The expiry date is May, 2011. It’s not mine, rather I found it at the back of the freezer in a house that I’m renting for a bit.
It sounds tempting. What’s the worst that could happen?
I have no idea if it would be safe or not. If I had to guess I’d say not safe. But what do I know? I know that we are talking about ground beef. If this were some rare cut of some exotic creature, you might have something worth gambling about. I’d just go get more chopped cow, and cook that.
An asteroid will choose that moment to strike the Earth, simultaneous with a nearby cosmic ray burst sterilizing the shattered remnants of the planet. But that would probably be unrelated to your beef dilemma.
It may taste bad. Assuming it really has remained frozen all that time, that’s about it. Foods stored at freezing temperatures are typically good “indefinitely,” for human-timescale definitions of “indefinitely.” People have eaten mammoth frozen millennia ago. But water may sublimate out, ice crystals may destroy the texture, and the general effects of “freezer burn” become more pronounced over time.
Five years is a long time to let that process continue. If it were me, I’d use it in some application that doesn’t rely on the beef for taste much: Hamburger Helper, or mix it with a package of prepared wild rice, or mix it 50/50 with some fresher beef as an extender. But it won’t hurt you, assuming it was safe when it went into the freezer and has remained frozen since (and ignoring a few very, very rare extremophile pathogens that aren’t likely to be in your home freezer).
ETA: FDA/USDA cite for indefinite storage: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/food-safety-education/get-answers/food-safety-fact-sheets/safe-food-handling/freezing-and-food-safety/CT_Index
It depends. If it was well-wrapped, air tight, and with absolutely no airspace in the package, it’ll probably be fine. If not, it will be badly freezer burned and will be of lousy quality. What you have to worry about is if that meat got left in there between tenants, the power got turned off, and it then spoiled and got refrozen.
You could die.
You don’t know where it’s been. It could have been thawed and refrozen any number of times. It could have been sitting on potato salad in Ottawa in August. You just don’t know.
And that aside, you don’t know how good the freezer is. Even minor temperature variations over five years in the freezer (assuming that’s where it’s been) will add up to a noticeable deterioration in quality and taste.
If it were me, I not only would not eat it, I’d throw it away so no one else did.
Even vacuum sealed packages won’t keep food from damage for more than about a year. After five years, whatever funk is in the freezer will have penetrated into the meat and made it skanky, and it’s more than likely freezer burned. I wouldn’t eat it, just because it’s going to taste nasty.
Sure, you could cook it. Should you eat it? I wouldn’t.
Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking: but I’m curious.
ETA: It’s about a pound, and it’s on one of those Styrofoam trays with plastic wrap around it.
Interestingly, ground beef has increased by about $1 a pound in 5 years.
You should definitely ask the landlord if he’s saving it for something…
I think you should eat it. Then report back, because I’m curious how bad that shit tastes.
In much of the US the AC power can go off several times a year for one reason or another. Multiply those on-offs x 5 years and I don’t think I’m willing to roll those dice that the freezer temps were perfectly stable across that stretch of time. Plus if meat has gone unused for 5 years that does not give me confidence that the fridge owner was all that proactive about freshness.
So no.
Well, at the risk of horrifying a few people, I’ll share this: My late husband and I slaughtered a very large steer in July of 2007. It yielded a lot of beef – 225 pounds of just hamburger, to give you an idea. Then there were the roasts, steaks, stew meat, ribs, etc. My husband died just a few months later. I am still eating that meat. Not that big of a beef eater, obviously. And it’s fine. Not quite as tasty as it was before and I wouldn’t pretend otherwise. But far from inedible.
However – and this is a big caveat – it depends entirely on how the meat is wrapped. Mine was carefully wrapped in 2 layers of heavy duty, airtight cling film and then wrapped in butcher paper to boot. And I used up the last of the hamburger at least 5 years ago. The more fat in the meat, the more it will taste “off” as time goes by.
If your hamburger is wrapped as it was when it came from the market, you’ll know by looking at the package how bad it is. If full of ice crystals and the meat looks “dry,” just toss it or feed it to the dog. You’ll gag on the first bite.
Make it and then have someone over for dinner that you’re not all that fond of?
Well, I eat the caramel apples the nieces and nephews collect at Hallowe’en. But this? Nope. In a recent thread here, some people suggested hiding things in food to keep them away from evil doers. For all you know, this could have new exciting top-secret designer pathogens hidden in it. Or was prepped to “take care of” the neighbour’s yappy little dog.
And if you’re in Canada, you probably recall the Picton case. Anything could be in that meat, and that meat could be anything. Just because it’s wrapped like it was purchased at the Kwik-E-Mart doesn’t mean it wasn’t messed with.
Think of it this way: if a total stranger walked up to you and said, hey, have some frozen ground round, would you accept it and eat it? Not to mention the thawing and refreezing unknowns. I wouldn’t even give it to my dog, who apparently can eat cigarette butts with no ill effects. (On the dog; it makes me retch. Especially since I’m in charge of manual disimpaction at our house. Worst pre-nup ever.)
Beef Of Unknown Origin
I wouldn’t eat it 'cause I don’t know where it came from, or the chain of custody during that 5 years…
However, if it came out of *my *freezer (which I have full knowledge of its contents and whereabouts for the last 10 years)…
Thaw it out and see how it smells. If it ain’t rotten, toss in some Taco seasoning and Hog-In! Taco seasoning cures all kinds of misfortunes.
Don’t try this http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/steak-tartare-recipe.html.
Where he says “1 pound freshly ground beef tenderloin” you can’t really substitute “1 pound of ground beef 2011 vintage”
A big grocery chain where I live, Meijer, has ground beef for $1.99/lb. Even not on sale and with increased prices there’s always some place that has it for about 3 bucks. So I would just buy some new stuff before I got that tempted.
I wouldn’t even consider it. I purge my fridge every few months. I’m paranoid enough that I might even toss a half used ketchup bottle since I’m not sure when I bought it, but it might have been last fall.
On sale it’s $4 a pound here in Ontario. Not that that’s my prime directive. I’m just curious what it will be like after 5 years.
ETA: Usual price is $6 a pound.