Can I freeze cooked chicken???

soappie

Sorry all, that probably came out a bit more cryptic than I intended. Chameleon is right, I'd be concerned about food poisoning.

When I did my food hygiene training, the hot chicken counter of supermarkets was one of the 'danger areas' mentioned by my instructer. The chicken is cooked, it sits there on a warm counter for some time - there's no way of knowing exactly how long. It's then put into a trolley and then a bag where it stays warm, but not as warm whilst it gets taken home. If you're anything like me, it could be over an hour between buying and getting unpacked. It's the ideal environment for bacterial growth.

liney

Or course i would freeze chicken i had cooked myself, but i wouldnt keep it warm for 8 hours first at home.

No i wouldn't freeze these chickens, but then i'm dubious about buying them at all due to them being kept warm indefinately.

Pink.

I wouldn't keep a chicken warm at home for eight hours either...but I am sure that any supermarket selling them are following health and safety rules to the letter so I imagine that they're perfectly safe to buy.

I am wary of posting this in case I get slated, but I have bought these chickens at reduced prices, cooled them asap when I get home and frozen the leftovers for lunches. Saved a bit of money and we're still alive.

Pink

lindseykim13

I just like to add that of course i cooled them at home before freezing and that process started on the drive home lol

I peeled the sicker off the reduced price to find the original price and time that it was printed was 6pm i bought them at 7.45 so quite happy that i would have kept a chicken warm in my hostess trolley and happily freezed it for this ammount of time, i can understand peoples concern if i thought they had been there all day. I have now got 5 bags of portioned chicken in the freezer for stiry frys etc i'll let you guys know if i get food poisioning and then others can avoid!

It might be alot of bad luck to buy a chicken that had actually been sat there for 8 hours, i used to work at the chicken counter many moons ago in asda and the batch of chickens would have all been bought up ages before the next lot came out of the cooker.

purpleivy

I would expect that the heated cabinets have to be set at a temperature high enough to avoid bacterial growth. You have to set your meat thermometer probe at a certain level for that reason, so presumably above that temperature will inhibit growth.

KittyBoo_2

I have also bought these chickens and let them cool, stripped all the meat off and then popped them in the freezer.
I have even used the carcasses to make soup and never had any problems.
Not offerring advice - only my personal experience.

boredjellybean

I am sure this is probably a stupid question....but I cooked a chicken in my slow cooker on monday & am not really sure what to do with the meat - I am thinking of making a chicken & leak pie for dinner but there will still be a fair amount left over, any ideas for this (maybe soup?) or can it be frozen?

many thanks in advance
bjb

hotcookie101

I freeze cooked chicken covered with some stock-then use it in the future to make risottos or pies etc. I think you can freeze it just as is, but I never have

Penelope_Penguin

Yes you can freeze it :beer:

I'll add this to the existing thread on freezing chicken.

Loads of ideas for leftover chicken here

Penny. x

Burp_2

ello

I've just defrosted 4 chicken breasts.... chopped them up ... pan fried them... can I freeze some of the chicken pieces now they are cooked?

Cheers!