Storage of Meats Poultry and Seafood

Easily six months. If your freezer is zero degrees or colder, a year or more. the turkey will gradually lose flavor after six months in a 20-degree freezer, and after a year in a zero-degree freezer. In both cases it will still be edible after the alloted time, but it will taste more and more like sawdust as time goes on.

I've eaten lemon custard left out overnight. It was boxed and the edges hadn't started to skin over. Most custard pies are not refrigerated coming from the manufacturer, but fresh pies and opened boxes really should be refrigerated overnight.

If they were found on the chicken immediately after cooking and while it was still warm, the maggots probably came from somewhere else and not the cooked chicken.

Fly eggs can hatch within 24 hours of laying. If the chicken was left out to cool, a fly could have laid eggs on it then.

The key is in how long the food has been kept in the "danger zone" between 40-140 degrees Fahrenheit. Combined, the total time that food is allowed to be in this zone is 4 hours. This includes prep, heating, cooling, and reheating times. After that, how long you hold it hot has more to do with the quality of the food degrading (turning to mush) and less to do with safety.

Unopened, bacon should be good for a week after the expiration date on the package. Bacon is cured, so it should last a week or more. To check for spoilage, check for an off smell, a slimy texture or an extreme change in appearance.

If the beef spare ribs (or any other meat) is wrapped to exclude air and the freezer is very cold, years. Be sure you understand what "rapped tightly" and "very cold" mean here. Check the links below to related questions.

Because bacteria will grow in the meat once it is thawed and then you put it back in the freezer which just hibernates the bacteria - when you bring it out to thaw again the bacteria just multiplies and next thing you know cooking it just doesn't cut it and you could come down with some life threatening food poisoning. If you have thawed meat that you dont want to eat that day you can cook it into a meal and then re-freeze it, this is ok as long as you only reheat the meal once. You can not keep this meals leftovers for another time you will have to throw them out.

You should store meat on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator in either a sealed container or in a dish that can contain any leaking fluids. Once thawed, meat should be cooked within 48 hours for best quality and flavor.

Chicken - if properly packaged and stored consistently at 0°F - should keep for up to a year and maybe even longer. From a microbiological standpoint, no bacteria would grow while it was frozen.

Of course, for it to be safe to eat, the chicken will need to be cooked to the proper temperature.

If the ham is sealed in plastic packaging it can last up to a year in a fridge but if in papet packaging this will last only a week. I currently work for a ham producing company, El Alamo de Jabugo http://www.elalamodejabugo.com/. Check the website for more details.

Because dumplings are cooked with the chicken and broth then on the third day it should be thrown out. If you don't feel you will be eating it again after your first meal of it, put it in Glad Bags or a container and freeze. Frozen meat that has been thoroughly cooked can be frozen again. 'When in doubt, throw it out!'

Foods that are left out in room temperature for more than an hour can begin bacteria growth. Our stomach acids can kill some of these bacterias but not all and some can make you very sick. Keep foods OUT of the danger zone- Above 45 degrees and Below 145 degrees. Between these temperatures bacteria lives and breeds on our foods.

If meat is thawed and allowed out on a warm countertop for a while, bacterial growth will accelerate. Freezing meat doesn't kill most bacteria, it simply slows their growth. Once you take this refrozen meat out again, the bacteria would resume more rapid growth and could more quickly pose a health risk if the meat was not thoroughly cooked.

If the meat has been thawed in the refrigerator and hasn't been ignored for several days, the meat should be safe to refreeze. But there will be a loss in quality. (See Related Links.) It is generally because of that loss in quality that food service professionals don't want thawed meat refrozen.

Other thawing methods pose different problems with regard to refreezing. Proper handling is key to the safety of any food.

Short answer, NO. Even chicken that has been properly frozen (allowed to freeze quickly and from all sides, in proper wrapping or containers, in sub-zero temperatures) only keeps about 6 months to 1 year. Really, the meat you get in the supermarket is only good for that long or shorter even if you freeze it right. If the chicken was cooked before freezing, you would be looking at even less time, probably 2-4 months.

When in doubt, throw it out.

A reasonable rule of thumb is to not exceed two hours unrefrigerated. At that point, it should be reheated or refrigerated. If the ambient temperature is quite warm, then reduce that to 1 hour.

There are many things to consider with frozen food when answering this question. The first one is how long will frozen food stay fresh from a quality standpoint, and how long will it last from a safety standpoint. We will answer the latter first.

Frozen food will last indefinitely! Yes, that's right! As long as the food was safe to eat before you put it in the freezer, and the freezer has maintained a freezing temperature throughout its storage, the food will be completely safe to eat after being defrosted.

Now to answer the first, and more complex question. How long will frozen food stay fresh? This is where it gets a little iffy. Different types of foods keep their quality longer than others. See Related Links for storage time recommendations.

Depending how the raw hamburger has been packaged and handled, it might not be safe to use. Only you, the consumer, can determine whether you should use it.

If the hamburger has been handled and stored properly and looks, smells and feels acceptable, then it is probably OK to cook. Unless it has been stored in a super chill drawer, it is probably starting to turn. It may even have a vinegary fragrance or tang to it due to bacterial growth. You'll have to decide whether it is worthwhile using.

One can find recipes that include leftover ham on websites such as All Recipes, Taste of Home and also on other recipe websites as well. It can also be found in book stores such as Indigo and Chapters.

as long as u want but if it starts getting furry then take it out.

You look at it and think, is this worth having? Does the structure of the meat look precise?

Vacuum packed smoked meat in a plastic package will last 4 to 6 months in the refrigerator if it has not been opened. Vacuum packed smoked meat in the can will last 2 to 3 years or longer. The nice thing about buying groceries today is that most of them come with an expiration date on the package. The "best by" date is usually an estimate, though.

This food will keep for about 5 days in the refrigerator. Place the food in an air tight container for the best results. This food can easily be transferred to the freezer for longer storage time.