Christmas storage of perishable food.

[madmum5811]

A friend of ours has a house full of folk at xmas, so full they are sleeping in the camper van. His turkey is so big, he bought it two days ago he is storing it in the garden. He worries me, the weather forecast is giving warm weather over the next few days.

How do you store a lot of food at xmas?

In a fridge or freezer!

I think I'd have the turkey in the house (I'd be worried about something eating it!) and the veg etc in the garden if I had to put something outside.

We were in our caravan once in a hot June and the fridge died. We kept milk and butter etc in a bucket of cold water under the caravan for three days and it stayed cool and fresh.

The one I bought today is only ok until 26th

I've brined turkey in garage but that seems like a long time outside.....won't a fix or something be eyeing it up?

Well I think any meat products should be in the fridge unless you can guarantee constant cold temp in a garage etc.

I keep veg outside when the fridge is full (I know veg shouldn't really need fridging but we have no space elsewhere)

Turkey could be in the car or a shed, but outside I'd worry about foxes. It's not so far above fridge temp that I'd worry forr 3 days - though given the choice I'd put the potatoes and carrots and parsnips outside instead.

Six days outside with temperature fluctuations is a bit worrying imo.

I put some large sealable plastic boxes outside and put any hardy veg out there (carrots, potatoes, parsnips, cabbage). Also beer/cider/tonic. But unless it’s fox proof, I wouldn’t risk it. Someone lost a couple of pheasants that were hung in their shed (inSW London!) the other night. The foxes are ruthless round here!

And with temps being so high, definitely not meat

I use an outhouse as extra fridge space in winter, but normally can rely on max 5 or 6 degrees. If stuck at 6 - 8 degrees I'd be tempted to use a cool box, outside, with a frozen water bottle in it (in winter) to buy you a few more degrees.

I wouldn't be eating any of that turkey.
Salmonella here we come!

We have an extra fridge-freezer in the garage. Great for this time of year so ours is in there.

I've got a brace of pheasants out in the back yard right now! They turned up hung over the door knob this morning, haven't a clue who left them. They are officially the weirdest present I've had this year. I've already catered Christmas so I suspect I'll let them hang for a couple of days to mature, then fillet the breasts out and freeze. I really don't have time to pluck and draw birds at this time of year... it's a messy job that always seems to take forever. I'm now paranoid though that they're not hanging high enough off the ground to stop vermin getting at them!

Meanwhile OP, if space is running out for meat products, I suggest the cured meats etc - bacon, hams, continental sausages, smoked salmon, gammon, are the ones that stay in the coolest non refrigerated space available. Don't forget all these are things that have been traditionally preserved without refrigeration. Most cheese will also survive quite well, and also any soured milk products. And butter and spread.

It's not going to go off in this weather. We are only 14C. This isn't much higher than the acceptability range for a domestic fridge. So unless you are somewhere much warmer it will be fine.

Remove anything from the fridge that doesn't need to be in there (jars of pickle, veg like cauliflower, potatoes, carrots, cheese, butter, etc etc). Put these in a cool outbuilding, car boot, pantry etc.

If turkey is very large, removing a fridge shelf or two may also help. Reserve precious fridge space for meat, fish, milk, alcohol, mixers etc.

Would actually be more worried about foxes