Safe to keep frozen TV dinners in regular refrigerator?

[TwixVoy]

Well it seems the frozen part of my refrigerator is not working all of a sudden, but the regular refrigerator side is still working fine.

I have some TV dinners in the frozen side. They say "keep frozen".... I have moved them over to the refrigerator side until I can find out if that is safe or not.

Does anyone know if these will still be safe to eat if they are kept refrigerated and not frozen? If so, how long?

[krispos42]

1. They'll thaw out over the course of the next couple of days

Then they'll still be good a little longer.


I wouldn't wait more than a week, myself.

[Petrushka]

2. It should be safe to keep them refrigerated but, if they thaw, you'll have to cook them . . .

. . . before even thinking about re-freezing them. Once they've
been thawed and cooked, however, the quality will suffer if you
re-freeze them; and 3-4 months is about as long as they'll remain
edible. So --- in the next week to ten days while they thaw, you
might as well cook 'em and eat up.

Edited to add:
The following USDA link will prove more helpful than the above:

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/FactSheets/Focus_On_Freezing/index.asp

[crim son]

3. I'm thinking no.

At least, not for more than 48 hours. Home-cooked casseroles etc. might last several days once thawed but you have no way of knowing how long your t.v. dinner was stored before being frozen.

P.S. What's your favorite t.v. dinner?

[Petrushka]

4. Here's something from the USDA that might be helpful . . .

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/FactSheets/Focus_On_Freezing/index.asp