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Our large freezer is acting up(no surprise, it being 30 years old). It is causing the lights to flicker, and we have 4 turkeys inside. We have two refreigerators, one of which is mine. To be on the safe side, I moved two into mine, and my mother moved two into the upstairs fridge. But all but one of them are over 5-6 years old.

What the hell is this?!

My mother refuses to throw anything out, and I know it will be impossible to convince her to throw out these turkeys which are taking up space..

So yes or no: Is there any chance the really old turkeys will still be any good?

I say no.

Blech. I won't eat food that's 2 weeks old, much less 5 years. Blech! Eww. Yuck. Then again I'm pretty picky about what I eat.

JediNeophyte wrote:Blech. I won't eat food that's 2 weeks old, much less 5 years. Blech! Eww. Yuck. Then again I'm pretty picky about what I eat.

It's hard for one ot admit his mother is stupid or insane. I still love her, but I'll say what common sense I have I didn't get from her.

5 or 6 years, I think you should toss them. The freezer and fridge would slow down any degradation of the food. I don't think it'll completely stop it though.

Bug-Eyed Earl wrote:Our large freezer is acting up(no surprise, it being 30 years old). It is causing the lights to flicker, and we have 4 turkeys inside. We have two refreigerators, one of which is mine. To be on the safe side, I moved two into mine, and my mother moved two into the upstairs fridge. But all but one of them are over 5-6 years old.

What the hell is this?!

My mother refuses to throw anything out, and I know it will be impossible to convince her to throw out these turkeys which are taking up space..

So yes or no: Is there any chance the really old turkeys will still be any good?

I say no.

Well, the rule of thumb is about a year. The longer those turkeys freeze, the more water is forced out of them due to freezing (this is freezer burn.) And, this driving out of the water destroys the proteins and other nutritional compounds in the turkey. So if you were to cook them, they'd be dry, tough, and would likely lack just about all meaningful nutritional content. And if they were allowed to defrost at any time in those five years, they could be harboring dangerous bacterial and fungal spores.

mmmm, 5 year old turkey. 1998 was a good vintage. I recommend them with a side of garlic potatoes. Although, if you don't like sawdust, you may want to go with GrandMasterTerwynn's advice.

My parents freeze tons of stuff. They live in rural Quebec and buy an entire calf every year. Last year's meat is only really good for stews. My mother has to think of creative ways to throw some of it out, because my father sounds alot like your mother. You can tell your mom that my mother would smack her upside the head if she tried to cook a 5 year old turkey

Thats pretty gross. I would not eat them at all. Cant think of a good way to convince your mom otherwise. Sounds like she has some "issues".

Have you thought about "accidently" tripping over the power cord and letting them defrost? No, I suppose you might get into a world of trouble for that.

At my age, I would just toss them out and let her bitch.

Completely freezing food does a damn good job of stopping bacteria from braking it down, the ice crystals will burst the individual bacteria cells. However it's going to taste like utter shit even if it is still good. I'd way for her to leave for a while, then haul them out and toss them in your trashcans. Hopefully just before the trashmen come.

It won't kill everything though.

Here.

http://www.foodreference.com/html/artfreezingfood.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2072755.stm

Sorry. Couldn't help it.