Settle an argument for me. Do you do this...

[PinkBalloon123]

When cooking frozen food, chips or a birds eye breaded chicken etc. I just whack it in the oven for half an hour job done. But...

do you heat the oven up first?

Never preheated in my life.

Pre heating for frozen food is EXTREMELY wasteful. Why on Earth would you waste the oven heat?

@Oysterbabe

I'm surprised to see so many preheaters.
I always gently mock DH for being such a square and following instructions to the letter.
'come on live a little, stick it in now' grin

Yes, but what do you do with the oven?

How many of you let your meat or chicken reach room temperature before you put it in the oven? Or do you put it in straight from the fridge? That is more likely to cause food poisoning if you are following the time guidelines to the minute.

Depends what meat it is. Red meat etc I allow to come to room temperature as there is very little risk of bacteria which is why you can eat it rare. chicken an poultry should be cooked from the fridge into a hot oven or pan to minimise any increase in bacteria. That is more common in poultry hence the reason that you don't eat it rare and why you should pre heat your oven.

I'm slightly cavalier with use by dates on occassion, but never with poultry or seafood.

And I would never put meat into a cold oven anyway, that's a terrible way to cook meat. It should always go straight into a high heat then be reduced.

I almost always preheat the oven, though I may put the food in a bit early if it's taking forever to fully heat up and I'm in a hurry. If using the toaster oven to reheat pizza, sometimes I'll wait and sometimes not.

I don't let meat come to room temperature, though it may sit out a short while before I cook it, depending on how long the prep takes. We either cook the heck out of it (not really fans of rare meat) or use a food thermometer to make certain it reaches a safe temperature.

I don't think we've ever made ourselves sick with undercooked meat. (Knock on wood...)

I think if you not a very confident cook and are petrified of poisoning people I can understand why you'd preheat and follow the cooking instructions to the letter - if I did that my food would more often than not be overcooked - which I am none too keen on! I never serve up food without checking that it is cooked - whether you need thermometre or you can do it by eye (juices run clear in a chicken) - it produces better results that slavishly following cooking instructions - because our ovens are all different.

Always. Isn’t the idea that frozen food straight into a hot oven kills the bacteria. Frozen food put into a cold oven that warms gradually, doesn’t kill the bacteria as effectively, even if you add a few minutes on to the end.

Same idea as putting hot water onto powdered formula and then cooling, as opposed to putting cold water in with the powder and then heating up afterwards?

Isn’t the idea that frozen food straight into a hot oven kills the bacteria. Frozen food put into a cold oven that warms gradually, doesn’t kill the bacteria as effectively, even if you add a few minutes on to the end. I think you overestimate bacteria's ability to multiply - if they were that good, we'd all be screwed! There is a place for food safety if course but it seems that a lot of people take it a bit too far - still it's their overcooked food.

I am a confident cook, and I know about food safety and I don't necessarily follow the instructions to the letter but this is about basic food safety. There is very little chance of getting ill putting chips or margarita pizza in to a cold oven straight from the freezer or fridge, but they just won't be as nice as intended. Don't fuck about with meat especially poultry or seafood.

There are basic food hygiene and safety rules to keep people from getting ill, they aren't made up for no reason. and don't get me started on chicken washers

Isn’t the idea that frozen food straight into a hot oven kills the bacteria. Frozen food put into a cold oven that warms gradually, doesn’t kill the bacteria as effectively, even if you add a few minutes on to the end

Leaving some frozen food in a warming up oven for ten minutes (ie. the time you'd wait for the oven to heat up) is going to cause any problems in a healthy person!

I mean, frozen food in supermarkets is often left on trolleys and cages for upto 20 minutes (and probably longer though 20 mins was the maximum allowed where I worked) while shelves are being stacked and that's considered fine.

No I don't but I always add another ten minutes on the cooking time

"The hyperbole of people saying they are 'shocked' 'flabbergasted' and 'astonished' grin and the pointed comments 'you can tell when an oven isn't pre-heated' are brilliantly snobby."

More importantly, it is emerging that it's only possible to tell if the unpreheated oven is not preheated by a MIL.

What about chicken washers?

There are basic food hygiene and safety rules to keep people from getting ill, they aren't made up for no reason. They are mostly designed for idiots. Putting chicken into an unheated fan oven that will reach 180C in 5 -10 mins is not going to kill anyone...and if it does the chicken is off to begin with.

It's massively wasteful or frozen food. I do preheat for stuff like Yorkshire puddings though as otherwise they'd never rise.

I do preheat for stuff like Yorkshire puddings though as otherwise they'd never rise. I agree and baking pizzas from scratch - but not bread, cold oven actually helps it rise a little more.

Never. Wouldn't occur to me to do it. But I don't take any notice of cooking times on boxes or packets. I just bung stuff in and get it out when I think it's ready. Still alive.

I might put food in before it's up to temperature but I set the timer from the time it reaches the temperature.

Frozen food I throw in the oven, 30 mins later it's all done.

DH reads the instructions every fucking time heats the oven up, puts the items in at different times, takes an hour over it and wonders why some bits are cooked and some aren't.

Easy DH, you're over thinking it. Whack in and and forget about it for half an hour.
Job done.

I've lost count how many times I've said this. I have to leave the kitchen now and bite my tongue.

It depends on what I'm cooking,jacket spuds go in cold meat and baking on preheat.