Is my ground beef still good/safe?
July 30, 2020 1:03 PM   Subscribe

Taco Thursday! (Okay, I know it's Taco Tuesday, but can't resist some good ol' ground beef!) In April, I bought ~2lb (2.2 something to be exact?) ground beef from the grocery store, set to expire April 8ish. I think I initially refrigerated it, but pretty quickly froze it, kept it frozen, moved, had a short move (~15-20, no more than 30 minutes definitely) timeframe when the beef was outside the freezer in transit. Immediately re-froze for the next ~2 months. Left in the refrigerator 2 days to thaw fully. Cooked/browned, looks fine. Is it safe?

In the spirit of preventing food poisoning, wanted to check in with the Green. Pic of the ground beef just as it was starting to cook (after the 2 days in the refrigerator thawing).

Saw a recommendation that I thaw a 2lb in the refrigerator for 2 full days.

Did a small taste test, tasted fine, not off or anything. Didn't get a chance to smell the (raw) beef before cooking, though.

Thanks for any input!
posted by dubious_dude to Food & Drink (8 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Yes.
posted by grateful at 1:07 PM on July 30, 2020 [7 favorites]


I would enjoy the heck out of those tacos.
posted by whisk(e)y neat at 1:13 PM on July 30, 2020 [4 favorites]


I would eat it. Happy taco Thursday!
posted by Lyn Never at 1:20 PM on July 30, 2020 [4 favorites]


🌮👍🏼
posted by Superilla at 1:22 PM on July 30, 2020 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Eat it!

If it didn't immediately smell off when you opened it to cook it, it's most likely fine. You wouldn't have been able to not notice the smell if it was off.
posted by cooker girl at 1:23 PM on July 30, 2020 [1 favorite]


Best answer: April 8 isn't an expiration date, it's a sell-by date-- that's when the store wants to turn it over, not you. That date is like a tag on your mattress-- it's the store's problem, not yours.

As for you, you maintained the cold chain, you didn't thaw then re-freeze, and it didn't spend more than, whatever, a week in the fridge. 2 months in the freezer is nothing for wrapped ground beef.

Enjoy your tacos!
posted by Sunburnt at 1:28 PM on July 30, 2020


Best answer: Have just done something similar. Can confirm not presently dead.

Your freezer is 0F, so it's doubtful anything would have thawed in 30 minutes. As for two days, that's about the minimum for it to all thaw out, in my experience; one day and it's still frozen all through, so it probably wasn't at slowly-going-off temp for a lot of that time. In my book, time frozen doesn't count.

You can fry ground beef from frozen, if you lack patience in the future, but it breaks up into smaller pieces.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 1:30 PM on July 30, 2020


Response by poster: Very helpful, thank you all! I ended up making nachos instead, and will have tacos using the leftover ground beef tomorrow or this weekend.

I'm still somewhat new at the finer arts of cooking, but learning everyday!
posted by dubious_dude at 2:16 PM on July 30, 2020 [2 favorites]


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