Could you have eaten this?

[autienotnaughty]

So ils did a massive turkey Xmas day and a ham joint Boxing Day. We visited for a few days from Boxing Day onwards, on Boxing Day we had the turkey reheated along with the ham. For the remainder of our visit the turkey and the ham came out at every breakfast and lunch and sat on the table for an hour or so with everyone (approx 10 adults and children) touching it. We also had a turkey and ham carbonara one evening.
On the 29th of December fil bagged the remaining meat up and froze it.
We got invited to Sunday dinner yesterday and guess what we had? Turkey and ham pie!

I really didn't want to eat the pie as imo they had waited too long to freeze the meat, it had spent too much time sat at room temperature, everyone had fingered it and it had been reheated at least once possibly twice already.

Dh said I am being ridiculous what do you think?

Did you eat the pie? Did anyone got ill from eating the pie?
If not, I am with your DH.

I wouldn't have wanted to eat it

I wouldn't have wanted to eat it. I was hospitalised for two weeks following and struggled for at least a month more after a badly cooked sausage (not cooked by me), not worth it.

That’s pretty much what we do. I’d eat it

Totally normal to me. I'd have eaten it

Yanbu. Your ILs should really buy smaller turkeys, more appropriate to the number of guests.

I wouldn’t have done that, the leaving it so long, the repeated re-heating etc, and would have thought ‘bleugh’ about the pie.

It’s the sort of thing that Gordon Ramsay unearths in Kitchen Nightmares, 5 day old re-heated meat in fridges etc, and yells at them about. Your ILs would not pass a council food safety inspection.

But people get away with stuff like this all the time. Food poisoning isn’t a given but the risk is raised.

Personally The risk tends to destroy my enjoyment of a meal.

I would be dubious about it but luckily I'm vegetarian so I have an excuse not to eat it 😉

Wouldn't have worried me in the slightest. We've done similar.

Why was everybody physically touching the ham and the turkey? Don’t they own tongs?

Are you sure it wasn't an ostrich? We don't leave meat for more than 3 days, but other than that we'd do the same and freeze and reuse - maybe not the next time our guests came to stay though! However, in our house, the ham and turkey tend to be eaten or made into soup or casserole before the 3 days are up.

Why was everyone touching the meat? Wouldn't they use a utensil (fork)? And why did the meat come out for breakfast?

Don’t they own tongs?

And the award for Peak Mumsnet goes to... 🤣

I did that on purpose. I swear.

In which case I take my hat off to you 🤣

How big was this turkey and ham?!

We strip the turkey carcass on Christmas afternoon once dinner is over. We keep a little in the fridge for a day or two for sandwiches but the rest is bagged up and frozen on the same day it is cooked.

I don't do a ham as it would be too much.

Having said that I don't think I would be overly concerned by what you describe.

😏

The general point still stands, though. Doesn’t OP’s in-laws own some sort of utensil that could be used to dish out the meat? Nobody fingers turkey in my delightful abode.

I wouldn’t have had any problem with them using up the turkey and ham in this way - I hate waste, but I’m with you on them waiting too long to freeze the leftover meat. Four days does seem a bit long. I wouldn’t be happy about it having been reheated so many times before freezing it either, or it being left out uncovered for long periods. Maybe have a word about getting something smaller next time so there’s not as much to be used up or suggest freezing the leftovers the same day it’s cooked in manageable portions to avoid waste. Food poisoning is no joke.

Same - strip the carcass and slice all the meat & into Tupperware. It never lasts past the day after the 27th TBH. I get sick of it & give anything left to the dog & cat. Are they not sick to the back teeth of it?

A PP had the answer- but a smaller turkey more appropriate to your family size.

And to answer OP - I wouldn't have eaten it, MIL has form for keeping leftover joints in the oven for days and I am very wary.

No i wouldn't have eaten it.

I would have made a polite excuse (god knows what right now, i'm better on the spot) and would have just cheerfully eaten the veg ect.

The idea of re-heating the cold meat on ... boxing day was it? ... puts me right off as well.

Left over cooked meat gets wrapped in foil and put in the fridge within an hour or so here, and that's where it stays until:

Cold meat (out of the fridge) and bubble and squeak and pickle on the day after a roast, or the second day after the roast. I wouldn't mind a sandwich from it the day after that as long as it had stayed in the fridge.

Day 4 or 5 after the time it was first cooked it should be gone. If not it means i cooked way too much. That would be unusual for me because there's lots of us. It would go in the bin by day 5.

How big was the turkey that 10 people plus kids could eat it for so many days?

Just how big was this turkey? If it fed ten people for five days, how could there have been any left to freeze? It must have been enormous! I had an 18lb turkey which three of us finished in that time.

I don't freeze cooked meat either.

The Turkey Of 10 Days is the new MN chicken 😂

🤣^

Yes I would eat it - if I ate meat. Impressive portions!

No hang on it's 10 people and 5 days.