# Life of Chicken Broth

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-of-chicken-broth/23878>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 28, 2000, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-of-chicken-broth/23878 "2000-06-28T15:32:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Enore\_Tsotset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/2bfe46/32.png) [@Enore\_Tsotset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enore_Tsotset)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2000, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-of-chicken-broth/23878/1 "2000-06-28T15:32:47Z")

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Ok, mundane question here… My wife and I had an arguement about that pre-packaged chicken broth in the plastic container. She says that, after opening, it’s only good for a couple days (the expiration date is Jan 2001), even though it was sealed and refrigerated. It had been in the fridge for 3 weeks… I think it should be ok until early next year, but she made me throw it out anyway… Anyone have any insight into this?

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**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2000, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-of-chicken-broth/23878/2 "2000-06-28T15:50:40Z")

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Probably safest to throw it away. Homemade chicken stock can be kept in the fridge for three or four days…any time over that, it should be brought back to a boil and re-refrigerated. And, frankly, I wouldn’t boil it more than once. So let’s say you can keep stock around for eight days, if it’s boiled at the half-way point.

Next time pour the unused stock into a ziplock freezer bag and stick it in the freezer. It’ll keep for months in there.

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**Author:** ![DVous\_Means](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@DVous\_Means](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DVous_Means)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2000, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-of-chicken-broth/23878/3 "2000-06-28T16:03:19Z")

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You’d better listen to your wife, otherwise you will end up full of salmonella or worse. The moment you open a sealed container of food and allow bacteria-laden air in, the contents will begin to spoil. I am amazed that you as a SD user couldn’t figure that out for yourself.