How many people *actually* thaw meat in the fridge?

Question

Any time I try to thaw meat the "right way" (i.e. putting it in the fridge), 2 days later it's still almost entirely frozen!

I'll admit, I do it the "wrong way", leaving it out the counter for a couple hours or putting it in a zip-loc bag and it throwing the bag in a sink full of hot water. I know it's against "food safety rules", but it's faster. (And I hate thawing in the microwave because by the time it's thawed in the middle, the edges have started to cook a little bit.)

Answer 1

and this is why i dont cook, i dont understand a thing and cant read directions!

Wait...You can eat rabbit???  I did not know this... lol my rabbit just died =(

Answer 2

If it takes 2 days for your meat to unthaw in the fridge, you might have the temp too low. Try turning the temp up a little bit in your fridge, enough so everything stays nice and cold, but not really cold.

Answer 3

I have that problem too so I do what you do except I use cold water or put it on a cookie cooling rack on the counter.  

Answer 4

I do, when I remember to... Which is about a third of the time.

Answer 5

Sometimes I do the fridge...but it takes like a year for hamburger to thaw in the fridge. I try to do chicken in the fridge though...for some reason chicken scares me the most. Often I've filled up a big bowl of cold water and soaked the chicken in that to thaw it out though. Cold water works just as good, and it's supposed to be safer. I never use the microwave (I think ours is used for hot pockets only) :D  

Answer 6

It won't hurt anything to thaw meat in hot water so long as you're going to cook it soon.

We never thaw in the fridge for the same reason as you, it just takes too long.  We put it in a glass baking dish in the oven.  We don't turn the oven on, it's just a way of keeping it off the counter and out of the way.

Answer 7

Oh no, no, no, no, noooooooo... I always, always, always defrost everything in the fridge.  I had food poisoning once years and years ago.  Gave it to myself thank you very much.  It was totally not my fault though.  Some of my girlfriends stopped over one night when I was single.  I'd made meatloaf (what the h**l was I thinking, I know!) and I left it out.  I came home around 3 AM, figured it was cooked, threw it in the fridge and ate some the next day and OMG.. I was sick for 8 hours straight... I will never in my life eat ANYTHING that is not ice cold ever in my life again.  And no, I just took two steaks out last night and threw 'em in the fridge and they're already halfway thawed.  They'll be fine by tomorrow.     It's only cause of the whole food poisoning thing that I'm so paranoid now.

Answer 8

Wait, you're supposed to do that?

Answer 9

Hot water defrost all the way here, by the time I know what i want to cook i don't have time to defrost it in the fridge

Answer 10

I boil some water (about two pot fulls) and pour it in the sink and let it thaw that way. I don't have two days to prepare dinner, I barely have 20 minutes to prepare dinner with my schedule!

I tried ONCE to thaw in the fridge and about an hour in I was aggravated and just did it my way. I don't thaw in the microwave though, I don't like the smell that emits from the microwave two or three days later.

Food Safety Rules, pfft! I've NEVER been sick, nor has anyone thats ever eaten my food.  (Surprising, I know!)

Answer 11

I thaw on the counter or in hot water- same as you...Health shmelth code!

Answer 12

I do I put it in the morning before I plan on using it  it's about 99.9% thawed out by then

Answer 13

You can put it in zip lock bag in a pot of water in the sink and as long as you keep cold water slowly running into the pot, you are within the safety guidelines.

Answer 14

It depends how soon I want to eat it.

At the moment I have some liver sat in a bowl on the kitchen worktop. I want to eat it tonight and it's the only way I can have it ready soon enough.

I do quite often leave things in the fridge to defrost, but I generally only do that if I'm not going to eat it for 36hrs or so (depending on the size of the thing I'm defrosting).

If your food is still frozen after 2 days, I'd suggest getting a fridge thermometer. Aim for 4 degrees C.

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ADD: A whole chicken will take a long time. I'd be inclined to do as you do tbh!

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I never put things in the sink to defrost. All the grease and old food left over from the washing up puts me right off. I'd be paranoid about leaks in the zip-lock bag. I might however put it in a separate bowl of hot water to defrost though if I'm desperate. Don't often do that though.

Answer 15

it depends on my mood....hungry and forgot to take something out, kinda mood...microwave

but I admit to counter thawing...before my ServeSafe class, Now I do the cool water, change water every 45 min or so

you wouldn't *believe* the dangers I learned in that class!!

Answer 16

There is meat thawing in my fridge every day....my dogs don't like it frozen, and if I leave it out on the counter the cats will have it torn apart in no time.

I have not yet begun thawing whole chickens, but I do take meat out of the freezer days before I need it.  Every time I take meat out of the fridge to give to my dogs I take a few things out of the freezer keeping a mental note of whether or not there is enough bone, organ, and muscle meat thawing.  

Guess I just got a rythem going now.

Answer 17

i put mine in the day before i want to use it.

Answer 18

I do all the time.  But it usually takes 3 or 4 days in my fridge.  But I also use the meat drawer to thaw it in and that's at the very bottom of my fridge.  Cold air drops, so that's the coldest spot in the fridge.  If I'm really in a hurry though, I will put it in cold water in the sink instead.

Answer 19

I do try to thaw in the fridge, just because I have worked in restaurants and I know the horrors of not properly handling food!

Though, I do admit, it can take several days for things to thaw in my fridge (I have it really cold b/c I just get paranoid about bad bacteria and things...) but if I have a whole chicken that isn't thawed all the way, I admit, I just cut it in half w/ the kitchen shears and season it and bake it anyway. I just account for the little extra frozen-ness, and bake a little longer.

If I don't do that, I do the pot w/ continuous flow of cold water over it. Thaws pretty quickly that way.