Am I overreacting about food safety?

Question

Hey everybody I need some advice please. My husband, two kids (7 and 2.5) and myself are living with my grandparents so I can help take care of them. They are still able to do almost everything on their own. My grandpa insists we split making dinner throughout the week and I’ve noticed lately he is trying to use expired meat for dinners more and more frequently. I have tried to talk to him about food safety and he brushes me off and tells me it’s fine and then gets angry when my family wont eat his dinner. When I say the meat is expired I mean it’s over a week expired and turning colors and smelling. Since being pregnant o am extra cautious about food safety and I don’t know if this is causing me to overreact or not.

Answer

Howdy, I have a Dietetics and a Public Health Degree AKA super qualified to answer this. The date on the meat is meaningless if you are in the USA. That is a "best by" or "sell by" date. Best by is the date the food is expected to be at top quality till. Sell by is the date at which the item should be sold by in order for the customer to still have time to enjoy the product at peak quality. The only food items in the USA with "expiration" dates are baby food and medical foods (like ensure). So the past the date thing is not concerning. What is concerning is that you said the foods are showing signs of rot and decay. At that point the foods need thrown out and are not safe for consumption. Being that at least 5 of you are in high risk categories for food bourne illnesses it really isnt worth risking it. Now for grandpa. Grandpa most likely comes from a time when food especially meat was scarce (great depression era). Or he was raised by someone who was. In his mind wasting food is a cardinal sin because you never know when you can get more. I would sit down with Grandpa, and come up with a system where only meat that will be used in a time period before it goes bad is purchased. Or, if buying in bulk is needed, offer to portion the meat so that some fresh stays out that will be used promptly and the other portions can be frozen and stored safely for a longer time period. What I do in my home is leave out what I need to make one or two nights of dinner and then freeze the rest in single meal portions (for its 1-2lbs of meat per meal or 2-3 chicken breasta per meal, but there are only 2 adults and 2 kids here). Arguing with Grandpa will not help any, its too much a part of him. But coming up with a solution so there is only enough fresh thawed meat out to be used before it goes bad at a time should be fairly successful.

Answer

Why’s there even week old rotting meet available to cook? Do people eat it and live? Absolutely. Would I? No. I’m sensitive to the smell of meat that is ‘old’ I freeze almost everything, and defrost the day before I’m going to use it. Week old funky meat wouldn’t even live in my fridge, let alone be something I feed my family.

Answer

You’re not being weird. He’s being gross.

Am I overreacting about food safety?

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