Freezer malfunction

[curly_kate]

We vacuum-sealed about 6 chickens on Thursday night, and put them in the freezer in our garage. It had been unplugged since it was empty, so DH plugged it in that morning, and said it felt cold when he put the chickens in that night. So last night he opened the freezer, and it was cool in there, but not cold. Now we are wondering if we should chuck them (heartbreaking!!) or just eat them. They were essentially in refrigeration for 2 days. I am not paranoid about food poisoning, and hate to throw away food, so I'm leaning towards keeping them. But I'm thinking my cheapness might be winning out over food safety. What do you think?

 

[savingdogs]

I keep my fridge rather cold, but I've kept chicken in the fridge and then ate it two days later lots of times.

Is it not cold enough?

 

[curly_kate]

It's frozen now, but when I felt it last night, it felt refrigerator-cool.

 

[~gd]

We vacuum-sealed about 6 chickens on Thursday night, and put them in the freezer in our garage. It had been unplugged since it was empty, so DH plugged it in that morning, and said it felt cold when he put the chickens in that night. So last night he opened the freezer, and it was cool in there, but not cold. Now we are wondering if we should chuck them (heartbreaking!!) or just eat them. They were essentially in refrigeration for 2 days. I am not paranoid about food poisoning, and hate to throw away food, so I'm leaning towards keeping them. But I'm thinking my cheapness might be winning out over food safety. What do you think?

So how old do you think supermarket chicken ("fresh" not frozen) is by the time you eat it? The one good thing about chicken is that it's Smell is a pretty fair indication if it has started to spoil.

 

[lighthawk]

I assume there is no room for them in your kitchen freezer. Perhaps you could find room in a friends freezer. With that many chickens canning whatever you can't consume would provide a long term solution.
You could make a large pot of chicken soup and can it or you could can just the chicken meat and broth itself.
I would hate to see you throw it out. Another option would be to donate the birds you can't use yourself to a local soup kitchen.

 

[savingdogs]

Couldn't you just cook it all and re-freeze it cooked? Might pack smaller made into meals.

 

[curly_kate]

A cousin is going to loan us some space. But I may cook 2-3 of them, or maybe just cut them into parts to make them smaller. Great ideas - thank you!!

 

[patandchickens]

Were these your chickens that you processed yourself? If so, I wouldn't worry too much about it as long as they really HAVE been refrigerator-cold... I typically age chickens in the fridge for 3-6 days before cooking or freezing and not only have I had no problems, they have never had any detectable odor (not even 'normal', quote unquote, supermarket-poultry type odor) after that time.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[navajo001]

Is this a chest freezer or a fridge/freezer combo? The reason I ask is that you said it is in the garage.This time of year (cold) fridge/freezers don't work well in the garage. They only really operate well in a warm environment.

I had the same problem a few years ago and upon researching I found that if the ambient temp is too cold, the thermostat in the freezer doesn't think it needs to cool as much and the stuff in the freezer actually begin to thaw. i have heard that some people in AK use freezers on their porch to keep things thawed rather than as a freezer.

check this out:

http://applianceparts.wordpress.com...the-freezer-in-my-garage-refrigerator-freeze/

Just my 2 cents and good luck.

BTW, I'd eat them!

 

[curly_kate]

It is a fridge/freezer combo. I ended up cutting up a few, making a mess of chicken broth, and cleaned out the freezer, and I was able to get them all in the freezer up here. Good to know that the fridge is probably not broken.