To serve up 4 month old (frozen) lamb stew?

[BackToB4Beatrice]

Its def no older as we moved house 4 months ago.

All the guides on the Internet say 3 months, and DP thinks I will be mental to serve it.

Really? It will be fine- won't it?

Och aye it will be fine. I served some chicken from August yesterday and it was lovely. If it's been frozen properly (and wrapped correctly IIRC that's what the three month rule is about, if air is in there the texture can go a bit woolly) it will be fine.

It won't be unsafe but may not taste as good as it would have if you had used it earlier.

We eat stuff older than that fromour freezer. I am sure it will be fine, heated through thoroughly.

PS - if you serve it frozen, it might be a bit crunchy...

I would serve it and wouldn't even think twice about it!!

It'll be fine. As far as I am aware, with frozen food over a long period of time, quality/taste may deteriorate, but it won't make you ill or anything.

D

I was righteously indignant about you feeding a 4 month old baby frozen lamb stew

as you were op...enjoy your lamb stew

as long as you cook it first it should be fine - it may not be at its best texture wise but should still be safe to eat

Totally fine.

Suppermarket sealed raw mince, cooked Stew , Bol etc are absolutely fine.
Scrappily wrapped meat tends to dry out and is best turned into stew.

I thought the same as thegrim .

I would say it depends of how many stars are on your freezer (which temperature is it?)

Thanks! Will eat away.

Grimsweeper- I saw that when I wrote it!! But decided to leave it as I thought more people would open it and comment!

Eurochick- if DP keeps on he will def de getting it frozen

I thought you were serving a 4 month old baby frozen stew as well :o

Be totally fine. I frequently use meals I've frozen and I've no idea how old they are!

I thought you meant for a 4 month old baby too and then with the OP I thought you were saying your OH had found it suggested 3 months on the internet I was about to ask indignantly what sites he'd been on!

Should probably be fine. I've eaten way older stuff.

Grim sweeper - me too! and then I thought that perhaps the OP should cook it first as frozen lamb stew would probably be a bit hard to chew!

OP - so long as it had no freezer burn (where the meat has gone fibrous and paler than it should be) and you reheated it thoroughly it will be absolutely fine. The 3m limit is not because the food will suddenly start growing anything, it is because the structure of the food will start to denature, and freezer burn is the result of this. :)

My sister defrosted & ate some veggie dahl I had made at my mum's house 4 years previously & declared it delicious. :)

I might not risk meat after that long, but your stew should be fine.

Totally OK - my DM serves things from her freezer that are several years months old - she and DF are in their 80s and in excellent health . She recently told me I was extravagent for binning a jar that was best before 2002 !!!

Wait, it's unsafe to eat food that has suffered freezer burn JUST because of the freezer burn?

oops.

Re your 4 month old stew: eat it yourself and let him sort his own lunch/dinner out if he's going to be so paranoid precious. Any chance you can remember when you did cook it?

I don't think freezer burn makes food unsafe - as far as I am aware, it changes the texture/quality of it a bit, but that's all, I though. I'm pretty sure we've eaten freezer burnt meat in the past, and have all survived. Plus I am sure I heard somewhere that, even when frozen, the flavour of a stew can still develop, so it will probably taste as good if not better.

that's right, SDTG - it's just wrong. If you have freezer burn on raw meat, cooking it doesn't make it any better either. The texture is what suffers (but it still won't have anything growing in it!)
Was it my post that made you think it was unsafe, MrsMuddy? If so, please tell me how because I must learn to type more clearly!

see? when I typed "it's just wrong" I meant the texture, nothing else.

I ate 2 year old chicken broth from the freezer two days ago and am still here to tell the tale :)

Enjoy

No problem. Just make sure it's defrosted properly before reheating.

Blimy, eaten stuff out of freezer far, far older than this and still here to tell the tale. Just make sure it's heated thrpugh thoroughly. Waste not, want not and all that. Pip pip.

There are things in my freezer which are older than my children.

Ive never considered the time limits, whoops.

I read your title as 'can I sever a 4 month old [as in, baby] frozen lamb stew'

I was thinking jeez at least thaw it first, poor kid.