Is it safe to use this meat?

amother

Red

Sat, Oct 06 2018, 4:39 pm

My freezer tends to not work too well when it's full and it's not unusual for me to discover ice pops that are more slush than ice. I've never had a problem with meat defrosting though until recently. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that a package of cholent meat was completely soft and I tossed it since I had no idea how long it had been that way. Since that happened, I keep poking my meat and chicken around once a day or two to make sure that it still feels frozen solid and it's always been fine.

On Friday, I took out a package of cholent meat (the individual cubes) and while it was frozen, there was a layer of gel on the bottom of the package, indicating that at some point it had defrosted and then refrozen. I know it's safe to use meat that was refrozen if it had been kept refrigerated while defrosted and this freezer is at least as cold as a fridge even at its worst, but once again, I have no idea how long it was defrosted for. It may have been days or even a week or two. This package was in the freezer since before I started poking at my meat, so it likely defrosted sometime before then.

Would you use this meat or is it too risky?

(I do know that we need a new fridge and it's been on our agenda for years, but we simply can't afford it right now. If we keep having to throw out meat, it's eventually going to add up to the cost of a new fridge, but I'm hoping that if I keep checking on things, we can avoid this happening.)

Anon because I've kvetched about my freezer to too many people.