Freezer Left Open

Once meat has defrosted, you can't refreeze it. You're going to have to cook it before you can freeze it again.

Start cooking, Mama!
You really shouldn't re-freeze meat...at least you might be able to cook & freeze some of the stuff?
Sorry...that stinks!

Me personally? I would make burgers and chicken RIGHT NOW, then refrigerate them and serve them for lunch and dinner (so it doesn't go to waste). Make chicken salad for lunch, do the burgers for dinner. You'd have to defrost that stuff for a few hours anyway before preparing it. I'd cook the chicken a little longer than usual. Refreeze the steaks. Slap your husband on the wrist, and call it a day ;)

Sounds like youre having chicken for dinner tonight, and you can have burgers tomorrow.

Your food is ok. Refreeze it or don't refreeze it. It is OK. Chicken, pork, beef, lamb, it doesn't make any difference. Its ok.

If you were going to cook chicken for dinner, you'd let it thaw out. Then you'd cook it. If you have food that was open to the outside air for 2.5 hours and it completely defrosted, its ok. You can freeze it again with no ill effects. I have had to do this numerous time over the years. Kids want ice cream. They open the freezer, take something out and forget to put it back. I get home from work and ask, "Why is the chicken out on the counter?" I hear one of my children, "Sorry dad. I forgot." No big deal. I either use it now or put it back and use it later.

I had 8 kids. If someone was going to get sick over that we had 10 people that could have gotten sick. No one ever did. Not even one.

In America we have a paranoia about germs and food safety. Don't worry. Enjoy.

Good luck to you and yours.

BTW, have the scientist in you perform an experiment. Divide your chicken in thirds. Refreeze one third. Cook and eat one third. Cook and refreeze one third. In two weeks take out the raw refrozen chicken. Cook it in the same way you cooked the chicken that you cooked immediately. Taste both and see if you can tell the difference. I'd bet you can't tell the difference. AND you won't get sick.

Those that told you to throw your good food away aren't stupid, just ignorant (uneducated). Albert Einstein said, "We are all ignorant. Just in different subjects."

I agree with cooking it and then refreezing to be warmed up later when you want them. Bummer :(

As long as the food did not spoil you can re-freeze it and use whenever. It should have been still cool if not cold.

Cook the chicken and burgers - steaks are okay. Do not refreeze. You can freeze the cooked food. FYI - I have a degree in foods and nutrition, have been a food service director at very large colleges and have taken the state food sanitation class - do not refreeze the food.

You need to cook the defrosted meats and then you can refreeze them. The burgers can be broken up (like ground beef) for meat sauce if you weren't planning on burgers for breakfast! Same thing with the chicken. Bake it all with some seasonings and then freeze it for dinners over the next couple of weeks!

I only read a couple of the responses, but I agree with A.C. Anything that still has ice crystals can be refrozen safely.

The chicken I would not refreeze. And if was not still cold I would toss it. If it was cold, put it in the fridge and have chicken for supper tonight.

I would cook the burgers and then refreeze them. I've done that before with no problems.

I had this happen recently, but it was our big upright freezer left open overnight. We had just slaughtered a calf & the freezer was packed full. I cried as I threw away 1/4 of the meat, but then got busy cooking and refreezing the rest of the day. I check it every night before I go to bed now and we are going to buy a latch for it that locks it closed so it doesn't happen again.

I agree. Cook it and then freeze it if need be.

Didn't read the answers yet but here are mine: A crockpot would be great but otherwise do it your own way. You can-
cook the chicken, have it for dinner or put in a chicken salad.
Unless the burgers are seasoned use the ground beef for spaghetti sauce or sloppy joes or tacos.

If it's truly defrosted raw meat do not re-freeze it. I suggest cooking it all up on the grill. Burgers microwaves for 30 seconds to a minute are a quick lunch and if you freeze the cooked burgers they will only take a short time to thaw and then microwave.

If you grill up the chicken you can cut them into strips for tacos, quesadillas, pita sandwiches, etc. Again, store the cooked chicken in freezer bags for quick additions to salades, or in the fridge for a couple of days and warm up as needed.

Turn this into a blessing and you have quick dinners and lunches for the next week or so without having to run the oven every night!

Dear D.-

I feel your pain...but I agree...get cooking...and re freeze.

Having had a similar incident a few years ago...I now have a big jug of water by the freezer...the rule is that THAT gets 'scooted' to in front of door as added safety!

Training the kids to do that was a S L O W process...but it works!

Best Luck!
Michele/cat

Oh we had this happen not once but twice! I threw away everything.....I know the cost is incredible but it sure beats taking the risk of everyone in your house having food poisoning. We had things like corn dogs, bread, tator tots, ice cream in that freezer....luckily the burger, steaks, etc were in the other freezer. If the meat is still cold you could cook it up like many other people mentioned and then re-freeze it. Who knows, you might discover this was a good thing because now you will have meat mostly prepared! My husband finally put a little lot on top of our upright freezer to prevent this from happening again. Works like a charm!

Rather than throwing it out since you would have to de-frost the meat anyways just go ahead and prepare a meal with the chicken and burgers. IF you do a casserole then you could re-freeze it then for later.
The steaks since they were still semi-frozen you could place those in the fridge to defrost and cook those up for later as well. Sucks to be cooking all this stuff at one time but better than to toss money in the garbage in my opinion. Had more time passed that is exactly what you would have had to do so be thankful you can still at least use them-lol! So sorry!

That has happened to us several times! Keep it in the freezer! I don't think it's bad. And if it is then toss it in the trash. But it should be fine.

If there are still ice crystals on the food (like the steaks) just leave them in the freezer.

For the other items, cook and refreeze them as cooked items. Crockpots are good for cooking a big batch of chicken.

you can refreeze meat its ok.

Personally I would not throw them away but would put them in the fridge and cook them in the next few days. But having bought those chicken breasts, I know there can be a lot of them. I wouldn't worry about freezing the steaks but would be concerned about refreezing the other stuff. Good luck. What a mess.