Question about keeping food in fridge

[migirl]

I got some chicken thighs out of the freezer yesterday (Tuesday) and put them in the fridge to thaw, intending to cook them for dinner tonight but DH just informed me that he won't be home for dinner tonight OR tomorrow night (meetings, etc). I don't really like to cook when he's not home, would they still be good if I leave them and cook them on Friday?

I assume I shouldn't re-freeze them ...

[MrsK]

Story of my life. I usually end up cooking in that case and reheating for him later.

[GreyhoundsRUs]

Can't re-freeze without cooking them
+1 for MrsK's approach!

[MsSassyBaskets]

I think you're probably fine for Friday. It wouldn't worry me too much. They probably took a day to fully thaw...

[BonBon]

I think you're probably fine for Friday. It wouldn't worry me too much. They probably took a day to fully thaw...

Yeah, this happens to me all the time. Especially if you tossed them in the freezer right away after purchasing.

[diggitydot]

Should be fine, but you can always cook them and the use them in something already cooked.

[niener]

I've gone that long or longer before and I'm still alive and kickin . They may not even be fully thawed yet, I think they'll be fine.

[MrsK]

Should be fine, but you can always cook them and the use them in something already cooked.

I do this too. You can cut them up for pasta, tacos, salads. . . It never hurts to have cooked chicken around.

[MsSassyBaskets]

I have almost no food fears. I mean, I have reasonable limits of course, but DH and I actually got in our first fight over the fact that he threw away an unopened, shelf-stable bottle of "maple" syrup that had passed its "sell-by" date. He has since adjusted to my POV. Neither of us has had food poisoning from food made at home.

[spotty_dog]

It's not just about vague paranoia about germs though. The last thing you want is to count on your chicken for Friday and when you get it out the sniff-test shows rank and rancid spoilage. Take it from me, even cooking thoroughly and seasoning generously doesn't dissipate that flavor.

I did something similar, defrosted ground beef for Monday but it wasn't quite thawed enough for dinner so I punted and made something else. DH took the kids out last night while I had a meeting, and we'll be out of town tonight and tomorrow. I'm not going to risk mine, especially since I had it out at room temp for a while on Monday trying to rush the thawing -- so I just decided to cook it up this afternoon with taco seasoning and reheat it for Friday dinner.

[Liisi]

I'm really bad at determining when meat is okay and when it's not. I was vegetarian for almost a decade and have thus only been learning about cooking meat in the past few years or so. I'm sure I've thrown out perfectly good meat because I was paranoid about it... and then, the opposite - I got a box of frozen chicken nuggets, and the directions said "Microwave: Not recommended." I stupidly thought, whatever, I don't care if it's "not recommended;" I'm not going to bake them for the 22 minutes it says to... and I microwaved them for like 90 seconds then ate them... turns out it was RAW chicken, OOPS!!! I was totally fine, but I can't believe I did that!

[BonBon]

Liisi, for stuff like that it's worth the wait. Microwave=mushy. Bleh.

I was just thinking about this thread the other day. I was SO anticipating my fave steak salad dinner. The steak is vacuum packed, and lasts a bit longer. However, I didn't use it until two days after the stamped date. It smelled FINE. So we made it...dinner. ruined. It was subtle, but most definitely rank. Frick.

[migirl]

Well, since this thread's been resurrected I'll update you all on how it turned out ... bc I know you've been waiting with bated breath.

I ended up waiting until Friday and cooking the chicken and it turned out fine. I always worry and over think that kind of stuff!