Christmas dinner sitting in car for hours - WWYD?

[Bilingualspingual]

My DSil has offered to cook Christmas dinner at my elderly PILs this year. Very kind, we said.

Our worry is, she is insisting on bringing a turkey roll (or crown, I’m not exactly sure) with her from their home town on a minimum six-hour drive, which could turn out to be seven or eight if traffic is bad two days before Christmas). She’s determined to bring it from her local butcher, plus partly cooked sides, rather than simply order it from the large city where our Christmas meal is taking place.

My DH and I are really worried that the temperature of a car in motion plus the long journey time, would cause bacteria to multiply like crazy. But would they all be killed off by cooking anyway?

I find her difficult and controlling in general and that could well be colouring this for me, so if any food hygienists or experts are able to convince me this is safe, rather than a recipe for food poisoning, I’d be grateful!

Sounds a bit dodgy to me also, although I can be a bit anal about food hygiene also... would she not maybe put it in a cool box?! Plus any ‘part cooked’ sides would need to be chilled down adequately and then refrigerated also I would have thought? Sorry... that’s probably not helping is it...

It does, it does! I’m sure she’d put it in some sort of cool box, yes. The part-cooking bothers me and the length of time bothers me, particularly when there seems no reason why the food couldn’t be bought at the destination (we’ve offered, believe me). Surely a cool box would only work well for a relatively short amount of time. And I’m not anal about food hygiene but still...elderly PILs and small child...

It's December. I'd risk it in the boot in a cool box. No heating in the boot so should be cold.

Then absolutely make sure 100% cooked through and piping hot

If she starts the journey with it frozen, I would think it would be fine defrosting on the way but even better to surround it with ice blocks and defrost once arrived.

No heating in the boot so should be cold
The exhaust in our car heats the boot very nicely, it would be piping hot after a few hours on the motorway.

She’s part cooking it???!

Raw from the fridge, into a cool box in the boot will be absolutely fine.

Partially cooked just in the boot- I wouldn’t eat it. And I would tell her!

Do you really want to risk the runs over the Christmas holidays?

Claim to be vegertarian? Or you've given up white meat for health reasons???

Do you mean part cooked side dishes, or part cooked turkey ?
I’d be fine with raw in the boot.

Thanks for all your comments. No, part-cooking the sides, not the turkey - though two days before Christmas why on earth would you? Bleurgh.

I think the turkey will be raw but I’m not even sure what exactly it is - FIL said it was a sausage shape last year so perhaps a turkey roll? Is that a thing? She won’t give us much information, just a grand ‘it’ll be fine’ which is putting my back up. And no, I don’t want the whole family to be sick. Just not sure if we should put our foot down and say no, or not.

Why don't you insist on cooking a joint of beef too and contributing to the meal and cooking together so that you have an insight into how well cooked it all is.

Apparently her husband will be doing the cooking and does not want either me or dh in to help or indeed to be in the kitchen. I’ve been told this as fact so we were planning to pick our battles, let them get on with it but were considering saying a flat no to the turkey in car thing. They are odd people, which is only relevant in that we’ve tried various tacks already and been ignored. So I’m trying to figure out if the turkey is where we insist it’s bought at destination. We have offered to pay/bring things and been turned down.

But yes, should definitely check it’s well-cooked if we go ahead with Cargate.

Has she said it won't be in a cold bag?

She has said it will be well- wrapped and insulated. Don’t know exactly what that means. Need to prove further! Why oh why didn’t I do a useful microbiology degree specializing in food hygiene??

probe further

A good coolbox well packed with ice should keep it cool for about 12 hours so in theory it's ok (I know from camping experience). Or even better if she froze it, it would probably still be just frozen at the end of the journey, providing the car isn't too hot. But you'd have to trust she's done things properly including cooking it all the way through, and it does seem a lot of hassle and risk for a turkey roll!

Could you sneak your own properly refridgerated turkey roll into the house and substitute them in the dead of night?

Dh has found nhs food safety link suggesting out-of-fridge meat is only ok if then cooked straight away. And this would be the 23rd so a two-day wait before cooking. Think that settles it.

maxelly YES. So crazy it might just work!

And yes, all that hassle and risk just to be ‘right’ when she could just get one round the corner from my PIL’s house.

No way would I by eating that turkey.

I’m going vegan.

I am honestly the slackest person ever about food hygiene. I'm a firm believer in using sight and smell to judge if food is ok rather than BBE dates. I'm pretty sure that this has helped build a fairly strong constitution.

Even I wouldn't touch a turkey that has been in the back of a car for up to eight hours then languished in a fridge for a further 2 days.

If she insists on it, I would flatly refuse to eat the turkey and gravy, and tell her beforehand that that is what you will be doing.