Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3

Original poster

Am I wrong about frozen turkey from butcher?

51 replies

Irishgurl · 28/12/2019 19:26

We collected our turkey early Christmas Eve from our local butcher. It cost £93 for a bird of slightly over 141b. I was given a time to collect it from dates of 23rd or 24th. The weight and dates were tied to the outside of the leg (farm date 22nd December,to be eaten by 28th December). When I unpacked it, there was another ticket inside saying the farm date was 21st November, to be eaten by 28th November. We presume that this means that the turkey was frozen and defrosted prior to our buying it? AIBU thinking that the butcher presented it as a fresh turkey not a frozen one? I could have bought a lovely frozen turkey for far less if that is what I had wanted. And I wouldn't have had to queue up on Christmas Eve. I was unsure of freezing any of the meat as I didn't know for sure how long it had been defrosted. Am I being stupid and are all turkey's from the butcher actually defrosted ones?

OP posts:

Swisskit · 28/12/2019 19:28

Sounds more like they just wrote November instead of December?

daffyducked · 28/12/2019 19:29

Yes I would complain. You could have re frozen it and made someone very ill.

Original poster

Irishgurl · 28/12/2019 19:30

Really? It's quite an important mistake to make on such an expensive food item?

OP posts:

Spam88 · 28/12/2019 19:32

Freezing the meat once it's cooked is fine even if it had been frozen raw though.

Original poster

Irishgurl · 28/12/2019 19:32

I am paranoid about making someone ill at Christmas!

OP posts:

midnightmisssuki · 28/12/2019 19:33

Could it be mistaken writing?

alibongo5 · 28/12/2019 19:33

I would expect a turkey bought from a farm to be fresh not frozen. Odd about the dates.

Btw you can freeze frozen meat after it has been cooked but that's not the point.

Original poster

Irishgurl · 28/12/2019 19:34

I know you can freeze the cooked meat but I didn't know when it had been thawed . And it isn't what I had been led to imply that I had bought. £93 for a frozen turkey and queue up on the busiest day of the year? Great!

OP posts:

StarlingsInSummer · 28/12/2019 19:34

I wouldn’t be happy with that. Did you keep the tags/take photos? Have you been able to call the butcher? If it explicitly said it was a fresh bird when you were ordering, I’d be asking for a refund of some description.

As an aside, we spent nearly £70 on a pre-ordered bird from a supermarket, which when we opened it to roast we discovered had a nasty great cyst/tumour on the breast. I contacted customer services and they’re reimbursing us...

damnthatanxiety · 28/12/2019 19:35

Do you still have the tickets? I hope so. Take them and complain. Take a photo of them also. Always retain evidence. If it was being sold as fresh and it was frozen then it is a trading standards issue.

Original poster

Irishgurl · 28/12/2019 19:35

It was a typed ticket with a code. Same code on both tickets but different dates.

OP posts:

Original poster

Irishgurl · 28/12/2019 19:37

Yes, I kept the tickets. I feel a bit deceived.

OP posts:

Thelnebriati · 28/12/2019 19:37

Do you have the ticket? Ask the butcher for details of the supplier who reared the bird. If your butcher gets at all evasive mention you are going to talk to Trading Standards as well.

SarahAndQuack · 28/12/2019 19:38

I think it's slightly cheeky of the butcher not to say whether it's been pre-frozen, but I wouldn't think it's a hygiene risk. If it has been frozen in a commercial context, it will have been frozen fast and according to strict rules. That's different from home freezing.

Some food I would expect to be frozen. All fatty birds (duck, goose, etc.) take well to it, and I would never be too surprised if one of those had been pre-frozen; game birds such as pheasant may well have been shot some time before. I've often found pheasant on sale long out of season, because it freezes so well.

Original poster

Irishgurl · 28/12/2019 19:39

The butcher is closed until after new year. I know them well and will go in and query it. I'll wait until it is quiet as I don't want to speak in front of other customers (in case there is another explanation).

StarlingsInSummer- What a horrible thing to happen.

OP posts:

Tetran · 28/12/2019 19:40

I would ask the butcher for that price, nearly £100 and if it is the case that it was frozen rather than it being a typo, misled.

misspiggy19 · 28/12/2019 19:42

It’s deceiving- you paid for a fresh turkey not a frozen one that has been defrosted.

Original poster

Irishgurl · 28/12/2019 19:43

Thank you for the advice. I know it isn't a major problem compared to some of the Christmas problems on here. But I'm not comfortable paying that money for a frozen turkey.

OP posts:

ClashCityRocker · 28/12/2019 19:48

They should certainly have made you aware that it was not suitable for refreezing if that was the case.

I know a few people this year who have been hit by bugs and put their fresh turkey in the freezer to have once they've recovered...i know you can refreeze once it's been cooked.

SarahAndQuack · 28/12/2019 19:59

Sorry if I am being thick, but have you explained yet why you thought it was fresh in the first place?

Spitsandspots · 28/12/2019 20:24

I was wondering if the butcher specified ‘fresh’ or just had a sign ‘order your turkey for Christmas.
I was also thinking it was a dating error.....until I googled & got this

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7794155/Supermarkets-conning-shoppers-paying-fresh-turkeys-slaughtered-November.html

StarlingsInSummer · 28/12/2019 20:27

@Irishgurl, it was pretty gross. We didn’t have much alternative so we did eat the other breast but no one fancied the breast with the cyst! Luckily I had a gammon in the freezer for Boxing Day as there was no turkey left for sandwiches from the good breast. On the plus side the retailer was very reasonable about it (I took photos and had my receipt etc).

ivykaty44 · 28/12/2019 20:34

I used a butcher a few years ago for a fore rib of beef, they had cut it into a triangle so we basically got 3

Never returned, it had been cut wrong on purpose & we knew. They lost our trade

Since then we’ve brought lamb from the supermarket

Go in and ask but it looks like it was a frozen turkey

Original poster

Irishgurl · 28/12/2019 20:58

SarahAndQuack

I assumed it was fresh not frozen as they only sell fresh meat. I have bought meat there for years and frozen food has never mentioned. I certainly expect it to be fresh at that price per pound. In the supermarket you sometimes see that food has been previously frozen and I assumed that this was a trading stipulation? There was nothing on the packaging that said it had been frozen, just the different date tags. Obviously I will raise it with the butcher and see what he says about it. before deciding if I take my custom elsewhere..
As someone has pointed out, the possibility existed that we didn't actually eat the bird at Christmas and froze the uncooked carcass (inadvertently for the second time) .My MIL is low immunity due to chemo and could have contracted food poisoning. It surely should be advertised if it has previously been frozen?

OP posts:

MondeoFan · 28/12/2019 21:13

I wouldn't be happy with that either, especially if it was advertised as fresh or as you say in your mind they don't sell frozen stuff. I think it probably was previously frozen and they've been a bit sneaky.
I used to work in Sainsburys years ago and people used to complain about the prawns as they were advertised as fresh but had a sticker on stating they'd been previously frozen

Flip

1 2 3