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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

I have the most stupid DH on MN

656 replies

magicstar1 · 06/04/2018 20:39

DH cooked dinner tonight and had some sausages on his plate along with dinner. I commented on how strong they smelled and asked where he got them. He laughed and said “from the bin”.
Last night I was checking the fridge and at the back found a pack of leek sausages dated April 1st...the pack had swelled right up and bubbles were oozing out the side, so I threw them out. These are what he’s just eaten!
Now he burping away and I can’t believe he’s that thick!
AIBU to make him sleep with a bucket tonight Angry

OP posts:
Weedsnseeds1 · 07/04/2018 17:25

Bluntness
Micro-oganisms tend to need quite specialist conditions for growth
As a rule of thumb keep food hot or cold and you will control most pathogens, bit there are other barriers or hurdles that can be used alone or in combination to control them. Salt, sugar, acid, reducing water content, removing oxygen availability, chemical preservatives etc.
That's why something like a salami can be kept at room temperature even though it is raw meat - because it's fermented so acid is produced, dried, so available water reduced and salted.
Some organisms have evolved to cope with hostile environments though and can survive and multiply in conditions that would inhibit or kill most others.
In our sausage example, we have OP's description of bulging packaging and fizzing. Fizzing implies fermentation, so most likely lactic fermentation as sausages are prone to this, or possibly a yeast. Either way we have either acid or alcohol being produced, both of which will inhibit most bacteria. Sausages are also usually high salt and may have some spices, many of which also have natural anti-microbial properties. Also often nitrates, nitrites or other preservatives.
The bulging also implys packed in some sort of modified atmosphere packaging ( oxygen replaced with other gases), which would reduce or prevent growth of a lot of pathogens.
In a reduced oxygen atmosphere, you have to worry about your anearobic spore formers though, many of which are pretty nasty. Think of them as a seed or egg which will "hatch" producing toxins as they do so. Both spores and toxins are heat stable, so not destroyed by normal cooking and don't need oxygen to survive. But the additional salt, acid etc will help reduce the risk. ( This is why low acid canned foods need retort processing, but something acid like tomatoes need a much less aggressive thermal process).
So even though sausages were at room temperature in the bin, the reduced oxygen, increases acid / alcohol and high salt / preservatives would still control anything too sinister going on.
OP's DH then scavanges them from the bin and cooks them, killing off our friendly lactobacillus / yeast, but having inadvertently produced a pH controlled cooked meat product, that, provided he doesn't come up with any other bright ideas, like using Tupperware that was storing raw chicken as his lunchbox without washing it, should be stable enough for a trip to the office and back, particularly if he put it in the fridge while he was there.
He made a lucky choice when selecting his bin meal, but it goes without saying, don't try this at home!

Bluntness100 · 07/04/2018 17:32

Ooh that's interesting, thank you. I understand, effectively the acid or alcohol they were producing, coupled with the existing salt and then cooking would both inhibit and kill any nasty bacteria, as such he's likely to get away with it.

Lucky him..,,😍

Weedsnseeds1 · 07/04/2018 17:43

But I can assure you this is not how the food industry develop new products, it's a rather more controlled process.
This was more a case of serendipitously picking the one item in the bin that would protect him from his own self harming impulses, rather than poison him,I think!

Weedsnseeds1 · 07/04/2018 17:45

Although obviously, there's still time for him to keel over, bin diving isn't an exact science Grin

SinceWhenDid · 07/04/2018 17:53

I recently ate a chicken part that was 2 days out of date.

After I had eaten it I realised it had been in a car for a day and two nights.Envy

I was totally fine.

SinceWhenDid · 07/04/2018 17:53

Pasty not part

nonevernotever · 07/04/2018 18:30

Thanks weeds -fascinated by that (genuinely)

Cellardoor23 · 07/04/2018 18:58

🤢 This reminds me of the time I threw a small block of cheese that had gone off in the bin. The smell was awful. Then my dog decided to go in the bin and eat it. I thought I was going to be sick. She was fine thankfully, apart from a bit of a dodgy stomach and the most horrendous farts for a couple of days 😷

kiwimummy11 · 07/04/2018 19:00

Weeds, not wishing to derail the thread, but I have a (probably dumb) question. I have a shop-bought chicken pie in the freezer that I didn't notice the date on and only put in there a few days after the use by date. Is that a definite chuck-it? Thanks!

flowerslemonade · 07/04/2018 19:00

How is your DB (dear bird) doing?

magicstar1 · 07/04/2018 19:13

Not a bother on him. He's had breakfast and lunch, and about to have dinner. I can't believe it ... Well I can after Weed's brilliant explanation Smile

OP posts:
HelpTheTigers · 07/04/2018 19:14

Weeds Flowers thanks for the info!
If you are tempted to change your name, would you mind keeping this one for similar gems in future please?
That was one of the best posts I've read for ages (apart from the feminism posts that I'm now completely enamoured by!).
Thank you Grin

SchoolMoney · 07/04/2018 19:15

I really thought the update was going to be
'It has begun'
and then nothing else!!!

AccidentallyRunToWindsor · 07/04/2018 19:18

This thread has made me feel so ill Confused

DeniseRoyal · 07/04/2018 19:20

I think I am going to be sick...dirty bastard...Shock

babyno5 · 07/04/2018 19:25

As long as they were cooked thoroughly he won’t cone to any real harm-apart from feeling a bit gassy-as head of good safety for one of UK’s leading sausage manufacturers I’m pretty well qualified to say that!
I would however question why he felt the need to go all Freegan in his own home 😂😂

babyno5 · 07/04/2018 19:25

Food not good safety 😂

gildashairflick · 07/04/2018 19:28

I've told my OH about this and he has the predictable manly respect for him Hmm

YoohooDorothy · 07/04/2018 19:30

I knew he would be fine. What he did was disgusting but there were some ott responses about packing a hospital bag!

MumsTheWordYouKnow · 07/04/2018 19:31

I actually can’t believe he didn’t get ill Confused must have innards of steel. You really can die from food poisoning.

Gilead · 07/04/2018 19:34

Found that really informative, Weeds, thank you!

babyno5 · 07/04/2018 19:36

@yoohoodorothy out of interest what brand of sausages? Purely professional interest 😂😂

Weedsnseeds1 · 07/04/2018 19:40

If it was only 2 or 3 days kiwi yes it'll be fine. The filling will have been produced in a high risk area, with additional controls in place.
Just reheat thoroughly.
I wonder if I have met you in real life *babyno5", it's a fairly incestuous industry Grin

elbowlicker · 07/04/2018 19:42

I just made a banana cake from the black bananas my husband put in the bin!! Would definitely draw the line at bloated oozing sausages though Shock

Prokupatuscrakedatus · 07/04/2018 19:47

@weedsnseeds1
That was a very clear explanation even a chemical nitwit like me could understand. Thank you Smile
(I probalby would have opend and smelled the sausages before deciding to bin them and decided from there....)