Can I Eat This: Cooked & seasoned spinach, leftovers frozen 1 day

January 2, 2018 7:01 AM

I brought a batch of fresh made Korean Sesame Spinach (containing blanched spinach, sesame oil, garlic, soy sauce, onion, etc.) to a potluck, then the leftovers were frozen solid for about about 36 hours. If I thaw it today will it be edible?

I attended a NYE potluck on Sunday night and brought a big bowl of Korean Sesame Spinach. I made it fresh that afternoon as per the recipe (except I subbed diced regular raw onion instead of green onion), then it was refrigerated for about 2 hours before bringing it to the potluck. It then sat on the buffet table about 5 hours, but as far as I can tell no one tried it (the sesame sprinkled on top is undisturbed) so it had minimal contact with random people's hands/spoons/etc. We then brought the leftovers home after the party and left them in our garage where the temperature was below zero F for the last few days. The spinach is now frozen solid. I brought the spinach-cicle to work in hopes thawing it and having delicious sesame spinach for lunch, but is thawing it to eat a bad idea? I did a GIS but haven't found any info on freezing/thawing cooked and prepared spinach dishes, just how to freeze blanched plain spinach. Thanks in advance!

posted by cuddles.mcsnuggy to Food & Drink (5 answers total)

I can't promise the texture will be appetizing, but it should be completely safe. I have made, frozen, and eaten many spinach dishes, and I buy prepared frozen spinach all the time. I can't think of a single reason this would be a cause for concern.
posted by gideonfrog at 7:07 AM on January 2, 2018 [2 favorites]

Food-safety-wise, I'd eat this without a second thought. The texture might be pretty slimy once it's defrosted, though.
posted by Fig at 7:08 AM on January 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

5 hours out is in violation of the USDA danger zone, which says you should never leave food out for over two hours. The time frozen is immaterial for this question.

That said, the USDA is perforce incredibly conservative in food safety guidelines, and I would eat that without hesitation, having done essentially the same thing many times before.

If you don’t want to eat it, you can mail it (frozen) to me ;)
posted by SaltySalticid at 7:09 AM on January 2, 2018 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks everyone, this is helpful. I'll check for slime-factor as it thaws and proceed accordingly. I'd hate to let it go to waste. :-)
posted by cuddles.mcsnuggy at 7:13 AM on January 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Verdict: The spinach is good! It's not as crisp/fresh as it was when fresh and it needs a little more soy sauce since the flavors blended and muted a bit, but it's still edible and tasty. I don't think it'll last very well past today though, so I'll just enjoy it now and not chance it again tomorrow.
posted by cuddles.mcsnuggy at 10:07 AM on January 2, 2018 [3 favorites]