Safely defrosting raw chicken?

[terestrife]

Hello,

i usually just bring home meat, grind it, and put it away. The day i bought it, i didnt have time to grind it, but didnt want to risk not finding meat again with everything going on.

Do i defrost it in the regular fridge? Outside the fridge? Does anyone know how long that would even take? Each pack is about 10 lbs of chicken thighs.

I have to grind it up and refreeze.

 

[LTS3]

With any raw meat, it's safest to thaw in the fridge. Are the chicken thighs boneless or with bone? Bone in will take longer to thaw. I think with 10 lbs of bone in meat, it will take at least 2 days to thaw enough for grinding With either type, check after a day of thawing to see if the meat is thawed out enough for grinding. If not, let it continue to thaw and recheck.

If you must thaw outside the fridge, it's recommended by food safety experts to thaw in the sink with running cold water. That wastes water though. It'll still take awhile for meat to thaw this way. 10 lbs will take a few hours at least I would think.

 

[Jem]

If you are planning to refreeze the chicken, you must thaw them in the fridge, and be sure that you do not let them stay thawed for more than 2 days. Do not thaw on counter or in cold water due to the increased chances of bacteria. It would not be a problem if you were cooking it, but if you are refreezing raw ground chicken, thaw in the fridge.
It will probably take about 2 days to thaw if it's still all in the original packaging, and if you are stacking multiple packs (they'll stay cold longer if stacked together), it may take longer.
It took 2 days for my 4 lb whole chicken to thaw in the fridge.

 

[terestrife]

With any raw meat, it's safest to thaw in the fridge. Are the chicken thighs boneless or with bone? Bone in will take longer to thaw. I think with 10 lbs of bone in meat, it will take at least 2 days to thaw enough for grinding With either type, check after a day of thawing to see if the meat is thawed out enough for grinding. If not, let it continue to thaw and recheck.

If you must thaw outside the fridge, it's recommended by food safety experts to thaw in the sink with running cold water. That wastes water though. It'll still take awhile for meat to thaw this way. 10 lbs will take a few hours at least I would think.

If you are planning to refreeze the chicken, you must thaw them in the fridge, and be sure that you do not let them stay thawed for more than days. Do not thaw on counter or in cold water due to the increased chances of bacteria. It would not be a problem if you were cooking it, but if you are refreezing raw ground chicken, thaw in the fridge.
It will probably take about 2 days to thaw if it's still all in the original packaging, and if you are stacking multiple packs (they'll stay cold longer if stacked together), it may take longer.
It took 2 days for my 4 lb whole chicken to thaw in the fridge.

oh no! i was going to defrost overnight. i better go put them in the fridge now. Half the meat has bone and the other half doesnt.

thank you both!

I have to refreeze because i give them cooked food instead of raw. So i freeze them in small portions and cook as i need it.

 

[Azazel]

If you have a good grinder you don't need to defrost it all the way, just enough that it's crunchy and would be easy to cut through with a knife. Give it a rinse with some cold water and cut it into smaller pieces before putting it in your grinder and it should be fine.

 

[terestrife]

Two of my chicken thigh packs are stuck to my outside freezer they're glued to the walls of the freezer and to eachother lol
waiting for them to defrost slightly to bring it into the fridge.

 

[terestrife]

The chicken has been stuck im the fridge all day. I turned it off to defrost it. Hopefully it gets unstuck by tonight, I don't want it to spoil. It's three bags of chicken fused together and to the walls of the freezer.

 

[Jem]

Could you open the bags and take the chicken out of the actual bags? Let the bags stay stuck till you can get to them.

 

[terestrife]

Could you open the bags and take the chicken out of the actual bags? Let the bags stay stuck till you can get to them.

Been trying to do that all day. Its fused tightly. I was only able to remove 2 small bags of chicken.

 

[terestrife]

Ok. Update. Took 40 mins of blasting it with a cold hair dryer. The bottom of the chicken bags had a block of ice. hopefully the chicken isn't messed up from the freezer being off all day. What a mission.

Thanks again!