Frozen chicken, how old is too old?

[pete6032]

Say you buy some frozen uncooked chicken breasts and throw them in the freezer. How long will they be good for to take out, thaw, and cook?

 

[Captante]

Depends on how well you have them wrapped and how cold your freezer is on a consistent basis. Basic rule for meat is approx 1 year but again ymmv... this assumes you have it stored in a deep-freeze, not the little one on top of the fridge.

Good news is that most likely all it will do is taste of freezer-burn if its been too long.

 

[DrPizza]

Frost free freezer, 2-3 months.
Manual defrost freezer, 1 year - 18 months.

 

[Raizinman]

I would put them in a pressure cooker with potatoes, carrots, onions, etc. Then if the chicken is a bit freezer burnt, it won't affect the rest.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I found some ribs and chicken breasts dated 2013, I somehow forgot about them, decided not to chance it and threw it out, kinda felt bad though, but figured it would probably taste like crap anyway.

I think from a food safety point of view it will probably be fine, it's just going to taste bad.

 

[sdifox]

when the chicken looks like trump's hair

 

[Markbnj]

If it's not dried out it's probably fine for a long time, but just to be on the safe side I'll go with Dr. Pizza on this one. Who needs to keep chicken in the freezer longer than 18 months?

 

[LPCTech]

http://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/charts/storagetimes.html

der ya go.

but if wrapped really well stored in the back of a very cold freezer probably a bit longer than the site says.

 

[Carson Dyle]

They'll be safe to eat forever.

But they'll be nearly inedible after some time. Use the guidelines as times where you look at the date you wrote on the package (because you always do that) and say "Damn, I need to eat this now. If you don't do that, and you find a hidden package of chicken buried in the freezer, just thaw it out and see how badly it's dried out.

 

[WHAMPOM]

Say you buy some frozen uncooked chicken breasts and throw them in the freezer. How long will they be good for to take out, thaw, and cook?

Four months for fresh grocery store packaged chicken, eight or ten for prefrozen in the thicker plastic, vacuum packed and layered with ice chips to fill air voids between packaging seems to last me a good two years.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I've used chicken (and other meat) that was in the freezer for... a very long time. Years. If it isn't dried out, it's fine.

If it is freeze dried, just boil it for a while, you'll end up with something that tastes a little "off" but it's palatable enough for chicken soup or something.

 

[John Connor]

If it tastes like chicken then it's fine.

 

[NetWareHead]

I have a vacuum sealer food saver system. We regularly buy in bulk from a restaurant supply house, clean up & slice the meat and then vacuum seal individual 1-2 pound portions. Last time I bought 40 pounds of chicken breast for less than a dollar a pound. Anyway, if the meat is frozen & stored correctly, it will last indefinitely and without freezer burn. We rotate our stock but sometimes a package gets lost or buried only for it to resurface years later. We've eaten chicken that was 3+ years old that defrosted and cooked with no off flavor or freezer burn.

 

[John Connor]

Even this old? You said indefinitely.

http://inhabitat.com/chinese-author...ton-shipment-of-smuggled-meat-from-the-1970s/