DH has just got back with a 5lb FROZEN turkey

[MemooMerrilyOnHigh]

Its not going to defrost in time is it?!

I told him fresh, but apparently the frozen ones were better value [sob]

It will be fine.

No problem - relax

It'll be ok in ime - get it out of the packaging asap.

*time

I hope you're all right

Put it in a bucket of room temperature water and replace the water every 2-3 hours. Use a knife to check if the meat deep inside has defrosted then get it into a cool place over night.

Make sure you take it out of the fridge firstvthing so it gets up to room temp before you put it in the oven though

Take it out of its packaging and put it on a metal tray.

i have jus had this conversation with my sister as she just took her 5lb turkey out the freezer about 10 mins ago! The back of the pack says it will take approx 24hrs to defrost so that will make it 1pm tomorrow and will take 4hrs is to cook (depending on oven etc).

So even tho it may ba later it will still get eaten.

I stuck mine on top the cooker to defrost and turned the cooker on :o (as in the oven, not the hob lol)

Although that didn't really do much so it's now sat on the grill with the oven on. So far it's taken 7 hours and is about 2/3 defrosted.

This is ham, btw.

according to British turkey.co .uk it will take 9 hours to defrost
and 2 hours to cook so it will be fine

turkey link

No point giving yourself food poisoning; cut it into pieces and cook them separately if you are in doubt that it will defrost. DON'T try and hurry it up by heating or hoping - unless you want to be ill along with all your guests/children .

could you let it soften slightly (say a couple of hours) and then use your sharpest carving knife to chop off legs? Am just thinking that by cutting into more manageable pieces, it will defrost quicker?

Also agree with the room temp water in a bucket method. Has worked for me.

5lb seems quite a teeny turkey to me. The smallest turkey my local farm shop does is 5kg!

Hope it desfrosts in time. Note to your DH though - on Christmas Eve there is going to be a Very Good Reason why frozen turkeys are going to be, ahem, better value than fresh!

Is it even possible to get a 5lb turkey?

sorry my sister had a 5kg turkey! 5lb would be tiny lol.

Surely for this size you just need to crack the shell?

Fill your bath with luke warm water and put the turkey in it for a couple of hours, then leave it out overnight.

5lb isn't very big, I regularly defrost meat of 2lb in an hour or so.

omg have I doomed us all to poisoning? I thought sitting the ham above something warm would help defrost, the oven was only on 100 degrees.... It wasn't remotely cooked or anything when I put it on to cook, didn't let it cool or anything just whacked it in. I thought it would be similar to microwave defrosting

Oh I think I mean 5kg, I dont know now, its quite a good size though.

I've put it in the bath as suggested much to DC amusment "Mum why are you bathing the turkey?"

Hope it was ok in the end!