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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

AIBU to refuse to eat chicken defrosted this way?

55 replies

SleepRefugee · 22/09/2014 15:51

My MIL tends to buy big packs of 6 chicken breasts, but rarely cooks more than 1 or 2 at a time.

So, the remainder of the open pack (just open, no fresh layer of clingfilm or anything) is put in the freezer and then defrosted by leaving it on a sunny window sill from morning to evening (again, not covered and no plate underneath).

Surely this is just asking for food poisoning? Or am I being too precious, as my MIL likes to imply ("never did anybody any harm", after all...)?

OP posts:

PedlarsSpanner · 22/09/2014 15:52

Ugh yanbu

ArabellaTarantella · 22/09/2014 15:53

Think you are being just leeeeeetle bit precious. I presume she cooks them before serving ?

jenniuol · 22/09/2014 15:53

I would not eat this, no. Yanbu

TheLovelyBoots · 22/09/2014 15:53

That's courting disaster.

nicename · 22/09/2014 15:53

Won't it get freezer burns? Also flies if it's left out. Not the most hygienic but at least she's not defrosting it then freezing it again.

Wellwellwell3holesintheground · 22/09/2014 15:53

Yuck. I would struggle with that. My mil is so paranoid about not cooking sausages enough on the BBQ that she 'starts them off ' in the oven. Several hours earlier. Then leaves them to cool. Yup, she increases the risk as much as she can.

cherrybombxo · 22/09/2014 15:55

Yuck, I wouldn't eat that! I'd like to point out that I'm not precious either, I see expiry dates as a challenge rather than a recommendation and I'll bung anything into the microwave and hope for the best!

Original poster

SleepRefugee · 22/09/2014 15:58

Eek, nicename. She probably wouldn't see anything wrong with refreezing...

Arabella, yes cooked, not served raw . I won't go into her non-existent chopping board hygiene though.

On the other hand, everything does get cooked thoroughly (ie for hours, including veg) in the end - so does that even things out?

OP posts:

formerbabe · 22/09/2014 15:58

Yuck! I am extremely paranoid about chicken though! I always put it in a bowl with cling film and defrost it in the fridge.

NorwaySpruce · 22/09/2014 15:58

That sounds OK to me.

They were frozen, then defrosted (ok, on the window sill..), then cooked.

Has anyone ever actually been poisoned by your MIL?

rembrandtsrockchick · 22/09/2014 16:09

Give your ma in law this tip...open the pack, put each breast in a small freezer bag and tie it up, freeze, use as needed.

I wouldn't eat them the way she does it.

OrangeFluff · 22/09/2014 16:58

Speaking as a chef, I'm surprised that the chicken didn't spoil in the freezer without sealing it properly. She also should've covered the chicken when it was taken out of the freezer to defrost. Leaving it in the sun is also not ideal and should have been left in the fridge.

BUT even after all of that, you should be fine to eat it as long as it is cooked properly and to a temperature of over 75 degrees. There is a reason we serve food hot-it kills the bacteria!

AdmitYouKnowImRight · 22/09/2014 16:59

She has been doing this a thousand years, yes? has any one died? or got a shits from her cooking? Cooking thoroughly will kill anything.

IsItMeOr · 22/09/2014 17:05

So long as it's cooked through properly, it's probably fine.

If it's not covered in the freezer though, I would imagine the freezer burn would make the end result a little...unpalatable??

Peppa87 · 22/09/2014 17:05

Yanbu. Chicken is nasty when it causes food poisoning.

AMumInScotland · 22/09/2014 17:09

Cooking doesn't get rid of toxins that the food-poisoning bugs have created, so it doesn't guarantee everything will be fine...

Is she out at work? I'd think it would be better to poke at it from time to time and transfer it to the fridge once it has defrosted, rather than leave it there to get warm...

OrangeFluff · 22/09/2014 17:10

Yanbu. Chicken is nasty when it causes food poisoning.

Chicken can give you food poisoning if it is undercooked. The OP has said that her MIL cooks the chicken thoroughly so this isn't an issue.

Momagain1 · 22/09/2014 17:23

I am a chef too, and if you recall some food poisoning isn't from the bacteria itself, (which cooking kills) but from toxins the bacteria shat out, which is just as poisonous hot as it was cold.

That said, she is taking a risk, but it is possible she has always been lucky.

On the other hand, a lot of people her age don't recognise food poisoning when they see it. Not everybody that ate a particular meal will be affected with dramatically humongous symptoms. The least bit of a 'bad tummy', or '24 hour bug' or 'stomach flu' or any number of euphemisms for a mild case of nausea or diarrhoea may well be related to her food handling habits. Various mild headaches, sleepyness and 'funny turns' may also be the result of contaminated food.

Possibly you can to try to connect her food handling habits with her or other family member's complaints and it might change things, eventually. Meanwhile so long as everyone is healthy, the risk she is creating is minor, no one is actually likely to be more than a mildly inconvenient level of illness, if any. You might want to avoid what she has cooked if you are pregnant, and to declare your small children can only cook these very special meals you have made your very own self and brought. That creates another category of risk, both of illness and eye-rolling from the family, but it does put you in control. As she and FIL age, they are more at risk, but, that's their problem.

TheFilthiestPersonAlive · 22/09/2014 17:39

Yuck. She's playing chicken roulette.

My MIL is pretty lax about stuff like this, too. I remember her unpacking the shopping one lunchtime and she put a joint of beef to sit in the cold oven for the next day! And another time when sausages and steak from dinner were left in the oven for 24 hours before being eaten cold the next night. Both times were during the summer when it was well over 30 degrees outside. I just make sure the DCs and I quietly avoid it.

Interestingly though, DH has never had food poisoning.

Original poster

SleepRefugee · 22/09/2014 17:58

She is in her 80s - I suspect there have been cases of mild food poisoning but a connection would not have been made.

OP posts:

MrsHathaway · 22/09/2014 18:02

I was about to come on and say "meh, as long as she isn't just leaving it on a sunny window ledge all day" ...

YANBU.

TheLovelyBoots · 22/09/2014 21:11

Yes, I clicked on this thread prepared to deliver a punchline like, "food hygiene has gone mad! enough is enough!".

I have to admit, the OP's MIL has breached my salmonella tolerance level.

Aeroflotgirl · 22/09/2014 21:15

Nothing wrong with that. She should put a plate under it and cover it so flies don't get on whilst it's defrosting. I've been doing thus for tears and never had food poisoning. As long as it's nit left out very long, or just lying enough to defrost and is cooked thoroughly, what's tge problem!

NCIS · 22/09/2014 21:15

I think the toxins are only present in bacteria with lives in things like rice. Chicken would be fine but may not taste as good as it should.

Aeroflotgirl · 22/09/2014 21:16

No I don't leave on a sunny window sill, mire like ontology of my induction stove so it's not too in the sun.

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