Re-freezing food after thawing, advice :o(?

Question

Hello,

I left the freezer door open last night by about 3 inches. It was full and the food has thawed out somewhat. It happened about 6pm last night and I have only just noticed. It was full to the brim with food...chicken, fish, chips, desert, vegetables, ham.

Iv heard that once defrosted you must consume? can it be re-frozen or not? If not I could use some of the food over the next day or two but would have a huge amount of waste

advice much appreciated.

Cheers

Answer 1

you need to cook it all before you refreeze, you can not refreeze it as it is!

Answer 2

Re-freezing after thawing is a definate NO. Generally once food has defrosted it should be stored in the fridge and used within 24 hours. You can also cook things like raw meats and then re-freeze those, Unfortunately this means that some things may be wasted but its either that or get a dose of food poisoning. You could always invite some friends over for a large buffet! Waste not want not, as the saying goes.

Answer 3

Never Re-freeze, all the time the food was at a higher temperature the bacteria in it were multiplying if you re-freeze they will become dormant again but once again will multiply when you defrost the food only this time there will be a lot more of them and as they multiply by splitting in two approx every half an hour there could be potentially dangerous amounts in the food when you come to eat it.
The only way around this is to cook the food now to reduce or kill the bacteria present then re-freeze, anything that you can't cook will have to be eaten as normal within in a few days from the fridge or dumped Sorry but it's safer.
Any chance you are covered on your home insurance and can make a claim? Good luck

Answer 4

Any food that has thawed out must be eaten. It is very unwise to re freeze food. The reason is that when the food starts to thaw the bacteria in it becomes more active and begins to multiply faster and will continue to multiply until it reaches frozen point, at which time they multiply far more slowly. So this would mean that if you re froze your food and then went to cook some of it there would be a much higher level of bacteria in it.

Salvage what you can and keep it refrigerated and consume today if possible.

Do you have insurance for this?

Good luck!

Answer 5

Really it's no worse than letting it thaw at room temperature and from what you say it only softened for a short time.
Cooking it and refreezing is best if you cannot eat it all at once.
Most food is what is call 'blast freezing' which is very quick so that the cell walls remain intact. Refreezing slowly in a home freezer will let ice crystals grow through the cell walls and produce a mushy result.
RoyS.

Answer 6

you shouldnt refreeze as germies will have started to multiply and they will be worse than if just frozen and defrosted.
You may get away with some things - but mostly not.
My mum is hopeless with her freezer, so what she does when she defrosts the lot is to cook as much as possible and then refreeze. This is safe for most things, though the quality can be less.
vegetables would be better cooked into a casserole.
deserts are a problem - looks like you will have to eat as much as possible of that.
so - happy casseroling.....

Answer 7

try to cook the thawed foods, and that way you can refreez them. most of the foods last up to 4 or 5 days in the fridge so you can put them in the fridge.

if you have hams, chicken and other meats, you can make lasagnas and freeze it. of course cook it before.

for today you can eat fish and chips. the veggies, you can make soup with, and the desert you have to eat.

Answer 8

If the food has thawed completely you should either use it or throw it away. If it is NOT fish or chicken and it is still partially frozen my mate (a butcher) tells me that it is ok to re freeze as long as it has not reached room temperature.

I have re frozen ice cream but it crystallises and does not taste half as good as it should.

Be very careful with this food as it may give you food poisoning if you eat it.

good luck.

Answer 9

The basis for safety in refreezing foods is the temperature at which you held thawed foods, and how long you held them after thawing. Completely thawed meats must be cooked before re-freezing. Foods may be safely refrozen if they still contain ice crystals. Put the packages in the coldest part of the freezer, mark them and use them within two or three months. If the entire freezer has partially thawed it may be necessary to ask friends or neighbors to refreeze some food packages for you. A freezer can only refreeze 1 or 2 pint packages per cubic foot per 24 hours. Refreezing smaller amounts of food insures that the food refroze safely and with the smallest amount of added ice crystals forming. If a food is completely thawed, but still cold, and your refrigerator temperature is 34 - 40 degrees F, move to the refrigerator and use it within two days - do not refreeze. If food is completely thawed, warmed to room temperature or left out of the refrigerator for more than two hours, throw the food out for safety's sake. These principles apply to meat, poultry, shellfish, some vegetables and cooked foods. Many vegetables are safe to refreeze, but they lose much of their texture, flavour and appearance even if ice crystals are present in the package. You may want to cook the thawed vegetables and eat them right away or add to soup or stew later. Thawed fruit and fruit juice concentrates can be refrozen if they taste and smell good. These foods ferment as they spoil, so check for 'off' flavour. Since thawed fruits suffer in appearance, flavour and texture from refreezing, you may want to make them into jam instead.You can cook and eat thawed but still cold food mixtures like casseroles, pot pies, frozen dinners, or pizzas but do not refreeze them. Do not refreeze ice cream and similar frozen desserts. You can safely refreeze breads, cakes and similar bakery items. The end product, however, is likely to be a drier, lower quality product. In making decisions about refreezing foods, always consider safety first. Then consider the loss of quality. With some foods, the loss of quality may be so great that it's not worth refreezing them. Good luck!

Answer 10

Re-freezing food after it has defrosted is DANGEROUS. All sorts of bacteria gets into food when it is defosting. It can KILL the very young and the elderly.

Answer 11

You MAY get away with re-freezing some veg. but the rest, well
is it worth the risk
if you are able to cook some of the foods then they can be frozen