If you think there might be a texture issue, maybe best ground, though hammered will also cover that. Otherwise, age is just a number--you've covered all the other variables. You're right to be suspicious, but if there's no water migration, no potential contamination, and no other issues, I'd use it. Perhaps, if it'll help your mental block, grind it up for meatballs, with some other tasty tings. If your jitters won't let you, why make yourself buggy? Give it away or to the critters or compost.

I just tossed two eggs left in a (refrigerated) carton that said Use By 10/15.

It's Just Not Worth It!

Agree the quality could be compromised but safe to eat if freezer temp was maintained. Otherwise, since it’s only two slices, give it to the critters you mentioned.

No problem for us. Cook and eat. The eggs were fine also. The date on the cartons are a sell by date, not a throw away date.

I'd toss it. I agree with chisue, it's not worth it.

Would you really feed possibly compromised food to a pet that you wouldn't eat yourself? That's not a very attractive attitude to have.

Probably not; well maybe.

But no cat has ever offered to share their mouse or baby rabbit with me. No dog has offered up his can of dog food. That, I would not care to eat. In coastal New England, it wasn’t unusual for a summer person’s dog to get loose and head for the dock where lobstermen bought their bait by the barrel. Salted flayed whole fish carcasses, often smelling very ripe. Dogs would also roll in rotted seaweed. That never appealed to me.

BTW, opossums like spoiled meat and protein. Roadkill, sour milk, spoiled chicken, whatnot.

The problem with trying to give any food to an opossum is that you can’t be sure a racoon won’t smell it and stop by. I do not want racoons coming by, cute as they are.

I have no problem with eating eggs from the fridge that are 17 days past "Best before ... " date, and have not had any discomfort or tummy upset.

Occasionally cut or scrape some mould off of a block of cheddar without any negative response.

I was 10 when World War II started, for many countries in 1939 (2 1/4 years later for the U.S), Dad had a fairly large farm a few miles (farther om) "from", (before the automatic editor appeared) where I now live on what was step-uncle's farm.

Soon the hired helper went off to war, and this pre-teen and a couple of younger brothers had to help with cropping, milking and all other work, including cleaning up residue left by horses, cows, pigs and chickens, sometimes throwing pig manure from one pen through a second, then through a third before it finally was pitched out the doorway into a pile. And later the spspreaspspreader was loaded by hand before being pulled by a team of horses to various fields for small pieces to be spread to help grow vigorous crops next year.

So my body toughened up more than many have experienced, early in life and now am hugely thankful to have the health to live reasonably well in the countryside without a car for four years and also thankful that I can afford rent at double or triple the $1,150 a month I pay now ... for 10 or 15 years ... which seems like a reasonable timeframe starting from a bit less than three years under age 100.

ole joyfuelled

Frozen meat is safe for a long time but recommended ”best quality” is measured in months, not years. If I had reason to think that my freezer didn’t hold temp safely then everything would be tossed, but short of that there’s plenty that I’d feed my dog beyond the period that I’d eat it myself. I mean, I see what dogs eat on their own. And what they might use in lieu of toilet paper. Way worse than anything coming from my freezer!

That said, at nearly four years old I’d probably toss it, whether or not I had pets. Pork loin is relatively cheap.

I toss frozen meat past its date due to quality not safety issues. I prefer meat to never be frozen but If I do freeze it I use it as soon as possible. I don't eat things I am not going to really enjoy. But eggs can easily keep for a month past the best by date. It's easy enough to check their freshness by the float method. I use fresher eggs for breakfast, older eggs for French toast, batters and baking and the oldest for hard boiling. Fresh or not, every raw egg I break is broken into a cup or small bowl first.

That's nearly 3 years! Too long for me.

Thanks everyone. I think it is harmless, but probably diminished in quality. I will toss it.

And, as Food pointed out, pork is inexpensive.

old joyful, indeed you have lived through challenging times. I always enjoy your wise contributions.

I would eat it myself, wouldn’t serve it to others. My concern would be texture not safety.

I may have used this Dr Seuss quote before recently but it applies here too....

Not in a house, not with a mouse

I would not eat them here or there

I would not eat them anywhere

I loved Dr Seuss as a kid and loved reading his books to my kids. He was the very, very best.

Yes, that’s about how I size it up.

QUESTIONS: About frozen meat

I don’t like to freeze steak because it changes the texture (large ice crystals in home freezing units). I don’t notice that with pork, or chicken which we always cook sufficiently.

But logically, scientifically, what would be the issue, with say, a very well wrapped pork loin or tenderloin (roast or chop) that had been (for example) frozen solid at a very low, even temperature for let’s say, five to six years?

I understand the conventional wisdom touts eating it within (what?) a year. But is this based on the assumption that some or many people won’t properly wrap the meat in an air tight way, or that the freezer may lose power and thaw the meat with no one noticing?

As getting stale, I can’t imagine much molecular perturbations is a well-wrapped piece of meat, constantly frozen solid in a deep freeze that has remained at a very low, sub-freezing temperature in total darkness.

So what could or would be the problem other than the conventional admonitions directed to one size fits all?

Petal, their is no problem at all, other than wanting to argue.

Very well reasoned. How about cutting off a small taste, cooking it quickly and confirming if you like it? I think the biggest issue is the work, expectation of the meal, and other ingeridients you risk by using it. A preview may answer a lot.

I cook pork loin slices by pounding with a meat mallet, dip in flour, and fry. No waste at all and very little time. I might make a gravy either plain or mushroom.

“constantly frozen solid in a deep freeze that has remained at a very low, sub-freezing temperature in total darkness.”

Does this describe your freezer?

Guidance from sources such as stilltasty will suggest something like ”Frozen pork chops that have been kept constantly frozen at 0°F will keep safe indefinitely,”

While some have manual defrost chest freezers that may meet this criteria, most of us have frost free fridges in the kitchen. This means the coils are brought above freezing point several times a day. How warm the freezer itself gets may depnd on the freezer and how much is in it, but it’s not maintaing 0°F. Impact? I have no idea.

Thanks, food.

Sherry, I too like using a mallet or pounder for falltening, re-shaping and tenderizing various pieces of meat for stir fries. The other technique I’ve been using to tenderize some meat for stir fries is to use a small amount of baking soda

Were you thinking that I am trying to argue? I’m always curious.

plllog, sure, for curiousity sake, I could test it. Pork loin or tenderloin isn’t a particularly flavorful cut of meat to begin with. When I make bok choy or baby bok choy, Chinese style, I usually use just a bit (~ 1/3 to 1/2 Lb.) and either grind it or pound pieces into thin scallops. The seasonings include ~ garlic, ginger, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, bit of oyster sauce, green onion, toasted sesame seed oil, maybe toasted sesame seeds on top before serving. And, of course, the pan fried bok choy. I love bok choy ;)

All that seasoning would make cardboard taste okay.

Don't forget the Richard Scarry picture books!

Children’s? Essplain? ;)

People have eaten Mammoth frozen in permafrost with no ill effects. Still would I?

The dates are really best used by and have to do with quality. We were sold a bill of goods for years that it meant expired by all those officious official types who majored in Home Ec. I pitch ancient canned goods because you cant really tell and obviously frost damaged frozen things.

patricia

I think I am usually conflict averse. (She says as others roll their eyes.)

Agreed! Pounding or grinding will hide any texture issues, and the seasoning for cardboard will cover any lacks in flavor. ;)

FOAS, I have a manual defrost upright that is next best to a chest--I sometimes forget that freezer could mean the top of an old fashioned, single compressor fridge. The dual compressor, freezer on the bottom, modern units do a much better job of keeping the food from being affected by self-defrost, but self-defrost itself is outmoded. More modern units use a frost-free system with an evaporator, which keeps the box from accumulating vapor ice on its surfaces while keeping the food at consistent temperatures. My upstairs freezer has an evaporator, and it does work very well. No freezer burn!

What would you do?

Whatever you decide on the pork loin slices, I'd do a freezer clearout and repack. putting the oldest dated items on top/in front and perhaps even color coding your items by date. Same with your pantry.

I would marinade for 6-8 hours, thinly sliced, quick saute with veggies.

"foodonastump: While some have manual defrost chest freezers that may meet this criteria, most of us have frost free fridges in the kitchen. This means the coils are brought above freezing point several times a day."

I'm not aware of any refrigerator/freezer units that defrost several times per day. Can you cite any of which you have that experience? Defrost timing typically is based on accumulated hours of compressor runtime. Some electronic-control units count and incorporate the number of door openings into the algorithm.

"plllog: More modern units use a frost-free system with an evaporator, which keeps the box from accumulating vapor ice on its surfaces while keeping the food at consistent temperatures. My upstairs freezer has an evaporator, and it does work very well. No freezer burn!"

All refrigeration units that have a compressor (including air conditioning) have an evaporator coil. It's how refrigeration works. Frost accumulates on the coil*, whether the unit is frost-free or not. Frost-free, self-defrosting units have the evaporator coil hidden behind a panel with a fan to circulate the interior air over it, so it's not seen without disassembly. A defrost cycle occurs periodically which involves a heating element (positioned beneath the coil so the heat wafts upwards over it) to melt the frost.

*Air conditioners don't need defrosting because the evaporator/cooling coil doesn't operate below freezing temperature ... except in the case of heat pumps, on which the outdoor coil becomes the evaporator/cooling coil in heat mode and often accumulates frost/ice at low outdoor temperatures. Heat pump defrost is via switching back to cooling mode long enough to heat the outdoor coil to melt the frost.

Thanks for the proper explanation. So, the new kind of frost free just moves the frost away from the food? Whatever. It works.

dadoes - My SZ freezers are adaptive so documetation won’t specify how often. But I found this from GE:.

Defrost Timer

Measures a pre-determined amount of accumulated compressor running time; usually defrosts every 8 to15 hours, depending on the model.

Adaptive Defrost

Defrosts based on usage. For more about Adaptive Defrost, visit: Refrigerator- Frost Guard / Adaptive Defrost. The defrost system activates a defrost heater in the evaporator section at the rear of the freezer compartment. This heater melts frost off of the evaporator coils and then turns off.

• During defrost there will be no running sounds, no fan noise and no compressor noise.
• Most models will defrost for approximately 25 to 45 minutes, usually once or twice a day.
• You may hear water dripping or sizzling as it hits the heater. This is normal and helps evaporate the water before it gets to the drip pan.
• When the defrost heater is on, it is normal to see a red, yellow or orange glow from the freezer.

This tells me that either method could cycle one or more times a day. Unless this fundamentally invalidates my point about temps coming up from zero, I think you may be splitting hairs at best.

Splitting hares is one of my jobs. :-)

It'd perhaps be interesting to put a temperature monitor with a recording feature on your SZs with a probe in the area of the defrost termination thermostat behind the evaporator cover to track the temperature curve over a few days or a week to reveal how often defrost occurs.

Do you have a rec for an affordable version of such a device? What I really need to do sooner rather than later unfortunately is scrap this freezer, but I’d put a probe back there just for fun.

Dadoes, doing that sort of thing is right up my alley.

Food, our rerogerator freezer was freezing of produce in the bin. I posted about it back along. DH guessed it was the something or other. An appliance guy came and installed a new one for about $190. The fridge still kept freezing produce in the bins, so I’ve had to not use 1/3 of the fridge or keep tweaking and adjusting the temps.Then hope DH was listening and remembers so that he also doesn’t play with the controls.