how long to keep cooked chicken stored in the freezer?

Question

I have a 10 month old. She likes chicken. I cooked up a huge chicken breast for her yesterday and cut it up into little tiny pieces and put it in a baggy in the freezer. I plan to take out small amounts at a time and warm them up for her. How long will the frozen pieces last in the freezer?

Answer 1

You can keep food frozen practically forever as long as it remains frozen.
For best quality use the chicken pieces within 9 months.

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/Focus_On_Freezing/index.asp freezing keeps food safe almost indefinitely, recommended storage times are for quality only. Refer to the freezer storage chart at the end of this document, which lists optimum freezing times for best quality.

Packaging
Proper packaging helps maintain quality and prevent "freezer burn." It is safe to freeze meat or poultry directly in its supermarket wrapping but this type of wrap is permeable to air. Unless you will be using the food in a month or two, overwrap these packages as you would any food for long-term storage using airtight heavy-duty foil, (freezer) plastic wrap or freezer paper, or place the package inside a (freezer) plastic bag. Use these materials or airtight freezer containers to repackage family packs into smaller amounts. It is not necessary to rinse meat and poultry before freezing. Freeze unopened vacuum packages as is. If you notice that a package has accidentally been torn or has opened while food is in the freezer, the food is still safe to use; merely overwrap or rewrap it.


Freezer Burn
Freezer burn does not make food unsafe, merely dry in spots. It appears as grayish-brown leathery spots and is caused by air reaching the surface of the food. Cut freezer-burned portions away either before or after cooking the food. Heavily freezer-burned foods may have to be discarded for quality reasons.

Answer 2

We have a government agency (here in Canada) that you can call with questions like this. They recommend 5 days maximum. Eat by the 5th day .. or throw it out. (I asked some time ago, wondering the same thing myself) It's not that all of a sudden on the 5th day the chicken becomes toxic. Keeping food refrigerated does not keep bacteria from growing .. it only slows down the rate at which the bacteria grows. Now our body can handle a certain level of bacteria .. there is always bacteria all around us .. but too long in the fridge, and the bacteria levels increase to the point where maybe it is not advisable to be eating the chicken .. might get an upset stomach from it. Apparently the government health agency feels 5 days is fine for cooked chicken in the fridge, but AFTER that, you might want to think twice. Last week I ate some cooked chicken that had been in the fridge 7 days. I didn't get sick. For whatever that's worth. If you make chicken on Sunday make enough for 4 days (to and including Thursday). Either freeze Friday's meal and thaw it out when you need it, or eat something else on Friday. That's what I do on a regular basis, and 90% of the time the meat I cook IS chicken.

Answer 3

If you vacume sealed it, you can keep it about a year. I freeze cooked foods all the time. Its a great idea. I sometimes spend a full weekend cooking, then i food save it all, and on days when i dont want to cook, i just pop it out of the freezer. I have saved many items up to a year and they are fine.

Answer 4

I probably wouldn't go longer than 2 months because of freezer burn.

Answer 5

If you wrap them tightly, 6 months.

Answer 6

1 week is the best, she should be able to eat a chicken breast in a week.

Answer 7

It is not a good idea to freeze cooked chicken,As it will contain bacteria..