Defrosted a chicken - how long will it last?

daisiegg

Yesterday morning I took a raw chicken out of the freezer. By lunchtime I realised there was no way it would be defrosted in time for dinner so I put it into the fridge - at this point it was still pretty frozen but partially defrosted. Feeling it this morning, it is now fully defrosted.

How long will it last in the fridge now? My fridge is very cold and the chicken was 'in date' when I first froze it.

I know I probably should cook it today but that is not going to be practical, nor is tomorrow - I'm guessing it would not be a good idea to wait until Sunday?

I'm never sure whether defrosted meat needs to be used straight away or has a few days! Any advice would be welcome. I would be roasting it and obviously making sure it was cooked very well with no pink left etc.

HappyMJ

Depends when you put it in the freezer. If you put it in as soon as you purchased it then it would easily last until Sunday. If you waited until there was only a day to go then tomorrow (Saturday) would be the last day you should cook it safely.....but then I always use my nose. If there is no smell then cook it Sunday. Sunday is not that far away and you will be cooking it thoroughly as you say so I don't see much difference between cooking it on Saturday or Sunday. You could cook it Saturday then put it back in the fridge and reheat portions of chicken on Sunday or use the cooked cold meat for other meals.

daisiegg

HappyMJ wrote: »

Depends when you put it in the freezer. If you put it in as soon as you purchased it then it would easily last until Sunday. If you waited until there was only a day to go then tomorrow (Saturday) would be the last day you should cook it safely.....but then I always use my nose. If there is no smell then cook it Sunday. Sunday is not that far away and you will be cooking it thoroughly as you say so I don't see much difference between cooking it on Saturday or Sunday. You could cook it Saturday then put it back in the fridge and reheat portions of chicken on Sunday or use the cooked cold meat for other meals.

Thanks. I definitely froze it the day I bought it as it was in a special offer and I did not plan to cook it that week. It was a couple of weeks ago.

Usually I would be pretty casual about this sort of thing but I understand that being pregnant I need to be a bit more careful to avoid food poisoning!

Lilyplonk

I'm afraid I'd be getting it cooked as soon as possible TODAY - then use it up cold or extremely well re-heated.

Could you perhaps turn some of it into a Chicken Pie / Curry or some other chicken orientated dish to re-freeze?

splishsplash

It's been defrosting over 24 hours, so needs cooking today, I think. Once cooked, you can always portion the meat and freeze it.