Reheating Meat......I'm a bit confused...

[ludaloo]

Sorry...it doesn't take a lot to confuse me! I cooked a chicken last night, Dh camw home late so I left him a plate of veg, chicken and potatoes etc to reheat. I then wasn't sure if I could actually reheat the chicken, so I took it off and he had cold chicken.

But I made a lasagna at the weekend, and froze it to have one night of the week (tonight I decided) Now I am right in thinking this is perfectly ok to reheat??

Are there just certain meats you shouldn't reheat or am I going mad??

Thanks

[ludaloo]

Oh...I did think so....What meats shouldn't you reheat?? Or are they all ok?

[belgianmama]

You can reheat all meat, but what you shouldn't do is cook it, reheat it, let it get cold and then reheat it again IYKWIM.
Also if e.g. you've defrosted some meat and you've got to much then you need to cook it first before you can refreeze it.
Hope you're a bit less confused now

[fannyannie]

You can reheat all meats - but make sure they're reheated to at least 63degrees C

[ludaloo]

I'm not sure what I was thinking of. I thought if you reheated cooked cold meats bacteria could breed....
Did you say I could re freeze the lasagna...or not?

[ludaloo]

Ahhhhhh...I think thats what I was thinking of belgianmama... So its ok as long as the meat is cooked in the first place and I don't reheat it twice...

Phew....I think I left my braincell in the car today!!!!!

[Coolmama]

perfectly okay to re-heat both the chicken and the lasange - What you don't want to do is defrost cooked food, reheat and the re-freeze again - ie only defrost cooked food once. After that, you should bin it.

[fannyannie]

No - you can't refreeze food (unless they've been altered - ie cooked) - but you CAN reheat food ONCE - and it must be above 63degrees reheated. When food is initially cooked it should be cooked to a core temp of 70 (ideally 75) or more........can you tell I did my food hygeine training at work this morning

[ludaloo]

Oh thanks ladies! I'm all clear now!! I shan't be poisoning my family just yet! (I must go find that braincell!!!!)

[Mercy]

It is a bit confusing sometimes ludaloo!

With chicken especially make sure it's piping hot when reheated, - I speak from personal experience of not having done this.

Beef seems to be the safest meat with regard to freezing, reheating etc.

[ludaloo]

The lasagna has reheated fine...I'll just make sure my meat is thoroughly hot

[belgianmama]

Glad I could be of help ludaloo. Found that braincell yet?