|
Is the mac & cheese edible?
Super random question ha.
18/F not that it really matters.
So my dad went food shopping last week and got me 4 boxes of Souffers mac & cheese that you heat up in the microwave. He had gotten them out of the open freezer in our grocery store so he thought since it was open that it was actually the refrigerated section and put the 4 boxes of mac & cheese into our fridge when he got home.
It was no more then 10 hours later that I noticed his mistake and moved them to the freezer.
A few days after I did that my mom came to visit and I was telling her about it and she said it might not be safe to eat them now and that I probably should have just kept them in the fridge and cooked them at a lower time. She says it could go either way, they might be okay or I might get sick if I eat them so now I'm worried.
We don't exactly have money to be throwing around so I really don't want them to go away but I don't wanna find out they're bad by throwing it up (which my mom joked would happen).
So the question is, what does anyone else think? Do you think they're still edible? Our fridge I'd say is a little colder then most, if you put an open cup of water in it for an hour or so, the top layer of water becomes frozen, bread that wasn't completely wrapped tight becomes hard as a rock (compared to bread in zip locked bags that just gets cold, not hard)
[ ]
Want to answer more questions in the Miscellaneous category?
Maybe give some free advice about: Random Weirdos?
From a microbiological standpoint, if the mac and cheese was meant to be in the freezer then that means the temperature of the freezer is cold enough to inhibit bacterial growth. If at any temperatures above the recommended, there is a chance that bacteria can grow. I wouldn't worry about the quality of the food if its been less than a day but I would cook it out fast to make sure nothing happens to the possibility that it was in the process of going bad. More than likely, cooking the macaroni would have killed the remaining infection.
I would just buy the box macaroni and cook it :) It tastes better, less preservatives, you know and it comes in different shapes haha
]
I got this from the USDA website:
Refreezing
Once food is thawed in the refrigerator, it is safe to refreeze it without cooking, although there may be a loss of quality due to the moisture lost through thawing. After cooking raw foods which were previously frozen, it is safe to freeze the cooked foods. If previously cooked foods are thawed in the refrigerator, you may refreeze the unused portion. Freeze leftovers within 3-4 days. Do not refreeze any foods left outside the refrigerator longer than 2 hours; 1 hour in temperatures above 90 °F.
So, there should be no problem at all if the food was thawed in the fridge.
On a side note, when you described how cold your fridge was, I seriously doubted that the food even thawed in the first place.
]
What's the ingredients? Why does it have to be in the freezer, is it already cooked?
My guess would be that it's ok, but that's just a guess. Food is no longer safe when it's outside it's danger zone for more than 4 hours, which is to say if it needs refrigerated and it's been out for 4 hours, it's no longer safe. But it was in the fridge, so I'm guessing even if it needed to be frozen it still wouldn't be harmful. It all really depends on why it needs to be frozen in the first place.
If it's because of the dairy, I think you'll be fine. I can't imagine what other ingredients would be in mac and cheese that would be cause for freezing.
I just checked their site and it seems like it's 100% cheddar cheese and noodles. I think you're all right.
]
If they were meant for the freezer and it's been out for 10 hours don't eat it. It has likely gone bad. Eating it could mean food poisoning. This is especially so of food with meat in it and holds true to any frozen meal also Your mom wasn't kidding about throwing up either. While you don't like throwing money away it's needed here as food poisoning is nothing you want part of.
]
More Questions: |