DD eaten chicken without reheating- will she be ok?!

[lancsgirl85]

Sorry posting for traffic as I'm panicking a bit.

On Friday night I made chicken fajitas and there was chicken leftover so we put it in the fridge in a Tupperware. DD(15) has just informed me she was hungry so made herself a wrap with the chicken on, but didn't reheat it, just ate it cold from the fridge.

Please tell me this safe?! 🙈

Really surprised that you didn't know the answer to this, but we are all different. I won't freeze chicken as don't like the idea of cooking/eating defrosted chicken, likewise I would never heat cooked chicken. Think I've had the safety messages drummed into me a little too hard and now I just don't like messing around with chicken.

We had leftover chicken/peppers/onions from fajitas last weekend. I had it cold in a salad the next day. Lovely!

@titchy @gavisconismyfriend @RewildingAmbridge

Makes sense! Thanks.

But surely you understand that all the ready made chicken wraps and sandwiches sold in supermarkets contain cold, cooked chicken? How would what your DD made at home be any different?

No one here is being ignorant. You are though. You're ignorant of food hygiene.

Cold stops bacteria. Chicken kept cold and within a reasonable time frame is totally safe. High heat kills bacteria too. Chicken heated through to piping hot is totally safe.

It is the in-between stage which is dangerous. If it is allowed to sit out and just be warm or is only heated to warm, then bacteria will breed happily away and can make you ill.

Ther is zero vomit risk from eating cold chicken which was prepared correctly and then kept in the fridge. Thinking otherwise is ignorance of food hygiene.

I think the problem arise if meat, raw or cooked, is left at an unsafe temperature that would allow food poisoning bacteria to grow. Can also be a problem with cooked rice and pasta. Dried is fine, bacteria need water to grow. Just get them in the fridge or freezer. Don't leave them for prolonged periods at room temp. If they're left out, say, overnight it might be best to bin them, even reheating may not make them safe. I let hot foods cool outside the fridge a bit first, probably an overabundance of caution, I don't want the hot food warming up the inside of the fridge.
I'm happy to be corrected if I've got any of this wrong.

@comealongponds

They don't see me "freaking out". I'm on mumsnet freaking out precisely for that reason.
When DD told me I went "oh right... was it nice? Surely would have been nicer heated up?" (Whilst internally panicking and sweating and thinking fuck!!!). Then I came on here. I don't let her see it. She knows of course about my phobia, and she knows why - she's old enough to know. But I know she isn't affected by it enough to worry about being sick in the way I do, because for one she's very adventurous with her food (I'm not), secondly she loves rollercoasters (I won't go near them in case they make me nauseous - in fact I won't step foot in a theme park in case I see someone vomit), and thirdly, if there's a tummy bug doing the rounds I'll be hibernating and washing my hands excessively etc, whereas DD is very much just business as usual and not bothered.... she's a totally different person to me (at least in terms of level of neurosis). And I'm very glad about that.

Warming process allows bacteria to multiply but these are killed at high temperatures or while chilled. If you had left it out at room temperature it would be unsafe.

@MushNoPeas thank you

it’s safer to eat it cold than warmed up.

I’m emetophobic. I never, ever re-heat cooked chicken because of the risk I won’t re-heat it thoroughly enough. But I’ll eat cold chicken that’s been kept in the fridge up to 3 days afterwards.

How is it possible that someone old enough to have a teenager does not know chicken can be eaten cold? There is cold cooked chicken in packets in every supermarket in the country. There must be at least 6 varieties of sandwiches and pastas that contain cold chicken in the same supermarkets.

Much safer to eat cold than to reheat but not get hot enough if you’re hungry and in a hurry. Cold chicken is grand.

I've always thought you can eat it cold but not reheat. Until I came on here and people cook a chicken on Sunday and then reheat bits every day for a week for curries/fajitas/soups. I go as far as a cold sandwich/wrap the next day then its the dogs. I couldn't eat reheated cooked chicken.

What? You can eat cold cooked chicken for days after making it... what do you think is in chicken salads or sandwiches?

I wouldn’t ever reheat chicken once it’s cold - I never trust that I’ve got the temp high enough to make it okay to eat again (if that makes sense?) and always stick to just eating things cold.

food cold is often much nicer! Pizza, lasagna, curry…in fact, more food should be cold 😅

hope you’re feeling better now, OP.

Probably safer than chicken that's not been reheated properly!

But why not?

As long as you are competent in a kitchen and understand temperature then there is zero risk. None.

Your fear is completely treatable.

I get where you are coming from because I am really, really funny about how I will eat fish-more specifically shellfish-because I got food poisoning from restaurant served prawns once and was so, so ill. I am completely irrational about what I consider "safe", its way over the top but I wont eat it otherwise. I also wont order it from a takeaway or restaurant. I know its irrational, but what is the point in forcing myself to get anxious by doing something I am uncomfortable with.

I will happily eat cooked chicken cold the day after I cooked it (so long as kept in the fridge) but will only reheat if its in a sauce and cooked for a while, like in a casserole.

I wouldnt let my children reheat it, in case it wasnt thoroughly reheated. But then again, my teenager decided to try and make macaroni cheese today by putting dried pasta with grated cheese on top in the microwave so perhaps my concern is well founded! 🙈

Totally fine.

So long as your fridge is running at 0-5C yes it's safe (you do have a fridge thermometer... Don't you?)

MN is weird. It took just 7 replies and 2 minutes for the OP to accept that she was wrong and yet there are another 2 pages of people piling on and somehow she is scarring her child 🙄

It's safer to eat it cold than to reheat - unless you are going to really make sure its hot through eg in a casserole, pie, soup type dish.

Should be fine OP. I get it though, handling raw chicken turns me into a Greys Anatomy surgeon passing instruments and scrubbing!

It's fine cold and safer than reheated, as has been said. I do eat reheated chicken- but only in homemade chicken and tarragon soup which I've cooked on a very high heat.

Trauma is a bastard.

That is all.