Useless Father Bought Xmas Meat Today (Tues 19th)

[Smerk]

Just want a sanity check here. We're hosting Xmas for 10 adults and 2 small children (as usual). My dad's one contribution to this is ordering the meat from his local butcher for me or him to collect close to Christmas.

After chasing him up for a week asking if he'd managed to order the beef joint and pigs in blankets, he finally confirms today that be has bought it all and it's currently sitting in his fridge.

When I expressed concern that it's not going to last until next Tuesday, he replied:
"The butcher said it'll be fine. The pigs were frozen and my fridge is cold."

I thought that you had 24 hours to eat something that was defrosted. I also thought that meat was good in the fridge for only 3-4 days. I am very concerned that if we wake up on Xmas Day and it's turned, we're absolutely fucked. I'm also worried that we're going to make my elderly in-laws and breastfeeding SIL sick.

We can't refreeze the pigs if they've already been frozen. I don't particularly want to eat a frozen joint, but maybe I should tell him to stick it in his freezer and I'll buy a replacement of everything. Money is not an issue but the waste makes me sick.

AIBU to rebuy all the Christmas meat?

Man he must love coming to your house, I’m betting this isn’t the first time you’ve done something like this to undermine him. Useless ? Nah it’s just you

Cook the pigs and then freeze them, and freeze the beef if you don't think it will last til Monday.

The beef can be frozen and defrosted on Sunday to cook on Monday. We bought a beef joint in Waitrose yesterday that is dated for 31st - but I wouldn't trust from butchers longer than a couple of days before cooking . If the PIBs were frozen they could be cooked and either eaten now or frozen to be eaten as a cold snack on a later date . I would get some more PIBs from the chiller and freeze until Sunday .

Omg. This is beyond silly.

We’ll take it.
we’re having spaghetti bolognese for Christmas dinner because we are flat broke 🤷‍♀️

I admit I haven't read all nine pages on this post but in case it hasn't already been pointed out, Christmas day is Monday. Or are you entertaining on Boxing Day? The meat needs to be unwrapped and placed on a plate or dish at the bottom of the fridge - not tightly wrapped in polythene. A loose sheet of greaseproof paper placed over the top and it should be fine.

Beef will be fine.

Please don't call your dad useless. There are so many people who don't have their dad anymore or who (like me) have a dad who is a shadow of himself and cannot do anything for themselves such as going to the butchers after nearly dying. Christmas is only spoiled in my opinion if people aren't together.

I bought a fresh turkey today, the use by date is 26 December. Your meat should be fine. You can cook the pigs and freeze them.

Yup speaking as a person who he recently had food poisoning while breastfeeding, it’s the most godawful thing ever and not to be risked for your SIL or anyone else. If you have the money, buy more meat and use this stuff another time. Then you don’t need to worry.

im also like you in the sense I rarely eat meat, (husband is veggie) and also get very stressed about preparing it and cleaning the kitchen after preparing it (as I do cook it for my kids). It’s just difficult to do things you’re not used to. Lots of people on this thread seem very knowledgeable about meat as of it’s common knowledge but it’s not necessarily.

I bought all my Xmas meat today, all had dates of between 28th Dec & 2nd Jan, it's all in my fridge waiting patiently.

So it's a week in the fridge? Beef should be fine, it's meant to be hung anyway otherwise it is tough. Freeze the pigs in blankets if you think it necessary, they will be fine, the 'do not refreeze' business is to stop people from taking things out of the freezer, defrosting them, and then putting them back several times, which is dangerous - but most of us are buying pigs in blankets from the chilled shelves and keeping them in the fridge till Monday (having bought them the previous Monday).

I used to work in a butchers and a lot of the meat was frozen then sold defrosted. Commercial freezer are far cooler than domestic and that is why it is fine to do, and fine for consumers to refreeze it.

There is no risk of food poisoning from beef being kept in the fridge from Tuesday to Tuesday. Most of the meat on sale is 'use by 28th' at the very least. Dad's bought the meat - say thank you nicely and be glad he is still around, my father died when I was in my thirties and I still miss him after thirty years.
NB The vegetarian thing, my ex-DH was vegetarian (suddenly became so without consulting me). I cooked vegetarian food and also meat. I did not have hysterics about cleaning my kitchen afterwards - wash the chopping board, if used, in hot soapy water, ditto any knives. What else is there to clean up?

We order meat from the butcher usually for collection Christmas Eve. However, often they seem to vacuum pack some of the meat so it is fine for earlier collection. So it may be ok.

This thread is insanity. There’s no wonder we as a nation waste so much food.

I voted YABU because the way you speak about your father is quite frankly disgusting!

This! Well said 👍

100 per cent. what is the issue with freezing food? some re education needed for some people

Absolutely no need to do this, what a total waste.
Cook the pigs now and then freeze them, heat them up on the day. If his butcher (and the butchers on here seem to concur) says the beef will be fine, then it will be as long as it's stored properly.
And OP that was generous of your Dad - whatever's happened before, hopefully you can be grateful for his generosity this year.

It will all be fine.

The beef will be fine and had he bought it any later it would be the same beef just would’ve been in the butcher’s fridge rather than your dad’s so zero difference.

Sausage and bacon was a way of preserving meat to last longer so those too will be fine and again would still have been the same item whether bought today or Tuesday. They don’t make sausage and bacon every day so it’s ‘fresh’.

The butcher ie the expert has said it will be fine so no idea why you are ranting on MN.

If you are anxious about the pigs then cook now, freeze and defrost and brown on the day.

You sound incredibly ungrateful and hard work.

It’s as if people think the freezer is a machine which introduces bacteria into food 🤷‍♀️ It’s the defrosting at room temperature for ages which is the problem. Going backwards and forward between freezer and fridge is no issue apart from texture if you do it too many times

It’s fine to thaw and refreeze as long as things are cooked in between eg minced beef and frozen portions of lasagne - basic food safety

Just freeze the beef.

Refreeze it all

You can refreeze raw without having to have cooked it