Reheating frozen chicken twice?

[Rarewaxwing]

Can you defrost a chicken casserole, heat it up to eat, then save any leftovers in the fridge and reheat again for dinner the next night?

I thought you could only reheat chicken (or any meat) once after defrosting. My mother insists it's fine to reheat it as many times as you want (and has clearly been doing this and thriving for many years).

I can't find a straight answer on Google. Does anyone know?

When I was a student I got salmonella poisoning from a reheated chicken casserole. I was extremely ill, with a high fever, for over a week. That said, I can't remember if the casserole had been put in the fridge after the first meal, or just left on the stovetop (too long ago). Since then I've been obsessive about not reheating meat so I'd advise not to eat your reheated casserole, but maybe someone can give you a more scientific answer.

Nah don’t do it. I’m a nurse and food poisoning can be horrendous!

Thanks both. I've decided not to have it, which has upset my mum, who hates any change of plan. But I recently recovered from abdominal issues and can't risk any infection.

I'm cooking myself scrambled eggs instead.

Im w your mum. Heard Tim Spector talking about this recently who said we are all way too concerned about small risks w leftovers, and nowhere near concerned enough about pesticide and herbicide residues…

But given you’ve been unwell it sounds like you wanted to be sure all would be ok, and scrambled eggs are v comforting…

@Pipeskeepleaking - I'm aware Mum cooks like this all the time and has not suffered for it, so I'd probably be fine. But even a small risk of illness worries me after my recent issues (particularly when I'm currently far from home). And yes, as you say, scrambled eggs are very comforting 😊.

You can freeze raw chicken, cook it and refreeze it

you shouldn't cook raw chicken, freeze it, then refreeze it

iuswim