Ground Beef in Fridge for a Week and It Was Still Fine
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Ground beef is a versatile ingredient that yous tin utilize to make burgers, taco meat, spaghetti sauce, and and so much more. If yous have beef in your fridge and you're not sure if it's all the same adept to use, yous can cheque in a few easy means to see if information technology's spoiled. Just think never to eat meat that's gone bad!
Signs That Ground Beefiness is Bad
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one
Check to see if it has turned a dull dark-brown or grey. [1] Fresh beef will be vivid cherry-red in color, merely it may accept a few brown spots in the centre since footing beefiness is taken from unlike parts of the cow. Your ground beef will turn more gray the longer you lot continue information technology. If all of your beefiness is greyness rather than red or brownish, it's best to throw it away.[ii]
- Prepackaged ground beef develops a dark-brown color on the inside considering oxygen is not able to reach the center.[3]
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2
Scent the beefiness to see if y'all find a sour smell. [4] Fresh beefiness volition have a slight smell, but beef starting to go bad volition scent rotten or sour. The odor is produced from gases made by some of the bacteria on your beef. If in that location is a strong odour, avoid eating information technology.[5]
- Many bacteria that cause food-borne illnesses like salmonella cannot be smelled and tin be institute on fresh beef. Always melt the beef thoroughly to kill bacteria. If yous don't feel comfy eating the beef, throw it away.
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Touch the meat to come across if it feels slimy. Clasp the meat in your fingers to feel its consistency. Fresh meat should break autonomously in your hands easily and separate into chunks. If the meat is sticky or has a slimy texture, it has almost likely gone bad.[6]
- E'er wash your hands before and after you handle raw beefiness so you don't spread leaner or contaminate surfaces.
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4
Check the sell-by appointment on the packaging. Raw ground beef is safe to use only one or 2 days after the recommended sell-by date. Check the calendar to determine how many days have passed since you bought it and throw it away if it's old.[7]
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Store uncooked footing beef in the refrigerator at or beneath forty °F (iv °C). If you lot plan to melt the beefiness soon, store it in your refrigerator. Beef left out at room temperature will start to harbor harmful bacteria colonies within two hours. Never get out meat out for longer than 2 hours at room temperature, or for more one hour if it is above 90 °F (32 °C).
- If you don't plan to melt your beef right away, freeze it.
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2
Cook the beef within 2 days of the sell-by date. If the beefiness has been in a refrigerator the whole time, it will stay fresh and prophylactic to use up to 2 days afterwards the date listed on the packaging. Make sure you utilize the beef soon after you buy information technology and then it doesn't get to waste material.[viii]
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3
Continue raw beef in the freezer for up to iv months. Continue the beef in freezer-safe plastic bags and label them with the sell-by engagement listed on the packaging. Squeeze all the air out of the bag before sealing it to conserve freezer space.[9]
- You lot may start to notice white freezer spots on the beef later a few months. These areas can be cutting off if there are only a few. Otherwise, throw the meat away.
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4
Thaw the beef in the fridge or in a sink filled with cold water. Transfer the frozen beefiness to the refrigerator 1 to two days before you plan to employ it and so it has time to completely thaw. If you want to thaw the meat in the sink, fill your sink with cold h2o and submerge the beef. Change the h2o every 30 minutes until it'due south completely thawed.[10]
- Beef thawed with water needs to be cooked correct abroad.
- Never leave the meat to thaw at room temperature.
- Beef can be thawed in the microwave but it needs to be cooked right subsequently it's finished thawing to avert any contamination.
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Cook ground beef to 160 °F (71 °C) before storing or eating it. The merely style to impale the natural bacteria in your beef is to cook it entirely. Utilize a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature of the meat while you're cooking it.[eleven]
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Store cooked footing beef in the fridge or freezer. Cooked ground beef can be safely stored in the fridge for 7 days before it starts to spoil. Information technology can also exist stored for upward to eight months in the freezer. Be sure to store it in an air-tight container!
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Add New Question
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Question
Froze 2lbs of ground beefiness on tertiary day of refrigeration. It turned night brown when thawed in fridge. Is it bad?
This answer was written by ane of our trained squad of researchers who validated information technology for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
wikiHow Staff Editor
Staff Answer
Check the olfactory property and texture of your basis beef. Information technology does change colour every bit information technology gets older, but if it doesn't smell or feel slimy, it should even so be okay.
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Question
Can I melt footing beefiness that sat in the fridge for an unknown corporeality of time?
This respond was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated information technology for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
wikiHow Staff Editor
Staff Answer
Throw it away if you aren't sure when the sell-by date was. It may take gone bad.
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Question
Is my ground beef safe to eat the next day if I defrosted it in the package in water all 24-hour interval and put it in the refrigerator for overnight?
This answer was written by ane of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
wikiHow Staff Editor
Staff Answer
Ground beef should exist cooked immediately after you thaw information technology in water. Otherwise, bacteria could grade.
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Question
I packed my hamburgers in divide freezer bags and left them on the counter for six hours in 74 degree weather. Can I freeze them at present?
This reply was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated information technology for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
wikiHow Staff Editor
Staff Answer
Y'all shouldn't refreeze them since they probably adult leaner while they were thawing at room temperature. Always thaw your beef in the refrigerator or in a sink with cold water.
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Question
What would cause meat to gustatory modality sour after it has been frozen?
This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
wikiHow Staff Editor
Staff Answer
The longer you keep food in the freezer, the more likely it is to develop freezer spots that could attribute to the flavor.
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Question
Is it safe to cook and eat beef that has turned dark-brown? It has been frozen and thawed.
This answer was written by one of our trained squad of researchers who validated it for accurateness and comprehensiveness.
wikiHow Staff Editor
Staff Answer
Meat volition plough brown over fourth dimension. Check to see if it smells or has a slimy texture.
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Question
Can I boil my ground beefiness if I am not sure it is bad?
This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accurateness and comprehensiveness.
wikiHow Staff Editor
Staff Answer
When in doubt, throw the beef away. Information technology is only good to use up to ii days after the sell-by date if it's been in your fridge.
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Question
I bought 5 lbs. of hamburger at Grocery Outlet and froze information technology immediately. Sour tasting, strange clear colored juice came out when frying. What happened?
DividedGuitarist
Community Answer
Your beef may have been freezer burned or information technology was expired when you bought it and you had never noticed it. The articulate colored juice may accept been a watery mixture that leached out while cooking.
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Question
If beef smells slightly off, will cooking information technology thoroughly save it?
No, it volition not. The issue with food poisoning is that whatever baddies are in the meat have left backside toxins - that's one reason information technology's called food poisoning and not food. If the beef has gone off, then yous can't cook it to salve it, it must exist disposed of.
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Question
If I feed my dog footing beef that was left out two days, volition information technology injure him?
Yes, information technology is likely to hurt him, just as it would a human being.
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Keep cold foods below twoscore °F (iv °C) and hot foods above 140 °F (60 °C). Annihilation in between these two ranges is in the "Danger Zone" and will start to develop bacteria.
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Wash your hands afterward handling raw beefiness so you lot don't contaminate other surfaces.
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Always cook beef to an internal temperature of 160 °F (71 °C).
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Article Summary X
If you're non certain whether your ground beef is still good, lean shut and smell information technology. If the meat smells sour or unpleasant, it'southward probably bad and you lot should discard it. If it seems okay, utilize your fingers to test the texture. Meat that has turned bad will feel sticky, tacky, or slimy and should be thrown out. You can also employ the colour of the meat as a guideline. Ground beefiness that is brown or gray is notwithstanding rubber to eat, only if information technology is turning green, you should throw information technology abroad. Read on for tips on storing ground beef to proceed information technology from spoiling!
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