Mother in law's xmas dinner! Am I overreacting?!

[pommie7]

Bit of a random one but we're going to the Mother-in-law's for Christmas dinner this year. My husband has told she is going to cook the meat the day before and leave it on the side? Am I wrong to think cooked meat should be cooled then put in the fridge or there's a risk of bacteria growing on it? I wouldn't normally be that fussed but the fact of being pregnant makes me worry about this! To be fair she does have a cold kitchen but still? What are your thoughts?!

While we're on the subject of Christmas, what's everyone drinking this year? I've got a bottle of Schloer to try, I normally love a Bailey's at Xmas, anyone found a non-alcoholic alternative?

Morrison's do a soya coffee drink that's kind of like Bailey's. Is quite partial to adding a drop of whiskey

No, it is not OK to leave meat out in a warm house, for a full day. I think two hours is the maximum.

OP, this reminds me of an ongoing argument we had in our house last year between MIL and myself. This was about defrosting Cornish game hens. I had six that needed to be defrosted and she wanted to leave them out on the counter all day before cooking them. She'd take them out, I kept on putting them back in the fridge with the intention of defrosting them quickly in cold water. I won in the end and they were delicious. You can't leave uncooked or cooked meat hanging around. Scary thing is that she used to work in catering and do that sort of stuff all the time!

I'll be drinking Californian Champagne this Christmas! I'm in the US, do they have Egg Nog in the UK yet? If you're pregnant, I think you can have that and it's creamy like Baileys.

I don't think I'd be happy about eating meat that had sat out either - pregnant or not. It would be dry and not very hygienic.

As for drinks - depending on how relaxed you are could you have a splash of Bailey's in milk or hot chocolate? To the PP who mentioned a few sips of coke - there's about a fifth of the recommended amount of caffeine in one can so if you fancy it, just drink it! It's obviously not the healthiest drink but as a treat absolutely fine.

If you're not happy with eating it, don't! Pregnancy is one of the few times you can get away with not eating anything you don't want to without having to explain!

Re drinks, I really got into elderflower cordial and tonic water when I was pregnant; put it in a champagne flute and you have your own non-alcoholic fizz

Omg definitely not. Don't eat it that sounds gross

I would not eat that, pregnant or not.

Eggnog is boozy!

Really no need to feel guilty about Coke. Diet Coke is actually slightly more caffeinated than full fat - 42mg per can vs 32mg. If you had no other sources of caffeine then you could have six cans of full fat Coke or five cans of Diet and only just hit the daily 200mg limit.

If you like Shloer then try apple, mango and passion fruit sparkling juice from M&S. it's slightly more expensive than some others at £2.50 but it's one of the nicest I have tried!

I wouldn’t eat it if left out in the kitchen, ours is normally about 18deg in the evening and 14ish overnight, but in our pantry it’s about 6/8deg I’d guess so would leave it in there and eat it no problems as leftovers but as Christmas dinner that sounds awful, cold dry turkey

I work in Food Safety and this seriously dangerous practice. Cooling and reheating are really critical to get right to eliminate the risk of food poisoning. Please don't take the risk. Might want to forward this to your MIL

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-30954210

Thanks for all your replies! Yeh I think I'm going to have to address the problem rather than say I've just gone off meat! Maybe I could just try the whole "won't it be really dry by the next day?" See what she says. I think the reason for not putting it in the fridge is because of space

Ooh thank you for the drink suggestions! To be honest I think I've gone off wine and fizz, the thought of them doesn't appeal to me at all at the moment! That M&S one sounds nice though so might have to give that one a go :-)

I'm 35 weeks pregnant and I'll be having a glass of champagne and maybe a Baileys on boxing day. I'd avoid alcohol between weeks 7 and 12-ish though.

And don't worry about diet coke - sweeteners are safe in pregnancy, as consumed within normal recommended limits. Data here if you're interested;

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4229159/

As for the meat, as long as it re-heated thoroughly it should be fine, although I imagine on the dry side, as someone else said.

Don’t eat the turkey, food poisoning bacteria starts growing after three hours unrefrigerated and you could all be very very seriously ill. It Probably also won’t taste very nice and I’d be worried she’d try to reheat it too.

Try Belvoir fruit farm, they do non alcoholic wines and a mulled fruit punch!

I wouldn’t eat that turkey, and I’m not pregnant.

I wouldn't eat the meat. Not bothering to look for nice drinks either - nothing can make up for the lack of alcohol so why bother? DS is due in January so DH and I are going to have a second Christmas where I can stuff myself with all the food and drink I missed out on!

I wouldn't recommend egg nog as you're pregnant. It has alcohol and raw egg in it.

We used the keep the cooked turkey in the dining room for two or three days when I was a child. But the room was unheated and single glazed. Colder than the fridge.

Could you not ask her to cook you a separate portion? Aldi does frozen turkey parcels that are individual portions and wouldn't be too much extra effort.

Show your husband this link and stand over him while he shares it with his mother

BBC Link