to eat this chicken or will I kill everyone?

[Megatron]

I bought a cooked chicken today at about half one. It was too hot to put in the fridge when I got home so I put it in the (cool but not cold) utility room to cool down a bit. I forgot all about it til about half an hour ago. I was going to serve it hot tomorrow but now I'm worried that I'd poison everyone. I have NO time tomorrow which is why I bought a flipping cooked one in the first place but now I'll probably have to go out and buy something else! I'm a bit paranoid about these things so ... do I eat it or bin it?

[JeezyOrangePips]

It'll be fine, I think.

[HeinousHecate]

no, it'll be fine. I'd eat it.

[squeakytoy]

it will be absolutely fine.. how do you think people managed before fridges! they didnt eat everything immediately after cooking it..

[CwtchesAndCuddles]

As long as you make sure it is steaming hot it should be fine as you will kill off any bugs, don't just warm it.

[MoonlightandWerewolves]

As long as it's properly re-heated to kill off any potential nasties, and there's no-one with a weak or compromised immune system visiting, it will be fine not that I'm the type just to eat it as is after that length of time or anything...-

[LongTimeLurking]

I wouldn't risk it in the middle of the summer but now it is coolish weather I would say it will be fine... Christmas turkey probably sits around on the table longer than that and people still eat the left overs for days after....

Just make sure you reheat it RED hot, not just lukewarm.

[Megatron]

Aw crap. I wanted everyone to say it would be fine! I do have one just out of hospital and I really don't want to put them back in there! I'm really pissed off with myself it's a massive big fucker and cost me £8!

[squeakytoy]

just serve it cold then.. it will be perfectly ok to eat.

we only have a small fridge and at xmas when we have a turkey, it gets cooked and lives in the (switched off) oven covered with foil for the next three days while everyone picks at it to make sandwiches.. nobody has ever been ill yet in the last 40 years..

[marriedinwhite]

It will be fine to serve cold.

Or, if you want it hot casserole it. Soften some onions, take all the meat from the bones and add it, put in a bit of chicken stock and a glass of white wine, add some salt and pepper and some tarragon, some halved button mushrooms and bung it in the oven for an hour. After an hour stir in some cream or creme fraiche - serve with some rice and some green veg - yum

[Alliwantisaroomsomewhere]

Heat it properly. It will be fine.

[MoonlightandWerewolves]

How about just get a single fresh breast for the one out of hospital, and dish up the other one for everyone else?

Should cover all angles then.

[iago]

Serve it cold with hot veg an gravy if you are worried - but I grew up in pre-fridge days and none of us died. Well, obviously some did, but not because of reheated poultry!

[squeakytoy]

My mums Aunt never had a fridge in her life, right up until the day she died, at the age of 93 in the 1990's.

Every Sunday she would cook a chicken, and it would last her for the rest of the week.

I am always careful to keep things covered, as it is the flies on food that concern me more than something not refridgerated for a while.

[TinyDancingHoofer]

I'd eat it.

[PoptartPoptart]

I wouldn't eat it personally, but then I have a terrible fear if being sick, therefore I don't take any chances at all. I'd rather it go to waste than eat something that might potentially make me vomit

[Birdsgottafly]

I wouldn't reheat it, i would serve it cold, to be on the safe side.

I get ill easily but i would still eat it cold. If i ate it hot, it would probably make me sick.