Food hygiene

Lifestyle Parenting, Household Affairs and Cuisine corner
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I cooked a salan two days ago but it’s not finished and don’t feel like eating it 3 days in a row - can I freeze it or should I bin it?

Also, any other tips on how to prepare, cook and store food hygienically? Like e.g., how long should raw meat be kept in the fridge for before you cook it? How many times can you freeze meat? How many times can you reheat food? If I defrosted a salan from the freezer can I freeze it again or does it have to be eaten?

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Re: Food hygiene

Some reliable sources on the internet to answer your questions:
Safe Food Handling Fact Sheets
Handling Meat & Poultry Safely | Whole Foods Market
Meat | FoodSafety.gov

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Re: Food hygiene

Good links shared by Garammasala.

Regards meat, never ever freeze it after defrosting it. thats a straight invitation to food poisoning.
Regards freezing defrosted salan. i have done it a few times. But I feel its not healthy either. specially if you are living in a hot country.
Uncooked meat should be cooked within a day of being left in the fridge. any longer is just risky.

For freezing food, I have these plastic containers. But you can also use clean food bags to freeze food ..

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Re: Food hygiene

always store meals in small containers so that you don’t have to refreeze things and consume all at one time.
Same way make small packets of meat and then freeze them and use 1 or 2 packets according to need.

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Re: Food hygiene

thanks for all the advice guys really appreciate it!

could anyone answer my original question (sorry if you have and I haven’t registered it…) but my poor chicken salan is now 3 days old sitting in the fridge and I’ve moved on and cooked something else now - shall I throw the chicken away or is it okay to freeze it and take it out another time? lol

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Re: Food hygiene

nnabid, you can freeze it but can you please be careful when you defrost it. If its gone bad even slightly that time, dont take the risk.
Usually cooked food lasts only 4-5 days before it goes off.

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Re: Food hygiene

I am not very sure that you should even give it a try! Please give it away to someone(maid) after making sure it is good enough to eat. Else throw it away!

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Re: Food hygiene

When I make a big quantity of something, I keep 1 serving the fridge and divide the rest into small 1-2 serving packet. I never keep raw meat in the fridge unless I know I will be cooking it within couple hours. When reheating food, take some food out in another plate and bowl, so you are only reheating the amount you want to eat and not the whole bowl.

As for your chicken salan, make rice out of them or freeze it. If it is more then 1 serving, freeze it in ziplogs for 1 serving.

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Re: Food hygiene

Sorry but if it isnt good enough for her to eat why is it good enough to give to the maid!!

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Please read clearly what I said! It is much better to be careful while commenting!

I clearly wrote after making sure it is **GOOD ENOUGH!
**Else THROW IT AWAY!

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Re: Food hygiene

??

But you said its not even worth it for her to check if its good for her to eat herself…so just check if its good enough for the maid?? Thats what the message seems like honestly, thats its probably not good enough for her anymore but might still be good enough for the maid. You should have just said, check if its still good and then eat it yourself or give it away, otherwise just throw it away

Anyways..

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Re: Food hygiene

^ did you read the bold part of her post??

She said
**Please give it away to someone(maid) after making sure it is good enough to eat

**

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Re: Food hygiene

Why not give it to some ducks, or a neighborhood cat? Or you can bury it in your backyard (sort of like a compost) if you have one, or give it to a neighborhood dog.

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I think you have never seen how these maids and extremely poor living category here survive.
I have seen three incidents in my life very recently that made me cry. Let me share them with you.

  • Once, I was parking my car, somebody just threw the remaining of biryani he had in the bin. A pathan bacha came, took out the packet and ate those remaining rice and eaten bones. Can you believe?!
  • Another time, same thing happened. Somebody threw skins of eaten water melon and an elderly person came and ate all the little red part left on the skin of water melon.
  • I have a habit of not throwing breads in the bin. Rather I make a separate packet of them and then once a week I throw them at a place where some goats herd come everyday with their owner to eat. Once, my husband was throwing them in front of goats and their owner came and asked my husband: yeh pehle hamein de diya karo hum dekhega is main hum kya kha sakta hai phir bakriyon ko daalega. Khud se yahan na phenka karo.

After seeing this level of poverty in Pakistan(I think you are abroad), I just make sure that I give every single edible thing to someone who can eat it, if not then I try to throw them in reach of street animals or birds so that they can have it and the remaining can be eaten by ants.

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Re: Food hygiene

I’d make rice with it. Simple and easy.

If it’s shorba wala chicken then throw the shorba.. just use the chicken.

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On the point of giving food away to maids and whatnot, that’s exactly the problem here (UK). We don’t have maids and there’s no real system of giving your scrap food away to the poor, as there aren’t as many beggars here. Plus, if you leave scraps and stuff in your garden (I started doing that once to make compost) you run the risk of foxes and even worse, rats coming in your garden and then maybe even in your home… the only way out I see is to throw food away once it’s gone old. That’s why I’d prefer to freeze and take out food when necessary rather than unnecessarily throw it away.

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Re: Food hygiene

and for all those eagerly awaiting to know what I did, as I’m sure many of you must be having sleepless nights over this, I froze my chicken salan after 3 days in the fridge :slight_smile:

now if I get salmonella I’m suing gs… :snooty:

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Re: Food hygiene

you are in the UK, the mausam is cold these days , Salan doesnt go off that quick here in the UK .. so I think it will be fine now that its frozen. When you defrost it, just ensure you finish it within a day or two , no more..

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Re: Food hygiene

Thanks I have seen it with my own eyes and have also seen the way people treat their maids and the poor in general in PK that breaks my heart, but also thankfully have seen in my own family such respect and dignity given to the help, that only whatever is good for the family is good for them. My point wasnt dont help them and throw away all leftovers, it was just that if something is good enough for us it should be good enough for them and if its good enough for them it should be good enough for us, not that it might not be good for us but it might still be good for them because they are poor and desperate. We just need to raise our level higher, that we’re not just leaving scarps that we dont want anymore, but actually giving to them the good stuff that they will be so happy to receive and eat with dignity. Esp in a country like PK where there is so much senseless waste and disparity of wealth. Im not directing any of my comments personally to you, just mentioning as a general thing. Thats good that you are sure to always at least give the leftovers to the animals even, so nothing goes to waste. Anyways, didnt mean to offend you or derail this post from the original topic, my apologies.

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Re: Food hygiene

Ok im gonna butt in with my question.

I fried some fish last night. I left it in the microwave covered for hubby to have later. He didn’t eat it, and when I checked in the AM it was still there.

Is it still safe to eat?