# Soooo mad! I just wasted two pork roasts



## valannb22 (Jan 6, 2012)

I stopped by the grocery store on my way home last night and bought a huge family sized package of pork roasts that were on sale. Got home, dropped my grocery bags in the kitchen and DH asked me to come outside and help him do something. I came back in and put up the food, but didn't see the bag with the pork stuck next to the cat food bag. Forgot all about them, and DH just calls to ask why I had that big package of meat sitting out. :gaah: They've been sitting out all night long and now we get to trash them.


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

How hot was it in the house overnight??

You might be able to "save" them by smoking them right away or use an acid-based broth in a slow-cooker. An acid-based broth could be CocaCola w/ generous amounts of BBQ-sauce.


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## valannb22 (Jan 6, 2012)

I would say probably in the mid-70s. They've been out 16 plus hours.


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## tsrwivey (Dec 31, 2010)

Can you at least save it for the animals? Man that sticks but no way would I eat that or feed it to my kids. Now if hubby's been hard to live with lately....


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## DJgang (Apr 10, 2011)

I've done that before. Don't it just piss you off? 

I'd cook it for animals. 

Ugh!


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## valannb22 (Jan 6, 2012)

I am pissed at myself for forgetting. I HATE wasting money, especially on food. That would have made at least 4 meals for us. I don't have any dogs, and I don't know if the cat would eat it. He's a picky SOB. Guess it wouldn't hurt to try


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

That temperature doesn't sound too bad - stuff a meat thermometer into the middle and take a reading. If it is still "cool", you might still be fine. You might "waste" the outter section of the roast, but, the inside could be good still.

Personally, I would give it a try as I hate wasting food as well.


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

Okay, I know this won't bring back your roasts, but you are most definitely NOT alone in doing something like that...


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## kyhoti (Nov 16, 2008)

It's even better when the meat slides under the backseat in the vehicle, which you then park for two days over the weekend in the middle of August in frikking Georgia. Better yet, leaving the windows cracked b/c of the heat, which lets flies in, so that you get to remove 5 pounds of maggot-infested burger on Monday morning before work. You are by no means alone. I won't even mention mothers-in-law who put lunch meat in the dishtowel drawer in a moment of senior nuttiness.


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## Magus (Dec 1, 2008)

deep fry them and shred them,then cook them in the pressure cooker and can them as gravy base.


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## cnsper (Sep 20, 2012)

They are not wasted. Cook them slowly at 300 degrees and enjoy. Heat KILLS any bacteria that may be on them. Take a look at what Bear Grylls eats on his sojourns, much worse than sitting in the house for 16 hours.

People worry about salmonella and such on chicken but if you cook it fully, there is no issue because you kill the bacteria.

Now if you were cooking rare meat that is a different story, but I like my pork cooked thoroughly.


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## kyhoti (Nov 16, 2008)

Just noticed this last post about killing bacteria in meat with a thorough cooking. Beware! Yes, you are killing the bacteria, but you cannot remove them. "What?", you say. "Why does that matter?" I say this: bacteria leave behind waste products that aren't destroyed by regular cooking. These toxins persist long after the bacteria are dead. You want the full science? www.textbookofbacteriology.net/proteintoxins.html It's a long and technical read, and even as a biologist, it stretches my limits, but suffice it to say: Beware!

Want an example of dead microorganisms making you ill? If you get a flu shot this year, and feel flu-ish, thats your body reacting to the proteins in a dead virus. You get a fever, aches etc, but the dose is so low that it won't last long, and the virii are not reproducing, so you don't stay ill long. Imagine upping the dose to the full illness level: you will be extremely ill, even though the bugs are already dead!


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## valannb22 (Jan 6, 2012)

Good to know. I did go ahead and cook them both in my crockpot smothered in barbecue. We ate one and froze the other, and luckily no one had any issues


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## kyhoti (Nov 16, 2008)

Good way to double treat the meat! The vinegar and garlic which are in most bbq sauces are antimicrobial, and the long heat of a slow cooker performed the pasteurization effect. Luckily, you were dealing with intact roasts; most bacterial growth is on the surface of the muscle tissue and can be mitigated by simply washing the surface of the roast for a few minutes. That, coupled with short time of "exposure" meant you were good to go. Had this been a thinner cut, or goodness forbid, a ground meat, YMMV.

I may sound like a Nervous Nelly about this stuff, but its because I've done a good deal of science revolving around toxic microorganisms, especially in food and water. Rolling the dice while we have a functioning health-care infrastructure is one thing. Post-fan, it is a terrible thought. To be honest, I take it so seriously that, by numbers, I have more hygiene preps than any other save food. Its a central focus of our program. After all, how well can you defend yourself when you've got the "bucking broncos"?


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## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

I once bought a partial hog in the middle of winter. The freezer was full so I set one box on a shelf _temporarily_, after all the temps were in the sub-zero range. I was reminded of what I had done in the spring when my garage started to smell really bad. Doh!


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## zombieresponder (Aug 20, 2012)

Think that's bad? We had two large chest freezers. One of them went out, but luckily my mom caught it before much was lost. That cost us, I'd guess, several months of vegetables and probably 40-60 lbs of hamburger. A few months later, the other one somehow got unplugged and we lost several deer, over half a beef, and a couple years worth of vegetables. I got the joyous task of pulling a rancid freezer out of the shop in 100+ degree heat. After dragging it out in the pasture with our atv, I hopped on dad's backhoe and started digging a hole to bury the freezer's contents. Positioning yourself upwind of that much stench only does so much.....

Probably should have planted a tree over it.


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## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

Would pressure cooking or pressure canning kill off all the bad stuff and save the meat in a situation like this? I'm doubtful based on Kyhoti's postings above.


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## kyhoti (Nov 16, 2008)

Some toxins are neutralized under pressure, because the temperature gets much hotter than a normal round of cooking, but that science is above my head. It has to do with denaturing of proteins. Unfortunately, some toxins are CREATED under high temperature/pressure! Anybody on the boards know more about food sciences? I'm just a wetlands biologist for Pete's sake


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## db2469 (Jun 11, 2012)

zombieresponder said:


> Think that's bad? We had two large chest freezers. One of them went out, but luckily my mom caught it before much was lost. That cost us, I'd guess, several months of vegetables and probably 40-60 lbs of hamburger. A few months later, the other one somehow got unplugged and we lost several deer, over half a beef, and a couple years worth of vegetables. I got the joyous task of pulling a rancid freezer out of the shop in 100+ degree heat. After dragging it out in the pasture with our atv, I hopped on dad's backhoe and started digging a hole to bury the freezer's contents. Positioning yourself upwind of that much stench only does so much.....
> 
> Probably should have planted a tree over it.


Wow, that was MOST unfortunate! What a mess and a waste!


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

zombieresponder said:


> Think that's bad? We had two large chest freezers. One of them went out, but luckily my mom caught it before much was lost. That cost us, I'd guess, several months of vegetables and probably 40-60 lbs of hamburger. A few months later, the other one somehow got unplugged and we lost several deer, over half a beef, and a couple years worth of vegetables. I got the joyous task of pulling a rancid freezer out of the shop in 100+ degree heat. After dragging it out in the pasture with our atv, I hopped on dad's backhoe and started digging a hole to bury the freezer's contents. Positioning yourself upwind of that much stench only does so much.....
> 
> Probably should have planted a tree over it.


Wow! Now I don't feel so bad about the freezer load we lost this summer (lightning strike). It was only half full due to the fact that we were trying to empty it out to defrost it.

Sorry y'all went through that!


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

zombieresponder said:


> started digging a hole to bury the freezer's contents. Positioning yourself upwind of that much stench only does so much...


I had a freezer thermostat switch fail when I was an over-the-road truck driver out 2-3 weeks at a time. The spoiled smell was horrific....

Get this: I knew a paint respirator had charcoal filters to catch the organic vapors... so I thought it was worth the try...

I never smelled thing!! I had to wear it several hours straight while I cleaned the freezer out and bleached it, but the air I was breathing smelled perfectly fine! It was a professional auto-body quality "North" brand respirator.

It makes me wonder what else it will filter out...


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## zombieresponder (Aug 20, 2012)

LincTex said:


> I had a freezer thermostat switch fail when I was an over-the-road truck driver out 2-3 weeks at a time. The spoiled smell was horrific....
> 
> Get this: I knew a paint respirator had charcoal filters to catch the organic vapors... so I thought it was worth the try...
> 
> ...


I'll have to pick one up.


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## Hispoptart (Sep 19, 2012)

When our freezer went out a couple of years ago in July, we lost most of a whole cow and about 100 lbs of fresh caught tuna from my DH's fishing trip. The smell was awful. I re-set the breaker and re-froze everything. Then I tossed it all, let the freezer thaw, washed it good with bleach and place an open bag of charcol in there with the door cracked open. After a couple of days there was no smell at all.


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## FrankW (Mar 10, 2012)

Give it to the cats


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## Startingout-Blair (Aug 28, 2012)

While in the Army, I was once "chosen" to do garbage duty. We were out in the field in Georgia in 100+ temps. The mess hall truck had bags of food waste several days old that needed thrown out. In the process, I lifted one of the bags and it broke, spilling rotted food all over my BDUs. The stench was so bad, I was puking over the side of the truck. I went and quickly washed and changed. When I got back to civilization, I burnt the BDUs!


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