Old sausage meat in the freezer. Would you use it?

Freezing meat multiple times doesn't make the meat go bad, in terms of it becomes inedible, it just results in the meat quality decreasing due to the cells rupturing.
 
Common sense says that for the sake of a few quid's worth of food there's no way it makes sense to take risks; the potential downsides are huge given the fact that bacteria may have had chance to multiply over multiple defrost cycles.

However I've sampled sausages I found at the bottom of the fridge last year from 2002! I'm not proud that they were there, or that I allowed curiosity to get the better of me, but they tasted... absolutely fine.

I still threw them away after eating a sample though. They weren't good enough to overcome my scruples completely. :-) However if someone could guarantee that food had been solidly frozen at or below -18, with no interruptions, I'd probably have no qualms about trying anything, no matter how long the storage.

I'd probably do it at the start of a weekend though, rather than the end, just in case. ;-)
 
Feek said:
What do the food experts think, would the sausage meat be OK to use?[/font]
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I wouldn't take the risk. It's not worth the potential health risks. I would just buy some new meat.

Also, I would implement a better procedure for checking the contents of your freezer regularly. I hate wasting food.
 
Food can be frozen below -18c pretty much indefinitely and still be safe to eat, although whether or not the quality of the meat has suffered is another matter. Personally I'd still eat it.
 
Fuggan said:
So where are these sausage rolls? :)
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I woke up this morning with a pretty bad cold so I've spent most of the day in bed and decided that cooking wouldn't be a great idea. All I've done is slept and this evening I stuffed myself with a full fry-up, eggs, bacon, sausage, burgers, fried slice, mushrooms etc. Followed by cake and more cake.

Today I don't care about calories, I'm just feeding the cold! If I feel better tomorrow then I'll make the sausage rolls but realistically I reckon it'll be later this week once I'm fully recovered.
 
Home made food should be made with quality fresh ingrediants. Why put the effort in using 6 year old frozen meat? No matter how good the meat was when you bought it, today, tesco's basics sausage meat (if it exists) will probably taste better and have a better texture!

Even how you defrost food can make a difference - should always be done in the fridge.
6 years, wow, that's like a whole secondary school education.
 
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Feek said:
I woke up this morning with a pretty bad cold so I've spent most of the day in bed and decided that cooking wouldn't be a great idea. All I've done is slept and this evening I stuffed myself with a full fry-up, eggs, bacon, sausage, burgers, fried slice, mushrooms etc. Followed by cake and more cake.

Today I don't care about calories, I'm just feeding the cold! If I feel better tomorrow then I'll make the sausage rolls but realistically I reckon it'll be later this week once I'm fully recovered.
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Yeah I agree, get well soon dude!
 
Doesn't it last longer once defrosted if you do it in the fridge? As opposed to leaving it on the worktop then putting it back in the fridge. That's the only reason I do it.
 
Oh dear.
It doesn't suddenly degrade as it's defrosting. There is zero need to use it same day. By either method. But obviously out of the fridge the outside is going to be a lot warmer than in a fridge. Meaning bacteria will multiply faster.
 
So that's where the idea of keeping it for an extra day if you defrost it in the fridge comes form... less bacteria, faster.
 
Glaucus said:
Oh dear.
It doesn't suddenly degrade as it's defrosting. There is zero need to use it same day. By either method. But obviously out of the fridge the outside is going to be a lot warmer than in a fridge. Meaning bacteria will multiply faster.
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Some things once frozen will degrade much faster from thawed due to a breakdown of enzymes as a result of the freezing process.
 
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