Is it okay to eat frozen microwave food that has previously thawed out and then been refrozen?!
The question is, is it safe to continue to eat these microwave meals or should they be discarded?
Answers: I have about $40 worth of microwave food in my freezer that thawed out for probably a few hours when my freezer's compressor relay went out. The relay was replaced quite quickly and now the freezer is working fine again.
The question is, is it safe to continue to eat these microwave meals or should they be discarded?
Are you sure they thawed? They would have stayed frozen for a long time if the freezer was loaded with other food and you kept it shut.
If they truly thawed, then it's really not a good idea to refreeze them for later use. Chances are it would be OK, but there is a risk that may not be worth taking.
I don't think it will be good, but you can try some. That happened to me when we lost power during a storm, and we lost our frozen food. It was no longer good. When it thaws and then refreezes it is not good anymore. It will taste bad and freezer burnt. Open something up and try it. That is the only way to find out. Good luck!
really depends on the food. dairy, no. pastas, yes. what foods did you have? update?
Well, it's not really healthy, but if you run out of food, you only got one choice!
If it was out for only a short time and you didn't open the freezer door, I bet the food didn't have much chance to thaw. And even if it did be didn't warm up too much you should be fine.
There are really two issues here. First, food safety. The bacteria cannot grow if the temperature is below 40-45 F. so if the food never warmed up you'll be safe. The second is food quality. Refreezing some foods will affect texture. This is especially true of vegetable. Meat is generally not a problem. I don't think pasta will be much of a problem either.
So go ahead and save money and eat your refrozen food unless it got too warm during the thaw.
PhD Food Chemistry and Nutrition
No! When you thaw it, bacteria will start to grow and you could get sick. Don't eat it... I don't want you to die. Cook some Kraft Dinner instead.