struggling with defrosting food

Linda32

Calleyw,

With regards to chicken, I buy a chicken from the fridge department and cook this straight away. Then slice into portions and freeze those.

These smaller portions do defrost overnight in the fridge with a view to re-heating in the oven that night.

I re-heat in gravy (if you use bisto) or us for Curry Sauce, If you make your own then use the already cooked chicken. (you know this is already cooked ) I have tried to make curry and I just can't. It becomes a waste of time and money so I buy the jars and re-heat the chicken in that.

Re-heat at gas mark 6 for 30 minutes.

In the summer we have the chicken cold with salads. No problems at all with re-heating then

calleyw

Linda32 wrote: »

Calleyw,

With regards to chicken, I buy a chicken from the fridge department and cook this straight away. Then slice into portions and freeze those.

These smaller portions do defrost overnight in the fridge with a view to re-heating in the oven that night.

I re-heat in gravy (if you use bisto) or us for Curry Sauce, If you make your own then use the already cooked chicken. (you know this is already cooked ) I have tried to make curry and I just can't. It becomes a waste of time and money so I buy the jars and re-heat the chicken in that.

Re-heat at gas mark 6 for 30 minutes.

In the summer we have the chicken cold with salads. No problems at all with re-heating then

Linda,

Thanks for that, but I am paranoid about re-heating meat like that. I will do spag bog because I can get that to boil in the pan.

But reheating over stuff big no no for me.

Yours

Calley x

TonyMMM

It is quite scary how the media and food gurus have made people so terrified of eating anything these days - quite surprising the human race still exists.

Use common sense - Keep raw and cooked foods apart. Use your senses of sight and smell, keep things chilled, if heating them, then re-heat thoroughly.

Chances of poisoning anyone are vanishingly small.

Dicegirly

If I am going to cook it straight away, I generally just defrost things in the microwave (using the defrost settings that is on every microwave I have ever had).


This is usually stuff like a pack of mince, chicken breasts, pork chops, sausages etc. As long as you aren't planning to leave them sitting around and are going to cook them there and then, there is no problem.


I have been doing this for at least 25 years (since I started cooking really) and my mother before me, never had any problems of any kind.

suki1964

calleyw wrote: »

Linda,

Thanks for that, but I am paranoid about re-heating meat like that. I will do spag bog because I can get that to boil in the pan.

But reheating over stuff big no no for me.

Yours

Calley x

Calley, there is nothing to be scared off

You just need to follow basic hygiene rules in a kitchen

Wash hands before and after handling food and in between handling different food stuffs ie: wash your hands after peeling veg and before handling anything else

Use separate boards if at all possible for raw and cooked, if not wash well before using for something else. Same for knives

Store raw and cooked meat in the fridge on separate shelves. Unless you have a dedicated meat locker in the fridge, always store raw meat on the bottom shelf so any drips cant contaminate anything else

Put leftovers in the fridge ASAP. I often put food in thats not 100% cold

Reheating food ( other then rice ) will not kill you. The rule is to reheat thoroughly until it is piping hot . The tip with gravy is fantastic as the gravy will boil and it stops the meat drying out. Same as you reheating Bolognese

Seriously theres plenty of us who have been doing this all our lives and haven't died. Many of us can remember not having fridges and freezers and food was put on a cold shelf in the larder to be reused

You just need to build up a bit of confidence to do it. It will save you a fortune in the long run

Linda32

calleyw wrote: »

Linda,

Thanks for that, but I am paranoid about re-heating meat like that. I will do spag bog because I can get that to boil in the pan.

But reheating over stuff big no no for me.

Yours

Calley x

That is fair enough then Perhaps re-heating was the wrong term. At 30 minutes at gas mark 6, it's bubbling very well