I eat frozen entrees for lunch much of the time. I find them tasty and easier than making myself a sandwich every morning. If you read the box it will say that they should be kept frozen until you are ready to “cook” them. (I know that we are really talking about re-heating here since they are mostly cooked before they are frozen, but I digress).
We have a fridge at work so when I come into work at 7 am I throw the still frozen entree into the fridge to slowly thaw before I heat it up at noon. By the time noon comes around the entree is still somewhat frozen, okay, it’s kind of slushy, but I can cut the heating time by almost half by just leaving it in the fridge. It’s not like I leave it on the counter for 4 hours and it reaches room temperature. I only take 30 minutes for lunch so time spent watching food spin in a microwave is pretty much wasted time.
Can I continue this practice or am I risking my life? And if I’m not risking my life why the stern warning about not partially thawing it in advance?
I’ve done it for years and haven’t died yet. I haven’t done it recently since I’ve been trying not to eat them much anymore, but when I did I would throw one in my insulated lunch bag with some blue ice. They were never still completely frozen by lunchtime, so it’s probably similar to being in the fridge all morning.
I do this every day. I don’t even put mine in the fridge at work. I just keep it at my desk. Works perfectly. I heated an 8 minute frozen lasagna today in 4 minutes. I’m sure my coworkers appreciate it as well, although I usually eat early enough that the microwave line isn’t too bad.
Why the stern warning? Because if the item is partially thawed, there is a greater likelihood of cooking inconsistently, leading to hot spots and cold spots. It’s a quality assurance thing more than a food safety thing --probably.
I never put a frozen meal in the fridge or freezer at work. I too just leave at my desk and nuke at lunch time. I do the same when I take leftovers from the night before.