Shelf life of cooked chicken?

Behxo
Behxo Posts: 1,190 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi, I just wanted to get some opinions on the shelf life of cooked chicken. I have 6 chicken breasts that I kind of want to prepare all in one go so that I won't have to do it every night for dinner, I would eat one of them tonight so they'd technically only be refrigerated for 5 days until I eat all of them. I read somewhere that it's 3-4 days but I can't imagine it would make much of a difference if it was 5-6. Thanks!

Replies

  • aeloine
    aeloine Posts: 2,163 Member
    I usually don't go past 4. It gets dry and tasteless at 5.
  • shandy82165
    shandy82165 Posts: 184 Member
    For me, 3 days is max. It gets a funny tasted to me after 3 days. It's not gone bad though, just tastes different.
  • Crafty_camper123
    Crafty_camper123 Posts: 1,440 Member
    edited February 2018
    eatbydate.com It has everything you could think of, including when you should eat it, and how to tell if it's starting to spoil or not. I would say about 5 days max for me personally. You could always freeze it to maximize freshness!

    Edit: Checked my link and realized it was bad.. Take 2.
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,997 Member
    Why not freeze it til you're ready to use it?
  • LittleQuelie
    LittleQuelie Posts: 37 Member
    Yeah, I second what the guy above me said. You an cook the whole batch now, and then eat one, keep three in the fridge, and then re-freeze the now-cooked chicken. It's fine to "re"freeze once after cooking. Then on the fourth day, you can defrost the two breasts that you had frozen. Et voila.

    For leftovers, I typically don't go over 3 days but will allow up to 4 for most items.
  • JennJ323
    JennJ323 Posts: 646 Member
    I food prep Sundays, and eat it throughout the week til Friday. I've never had an issue with chicken going bad or tasting funny the whole week. But I have made pulled chicken, portioned it and freeze it.. then pull out each portion the night before, for lunch the next day. Both ways work for me.
  • sullus
    sullus Posts: 2,839 Member
    I buy a couple Rotisserie chickens on Sundays when I shop. Sometimes, I'm still finishing one up on Saturday - seems to be fine. When in doubt I toss a piece to the cat. If he turns up his nose, I dont eat it.
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,727 Member
    5 days is pushing it for refrigerated, but frozen should be fine... just make sure you double wrap and get as much air and excess moisture out as possible.
  • DamienAngelica
    DamienAngelica Posts: 281 Member
    bbell1985 wrote: »
    I'd cook on Sunday and still eat it Friday for lunch. Stomach of steel tho.

    I guess I've got one as well. I cook up a package of chicken tenderloins on Sunday and eat them for lunch or dinner during the week and I frequently eat the last one on Saturday.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    Freeze the cooked portions, I would not be keen to eat refrigerated chicken after day 3.
  • glassyo
    glassyo Posts: 7,728 Member
    I make a very simple chicken thing in the crockpot and it doesn't start smelling funky or taste wrong until the next Sunday.
  • maybe1pe
    maybe1pe Posts: 529 Member
    I go max a week. I cook on Sunday and will finish it up by the following Saturday. After that I throw it out. Never have gotten sick from that.
    Although common sense is required, if it's cooked with something that smells or looks weird I throw it all out.

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