Will this mince be OK or should I bin it??

[SoggySummer]

At the bottom of my freezer I found 2 packets of extra lean mince (beef).

1 packet says use by 1st Sept and I am assuming this is Sept 2011 because I have not done a meat shop recently. So this mince is about a year old!

The other packet says used by January 25th - which I am guessing is 2012.

Will they still be OK to use do you think?? I was planning on making a chilli when I knew I had seen mince in the freezer and then found these.

It might be a bit freezer-burnt round the edges, but should be ok for chilli.

well i would. defrost and have a sniff.

i wouldn't

i mean i wouldn't use it

No, I wouldn't use it.

I would. frozens fine!!

Why wouldn't you, Fanjo?

I wouldn't. Check the packaging. It should say how long you can keep it frozen.

Because I had some hideous food poisoning once from some chicken nuggets that my ex had kept in the freezer for far too long...it says use within a month of freezing, I am a wee bit lax with dates but a year would be a step too far for me, personally

i assume it says that anyway, nearly all frozen stuff says use within one month

Mixed replies!

Part of me thinks its been frozen surely it will be fine but then I also think erm maybe not wise.

Those that say no - why?? Is it because it will be off???

Ah, chicken nuggets a different entity, I see where you're coming from.

Sorry you got sick. :(

X posts!

Oh God Fanjo - sounds grim! Maybe I should just chuck it then.

Kills me to chuck it cos we are really skint this month :0(

it was short lived thankfully but have never felt so ill, in retrospect I should have gone to hospital I think!

Just threw out some mince from freezer this morning as it was dated March, was probably being a bit cautious though!

I'd use it, it'll get really well cooked anyway so that would kill anything

Id use it. But then I was raised by people who view use by dates as a personal challenge.

My father only makes one trip to his venison guy a year.... We had venison for easter, my mother birthday in Oct and Christmas last year... All originating from the same beast

He also once discovered some steak in the freezer that was 3 years old and ate it happily. And they collect trout and salmon from their fishing friends and freeze it and eat it up to 9 months later

They never seem to suffer any ill effects!

DH's family are like that, so i tend to feed him anything even if I am wary of it myself

My freezer book says keep mince for no more than 3 months I think. Larger cuts of meat keep longer but not mince. I wouldn't eat I'm afraid.

I'd use it. But then, I'm the only person I know to have backpacked round India, eaten loads of street food, and not only never got ill but came back about half a stone heavier (iron stomach emoticon)

I find it best not to be too explicit with dp about the age of the food he's eating, he was raised on plastic food and still gets spooked at a bit of mould on bread.... I told him to pick a spot of mould the size of a grain of sand off his otherwise perfect slice of bread and he hasn't stopped going on about it for months

What do people imagine will happen to frozen meat? It can last for years in there, not months.

Cook it and see! if it smells od bin it, but if your freezer has stayed frozen and the meat was fresh when it went in it will be ok.

I'm a disorganised twat and sometimes I throw mince on its last legs in the freezer. It smells very odd as you cook it if you've pushed it too far. You will know.

Should be fine, I'm always doing this - I've got a chest freezer in the garage and things get lost/forgotten about in there.

Summer I'm with your DP on that one

If its cooked well itll be fine. I have done far worse (from a food hygiene point of view) and been fine - can't stand throwing meat away, a cow died to give you that mince :)