Archive:Quick Questions on food safety / sell by / use by dates

randomer

I bought 3lb mince from the butchers and without thinking froze the lot in one big bag. If I thaw it out and make bolognaise is it OK to refreeze some of it?

I bought chicken thighs on Friday froze them,took them out of the freezer and into the fridge yesterday. When I came to use then today they smelt really off and I had to ditch them.Don't know where I went wrong but I am slightly concerned as both mince and chicken were in a hot car for roughly an hour before freezing.

My brain is jelly....can't wait for the hols to be over and be organised!

merlin1

yes! not a problem, rule of thumb if you defrost any meat do not refreeze unless its cooked thoroughly! :cool:

randomer

great 100 interesting things to do with mince for me then!!!! Just getting a bit fed up with it. When I've cooked it 2lb will be filed away in the back of the freezer for emergencies.

Money_maker

If you refreeze it in smaller lots once cooked it'll save defrosting more than required.

Pink.

Hi randomer,

The mince will be fine to freeze assuming it didn't go off in the heat of the car. The general rule is that most things can be frozen once if they haven't been previously frozen in the same state. Eg if meat has been frozen raw, you can change it's state (ie cook it) and refreeze it once. However if it was already cooked when frozen it can't be cooked and frozen again. I'll add your thread to the quick questions on freezing thread later as your query may be helpful to others.

randomer wrote: »

great 100 interesting things to do with mince for me then!!!! Just getting a bit fed up with it. When I've cooked it 2lb will be filed away in the back of the freezer for emergencies.

This thread might help you to find new ways to use the mince:

More exciting mince recipes

Pink

randomer

thanks! I guess it's going to be a case of defrost and sniff to discover if it is still OK.
I didn't realise I had to be so careful.

mancbird

Hi, I'm hoping someone will be help to solve an argument in our household!

My OH bought some pies and sausage rolls from the bakery counter at Morrisons. They were reduced at the end of the day and had a USE BY date that was the same day that he bought them. The next day he took the pie and the sausage roll (the day after the USE BY date had expired) to work for his lunch :eek: I said that this wasn't safe and he shouldn't eat them and he's convinced they would be ok to eat as they would have been baked in store that day and so it's just like a BEST BEFORE date :rolleyes:

Can someone please confirm whether or not these pies etc would be safe to eat 1 or 2 days past the USE BY date? He's always doing stuff like this and when I try to tell him the difference between the two types of dates he says I'm being paranoid; I just don't want him to poison himself!

Thanks

atrebor

I ignore best before but am more cautios with use by. Generally if you have a decent sence of smell / taste, you can determine if its over before you injest too much!!

Olliebeak

I think that sometimes the supermarkets 'play it safe' with use by dates.

We've used stuff past it's date - always go by the 'sniff test' followed by a 'nibble test' BEFORE actually consuming .

kalaika

TBH I do this all the time. Buy stuff as it's reduced and then eat it over the next few days, invariable after whatever date is printed on it.

Whatever dates they print on the side are really there as a guide and are there for their own protection from being sued as well as yours. There's no magic involved to say that at 23:59 on the 23rd they'll be fine and at 00:01 on the 24th they're past it.

Just smell it, taste it and if it smells and tasts fine they it's probably fine.

The main downside is that if he takes them for lunch when they're past their date and they are off then he'll have to buy other things (which may not be possible depending on what his job is...)