Why can't you freeze a "roast-in-the-bag" chicken?

cherie1122

I've frozen them several times and am still here to tell the tale

cliffsgirl

I!!!8217;ve frozen them before too and I!!!8217;m still here lol

[Deleted User]

last month I have half a chicken already roasted that had been reduced to 75p in one of their bags as it was just before closing time so I brought it home removed it from the bag,stripped the chicken off it and once it had cooled down turned the cold cooked chicken into three portions of chicken curry which I then once cold froze I ate one last night for dinner with a bit of rice and it was fine and I fell absolutely OK If I had just wanted to I could have just frozen it once cold but I thought no it will make a decent few meals so for 75p I ended up with three portions. great bargain for three meals I thought

System

The bag goes brittle when its frozen and prone to falling apart. Ive always frozen mine though, you just have to be careful how you handle it when it comes out the freezer.

joedenise

I wouldn't worry too much but would suggest it's the bag that's the problem and not the chicken. I've never bought a roast in the bag chicken so not sure.

Personally I'd remove it from the bag and cook it long and slow (in a slow cooker possibly) or in a low oven. Done in the slow cooker for 8 hours on low the chicken will be melt in the mouth and very moist.

I probably slow cook chicken more often than I roast one ( I don't eat the skin so not problem there!).

Denise

Wizzbang

You can freeze Coop roast in the bag chickens, so I suspect that the chicken has been frozen before and this is why you can't freeze it. Supermarkets do this a lot - seen it with fish in particular. I've never quite understood how they get away with it when consumers are told categorically not to do it.

pigpen

Wizzbang wrote: »

You can freeze Coop roast in the bag chickens, so I suspect that the chicken has been frozen before and this is why you can't freeze it. .

They haven't.. they are cooked from fresh and bagged and put in heated shelving.. I know people who work there and cook them!

Though.. it could be the fact they are kept warm for hours on that shelving.. or that the bags are not airtight.. or just general hysteria!

Pollycat

Wizzbang wrote: »

You can freeze Coop roast in the bag chickens, so I suspect that the chicken has been frozen before and this is why you can't freeze it. Supermarkets do this a lot - seen it with fish in particular. I've never quite understood how they get away with it when consumers are told categorically not to do it.

pigpen wrote: »

They haven't.. they are cooked from fresh and bagged and put in heated shelving.. I know people who work there and cook them!

Though.. it could be the fact they are kept warm for hours on that shelving.. or that the bags are not airtight.. or just general hysteria!

I may be wrong but I think Wizzbang may be talking about the uncooked roast in the bag chickens rather than the cooked ones.
The OP was definitely talking about uncooked ones:

hopefulfooluk wrote: »

Last week we did a monthly shop at Tesco and bought 4 roast in the bag chickens and put 3 in the freezer. However having got one of them out, it says on the bag that it's not suitable for freezing. Doh! :rolleyes:

Does anyone have any idea why it might not be when their other chickens can be frozen quite happily (it's not been cooked or anything).

Thanks in advance - here's hoping we've not just wasted £14!

Chris

but that was posted eight years ago so I guess it's no longer an issue for them.

tiredwithtwins

8yrs ago? hope theyre still alive lol!


for what its worth i've bought loads of these and frozen them without any problems. its usually the bag that's the problem but I usually take them out of the bag anyway before I put them in the freezer.
ive had them from several different supermarkets too.
if the chicken is uncooked and its been previously frozen it usually states it somewhere on the packaging .. theres probably some legal requirement to say if its been previously frozen ..

Kid_Filo

Would you consider the following storage instructions for a whole unfrozen Tesco "roast-in-the-bag" chicken to mean one and the same thing? ‘Suitable for home freezing, however, freezing may diminish quality of taste’, or ‘not suitable for home freezing’. Well, after chatting with Tesco’s national customer service helpline, apparently, both are correct, though only one is written on the outside of the bag, that being the latter. Having once fallen victim to undercooked chicken from a fast-food take-away outlet which led to a home visit by my GP for, what turned out to be, a severe form of food poisoning called Campylobacter, I am acutely attuned to the consequences of consuming ill prepared, undercooked or wrongly stored chicken. So, apparently, I can freeze my roast-in-the-bag chicken on the understanding that once cooked its taste may not be quite as ‘up to scratch’ as if it had remained unfrozen. Is that what ‘not suitable for home freezing’ means? Well Tesco, I beg to differ.