Food preparation and safety are key to survival.
That’s why gluten-free eaters are so vigilant.
Now, some people may take what they deem as safety a tad far.
But is there such a thing as a tad far when it comes to health and safety?
Redditor JonnyW__ wanted to discuss their experience and get some feedback, so naturally, they came to the “Am I The A**hole” (AITA) subreddit.
They asked:
“AITA for making my wife throw out a whole chicken?”
The Original Poster (OP) explained:
“So, my wife decided she was going to try a new recipe for dinner tonight. “
“It’s a one-pot chicken thing with orzo.”
“She ordered the groceries online this morning and then went to collect them around 11 am.”
“She got back home around midday and unloaded everything from the car.”
“Flash forward to 5:30 pm, and my wife returns from an afternoon walk with her friends.”
“After 5 minutes of dinner preparation sounds I hear a loud ‘wtf, where has the chicken gone?’ from the kitchen. “
“I naturally assume that she forgot to order it, but she assures me there is a chicken somewhere.”
“Eventually she tracks it down… it has been in the boot of our car all afternoon.”
“Now, the chicken wasn’t a frozen chicken.”
“The chicken was a whole, fresh, raw chicken, in a sealed bag.”
“Although it wasn’t a particularly warm day, we still had a high of 16 degrees C (60F) and our car was sitting out in the sunshine all afternoon.”
“I told my wife I was posting this, and she wants me to stress that the chicken was still cool to the touch.”
“Personally, I wouldn’t say the chicken was warm, but I also wouldn’t call it overly cold.”
“It’s safe to say it was somewhere between fridge temperature and room temperature.”
“After finding the chicken, I told my wife I didn’t want to eat the chicken.”
“She tells me we’re going to eat the chicken.”
“I go back to the couch and start Googling how long you can leave a chicken in the car for.”
“I go back to the kitchen and tell my wife I don’t want to eat the chicken. “
“She tells me we’re going to eat the chicken.”
“I explain that I’ve Googled it and we shouldn’t eat the chicken.”
“She keeps preparing the chicken.”
“We have a back and forth like this for a while, at which point I pitch the idea that she can have the chicken, and I can just make something simple for my dinner.”
“She’s not thrilled because she wanted to make this meal for me.”
“At this point, I tell her I’m not going to eat it, and I feel like I’m being made to eat a chicken against my will.”
“She then proceeds to walk out the door, get in the car, and head off in search of another chicken from the store.”
“I feel like a bit of an a**hole about it.”
“I also feel like we may have wasted a perfectly good chicken.”
The OP was left to wonder:
“So… AITA?”
Redditors shared their thoughts on this matter and weighed in on some options to the question AITA:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
Many Redditors declared that OP was NOT the A**hole.
“You know what’s worse than throwing out a chicken?”
“Food poisoning.”
“I would not have eaten that chicken either. NTA.” ~ Bubbly_Chicken_9358
“100%. I wouldn’t be eating that chicken either.”
“There is nothing worse than food poisoning.”
“Your body will purge every last drop from the mouth and the anus, usually simultaneously.” ~ bygeez
“That said, since OP was the one vetoing it and she’d previously gone to the store and was the one cooking, OP should have gone to get a new chicken.”
“NTA for sure, but I can understand her frustration if she’s already put some work into this dinner and now needs to put the preparation on hold to drive to the store.”
“He should have just said, ‘Ok, I’m gonna get a new chicken, you keep chopping onions and I’ll be back in 15.'” ~ cyanpineapple
“As someone with a food handler license, you could not pay me a million dollars to eat that chicken.”
“I like life too much.”
“Chicken is like the one thing you don’t mess with. NTA.”
“Always err on the side of caution.” ~ adventurer907505307
“NTA – no way I’d be eating a chicken that had sat inside a car for that long.”
“It isn’t worth risking salmonella, that s**t is NASTY.” ~ Legitimate-Crab7980
“NTA, eating that would’ve been bad for you guys.” ~ moramiley
“NTA – I have a friend who required anal surgery after eating bad chicken.”
“Their diarrhoea was so bad they ended up with an anal fistula.” ~ Sharp-Ticket1950
“NTA -Nothing would make me eat that chicken.” ~ SaturdayPlatterday
“NTA. I hate wasting food, especially meat, but I wouldn’t eat it, either.”
“It’s not safe, and food poisoning is miserable.” ~ FigNinja
“NTA. 2 hours max is the time raw meat is safely able to be kept at room temperature.”
“That time decreases the hotter it is.”
If meat is kept out longer than this, it allows harmful bacteria to multiply.”
“I would not eat that chicken either.” ~ Ennostiel
“The danger zone is just 40°F to 140°F, where bacteria can start growing.”
“Also, the reason it’s not a good idea to defrost meat on the counter is that it should be defrosted in the fridge.”
“The outside meat gets warmer faster, even though the inside may still be frozen solid, allowing bacteria to exponentially grow and start making heat-stable toxins that do not get destroyed by cooking.” ~ Tomagatchi
“NTA, it sucks to waste meat, but the waste already happened when it was misplaced.”
“It’s not safe for consumption, and of all things, chicken isn’t one you should take risks with.”
“I would make sure you let your wife know you appreciate her cooking and are excited to try the dish (with the replacement chicken), though it sounds like she was excited about sharing it with you.” ~ Nerdy-Babygirl
“Chicken has a longer lifespan outside of the fridge than people realise.”
“When it arrives at the shops, they can leave it sitting on a pallet for ages before stocking it, and don’t even get me started with what they do in poorer countries.”
“Having said that… I would not eat the chicken NTA.” ~ No_Garbage3192
“NTA, your wife may not be pleased, but she should understand that being irritated is better than having food poisoning.” ~ Notsayin70
“NTA, but the wiser play would have been to reassure her that it’s okay to make a mistake now and then and go get her another chicken.” ~ JollyBlazer
“NAH, loo,k everyone has different levels of comfort where food storage is concerned.”
“If throwing the chicken isn’t causing any strain money-wise wise then that seems fair.”
“The only slightly AH thing you did was argue rather than try to solve the issue, as it was you who had the problem with it.”
“You should have said, ‘Look, I’m not comfortable eating that, so I’ll go to the store and grab us another.'”
“Making this new recipe and sharing it with you was obviously really important to her, enough that she might have ignored the risks of eating that chicken to try to solve the mistake, and that going to get another one was a priority over just cooking something else.”
“The argument and the mistake have tainted what was a lovely gesture.”
“Tell her you damn well appreciate that she got another chicken and the effort she put in to finding a recipe, getting the groceries for it, and wanting to share that food together.” ~ never-die-twice
“NTA, this was a bacteria fest.” ~ DeesignNZ
“NAH – I would have eaten it, but I come from a family that was originally not making too much money and grew up in a city bombed during WWII.”
“That behavioural patterns are passed on for a few generations. If that sandwich drops on the street, I would still eat it.😄”
“So if the chicken was out of the fridge at average temperatures for 6 hours but doesn’t smell funny, I would give it a go.”
“If you take the first bite and it tastes weird, dump it.”
“Also, Salmonella dies at 75°C/165°F, so this should be no issue.”
“But I also get you resentful if you were raised a different way.” ~ flohhhh
“NTA – 6 to 7 hours in warm conditions can mean a trip to the ER.”
“It’s just a flipping chicken.”
“Get another one.”
“In fact, if you saw her getting upset about it, you could have simply gone and gotten her a new chicken while she started the cooking, and tossed the old one, as she had plans to make a nice meal for you.” ~ PhotoForward2499
“NAH. You’re both right.”
“I wouldn’t have eaten the chicken either.”
“But honestly, your chance of getting food poisoning from that chicken left out for 6 hrs, in incredibly low, practically zero unless it had been left out at other times along the line before it got to you.” ~ BublyInMyButt
“NTA for not eating the chicken, but you realize the probable issue is that your wife had already done the shopping and prepping (and likely lots of other household tasks).”
“She’s likely annoyed to have one more thing added to her plate.”
“Why didn’t you just go to the store for another chicken?” ~ CraftyHon
“NTA. A few chubbyemu videos would probably be very informative for everyone involved.” ~ mrcatboy
“NTA. As someone who…”
“1) is Canadian Federal Food Safety Certified…”
“2) worked in food service for over 10 years, and…”
“3) literally called out of work yesterday sick after eating bad fast food.”
“Yeah. You’re 100% right not to risk it with that chicken.” ~ Scarecrowqueen
“NTA. I watched a drama based on a true story of this man who ate 1 or 2 day-old sausages (cooked from raw), got food poisoning and developed sepsis, lost most of his face, his legs, and arms.”
“That has been enough for me to not want to risk food poisoning.” ~ hobalotit
Reddit understands your concerns, OP.
It makes sense that you wanted to play it safe.
Food poisoning is no fun.
If she was willing to go out and get another chicken for you, it doesn’t sound like a crazy blow-up.
Enjoy the meal.