I took some boneless chicken breasts out of the freezer on Monday afternoon for dinner that night, then we had a family medical emergency (my DH's brother had congestive heart failure, a staph infection, and they just found a spot on his lung yesterday. )

Anyway, we've been busy all week back and forth to the hospital and hubby's mom's helping her out with basic stuff. I am wondering if it's ok to cook the chicken? How long does thawed frozen boneless chicken breast last?

I would smell it. You can tell immediately if it's bad. Otherwise I'd use it, but soon.

Lisa

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"It's not having what you want,
It's wanting what you've got"

It depends on the state it was in before it was frozen. I don't keep much of anything more than three or four days. If you bought it frozen, then you might be able to still use it today. If you bought it unfrozen then froze it when you got home, I would pitch it.

As long as it still smells good and isn't all slimy, I think it's fine. My mom grew up on the farm and always went by her nose. It's kind of funny, I worked at McDonald's all through hs and college. I learned quite a bit from the health inspectors. If somebody is going to get food poisoning, it's almost always from something that isn't cooked (or undercooked is bad too). Cheese was the most frequent culprit according to them. So I am always more careful with things that won't be cooked. . .cheese, lunch meat, veggie condiments, etc. HTH

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"No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?"
- George Orwell Animal Farm

Wow. Cheese. That's something I have cut the mold off of for years with no ill effects. I would never have thought of cheese as a big problem. You learn something new every day.

I'm always cautious with mayo type products, but I read recently that with something like potato salad it's not the mayo it's the potatoes that go bad. I'm not entirely sure I believe that. Too many years of thinking it was the mayo.

My worst case of food poisoning was from black olives, canned, that had been let sit in the refrigerator too long after they were opened. I only ate one and paid for that mistake for days. Just about the sickest I have ever been. Which is why my kitchen motto is, when in doubt, pitch.

I've cut the mold off of cheese for years too and been fine. I think it's more of a slimy thing with cheese. At McD's it was american cheese and I'm sure that has lots of mold inhibitors in it. . .if left out too long it would get slimy. Ewwww. And I am not surprised by the olives at all. . .like I was told. . it's usually things that go uncooked. With me. . .I had the worst case of food poisoning from onions of all things. They did taste a little off. . .like a slight bit vinegary. . .I should have known better. . .I paid the price. . ugh!

I've heard that about mayo too. But I think I read that it's really a throw back from when people used to make their own mayo and that the jar mayo that we buy now is actually more of a preservative. I've always worried about the eggs in potato salad though. . .I never thought about the potatoes.

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"No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?"
- George Orwell Animal Farm

Well my husband has his worst case with a work cafeteria Shepherds Pie type dish and he always thought it was the mashed potato topping. Since then I've been very cautious about how long I keep cooked potatoes in the fridge.

I very seldom eat much cheese. My husband doesn't like cheese in general so it's only once in a while that I have a cheeseburger. I don't like American cheese at all, but I will eat Swiss and the Swiss taste alikes. Mozzarella on a pizza and Parm on pasta and M. Jack on other things. Bleu in a salad. Gee I eat more cheese than I thought I did. But I'm still well below the national norm in cheese consumption. Someone else is eating our share of the cheese. That's probably saved me from cheese poisoning over the years.

And bad onions? Were they raw? I do eat lots of onions and I don't remember ever getting sick from one. And I do keep them for long periods in my refrigerator drawer.

Now ever so often I get the runs or a little nausea from something I've eaten. Maybe I've developed some tolerance for just slightly bad food over the years. I'm positive my husband has. His mom never threw anything away. They ate it, mold, slime and all. And he still will, unless I can throw it out without him seeing it. It's really hard to throw anything away in my kitchen. I have to wait for a rare moment when he isn't hanging around.

I think with the cheese, it may be the type. I've always cut the mold off as well especially cheddar with no ill effects. However, recently I cut the mold off some monterray jack and gave it to my daughter. When I ate a piece later, it tasted funny, so I think maybe the softer cheeses (which would include American) may be the ones more apt to be an issue. (luckily dd didn't get sick).

I got Salmonella food poisoning once. I was on a business trip and ate chicken tacos for lunch at a Mexican restaurant. I started feeling flu-ish that night. The one and only time I've ever flown first class. It was back when they still had smoking sections on airplanes and we were seated there by mistake, so they put us in first class. I didn't get to enjoy it because all I did was sip GingerAle and pray to get home.

Lisa

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"It's not having what you want,
It's wanting what you've got"

Yes, the onions were raw and already peeled and sliced. I've kept chopped ones for quite awhile in the fridge and never had a problem. These were in a salad bar though. . .so maybe it was more of a not really being refridgerated thing.

I really believe in that building a tolerance stuff. My husband is the same way. He can eat anything. He'll eat turkey breast that smells a little off to me and be just fine. His mom is the type that will leave food out from dinner and just reheat it the next day. . .so I'm sure if anybody could build up a tolerance he would be a good candidate. LOL!

I do buy marked down hamburger and freeze it a lot. Sometimes when I thaw it, it smells a little off. . .and I still use it. Of course if it smells really off I toss it and I always cook it thoroughly, but we've never had any problems with that. Like I said, I'm much more leary with things that go uncooked. I try to avoid salad bars now. LOL!

Sorry. . .we completely high jacked this thread. BUT the chicken should be good and if anything might just build a little immunity.

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"No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?"
- George Orwell Animal Farm

>>>Someone else is eating our share of the cheese. That's probably saved me from cheese poisoning over the years. <<<

That would be me ;-) It's my major protein and fat source.
The only time I ever had food poisoning was from cream cheese. Took me years to be able to give cream cheese another try.
I second giving the chicken the sniff test.

[quote=Momziller;3167681
The only time I ever had food poisoning was from cream cheese. Took me years to be able to give cream cheese another try.
I second giving the chicken the sniff test.[/QUOTE]
The one and only time I've had food poisoning was some fried mushrooms(13 years ago)--to this day, I'll pick mushrooms out of anything that I eat. *shudder* just thinking about it makes me a little queasy...

Sniff the chicken. If it smells off, toss it. How long depends on so many things--including how cold your fridge is....

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"