problem with that. It also obeys the NHS rules in that article.
 
Definitely always fully defrost meat before cooking, let it achieve rhetoric room temperature for a nice and juicy piece of meat...

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk
 
Back
Top Bottom