Cat Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 I was rooting around in the basement freezer for something to thaw for meals. I'm trying hard to use more from it, as I know I have lots of good food I need to rotate out. And some not-so-good. I've continued to add food as I'm taking out, so I still find a few "surprises" sometimes. I opened a bag and found a nice boneless chuck eye beef roast with no holes in the store wrapper and no visible freezer-burn. Great! I also pulled out some cooked chicken to thaw for one of those "Oh my goodness I need a quick meal!" after I've been taking care of the grandchildren all day meals. So I set the beef and the chicken into the refrigerator to thaw over 24 hours. I pulled it out last night, thinking I'd put it in the crock pot/slow cooker today. OH MY GOODNESS... it was dated 2002! I looked it over very closely, and it still had no signs of any openings in the wrapper, and it looked perfectly nice, and smelled fine. (Believe me, I'm careful!) I decided that I'd go ahead and try it and see what it ended up like, with the much-more-recent chicken as a back-up. (from last December) I cut it up, browned it on the stove, then put it into the crock pot with chopped onion, chopped potatoes, spices, and added beef broth and dried onion soup. It cooked most of the day. It is delicious. I tried it, then served it to my DH and after he declared it very good, I confessed how old it was. Yes, he was surprised, but he knows I am careful, and he was just glad it was used up. If it had any holes in the wrapper, I probably wouldn't have used it. But it was store-sealed and enclosed in another bag, so it was well protected. We have never had a power outage that thawed our freezer, and this was low in the chest freezer, anyway. Would you have tried it? Quote Link to comment
Mt_Rider Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 Yes. Cooked well but I would have used it. MtRider Quote Link to comment
Annarchy Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 Same here. I would have had my hackles up and my nose buried in it repeatedly, and like you, had a back up, just in case. Occasionally, I find stuff like that deep in our chest freezer, even though I try to keep up with it. Quote Link to comment
CrabGrassAcres Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 Yes, and as long as it tasted good, I'd have eaten it right up! Quote Link to comment
Jeepers Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 Sure would. As long as I knew it hadn't been through a freeze/thaw/freeze and showed no sign of freezer burn or freezer smell. Glad you rescued it and enjoyed it! Quote Link to comment
Andrea Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 Yes. You can tell immediately if frozen meat has gone "off". Quote Link to comment
Virginia Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 Yes, I would. My sis says freezer burn is really just freeze drying. We cut that off and still use it. Quote Link to comment
The WE2's Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 I'm probably more conservative. I would have had to think about it long and hard. I guess in a shtf I would. Probably would have just put it all through the pressure canner and labeled it "Abby Food". Quote Link to comment
Annarchy Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 Thought of this thread after seeing a news article today, that said a grandmother is in trouble after serving hot cocoa, expiration date 1990, to a group of children and they all got sick, one sick enough to spend a couple of weeks in the hospital. They are pressing criminal charges against her. Quote Link to comment
Mt_Rider Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 (edited) Well.....a pseudo-dairy product that wasn't in the freezer.... mebbe not such a good idea. I keep my dry milk in the freezer in ziplock bag. Criminal charges.....gimme a break! Can't even look at another person's kid these days without someone hollering law suit. I'd hate to take a chance at being a teacher, bus driver, etc. MtRider Edited April 3, 2015 by Mt_Rider Quote Link to comment
Cat Posted April 3, 2015 Author Share Posted April 3, 2015 Wow - I hadn't seen that one. . It's in Italy, and it appears it's the "authorities" who are bringing charges against her. Symptoms of food poisoning started almost immediately. https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=expired%20hot%20chocolate And yeah, I wouldn't have used that cocoa mix. 25 YEARS is just WAY too much to trust any food. My limit on canned goods is about 2 years past, depending on what food it is, and I am VERY careful about where and how any food I have is stored. And anything prepared but dried is less. Crackers, cereals, etc. - nope. I just toss them if it's more than a month past. Once in a great while, I'll try them first, but once opened, they go "stale" so fast that it's just not worth it. Quote Link to comment
Mt_Rider Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 Crackers surprised me once. Course, I usually don't have old saltines cuz we use them. These turned rancid from the oil/fat in them. I purchase the Passover crackers that are SOMETIMES made without fats. They last pretty much forever. Watch the ingredients label tho. Oils and fats are always subject to going rancid and "rancid" is not just bad tasting....it's toxic to some extent. MtRider ....since Grma poisoned herself as well as the kids, I'd say proving evil intent would be difficult Careless. Inattentive. Ignorant. These are not usually reasons to prosecute except if someone dies. Quote Link to comment
The WE2's Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 We vacuum sealed all our instant dry milk, and what I'm using I keep in the frig. Crackers...we have some that we vacuum sealed and are in food safe buckets with gasket seal lids. We'll be opening them before too long to check out their longevity. We discussed just today that it's just easier to make your own saltines (hard tak with more levening) and I watched Imstillworkin (I think?) make her own graham crackers. Found a new youtuber (guess she's been around a long time) to me...JaniePendleton...and boy is she something else! Sat and watched her for hours :-) Quote Link to comment
Mt_Rider Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 WE2...you really make me wish we had more ...er, bandwidth? Or whatever it is that limits our time watching youtube. Keep saying I want to make my own crackers but haven't. Rather, I've tried a couple but wasn't impressed. MtRider ...using saltines now with the touchy stomach thing. Quote Link to comment
The WE2's Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 WE2...you really make me wish we had more ...er, bandwidth? Or whatever it is that limits our time watching youtube. Keep saying I want to make my own crackers but haven't. Rather, I've tried a couple but wasn't impressed. MtRider ...using saltines now with the touchy stomach thing. I'm not sure just how it works, but there is a computer program that will download youtube videos (I don't have it) so it can be recorded and played. IF you knew somebody that had that software they could download all the goodies for you, send you a cd or jump drive...and you'd be a happy mountainrider! :-) Quote Link to comment
windmorn Posted April 7, 2015 Share Posted April 7, 2015 Definitely would've cooked the meat. Wouldn't have used the cocoa mix. Not that it would still be here for 25yrs with dd in the house. Quote Link to comment
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