So my wife and i bought some ground beef and accidentally left it in the car overnight but it was cold last night and its still cold to the touch. Is it bad now or can u still cook with it? It was cold enough to see ur breath last night and this morning.

It should be all fine, as long as you don't try to refreeze it and cook it another time, just cook it today and it will be all good.

I've left ground beef out on the counter over night by accident, and cooked it the next day and it was completely fine, that's happened a couple times to me actually. But yeah, especially if it was somewhat cold last night, then you will be perfectly fine.

I've also left thawed ground beef in the fridge for like 3 days before cooking it and it was fine. Just smell it, if it doesn't smell sour, then you're all good.

Absolutely not. DO NOT EAT.

Or take your chances. That sounds more exciting.

If the outside temperature was around 40 degree F, the same as a fridge, it should be alright.

For the purposes of giving someone advice on a public forum, I'd say no. But I've eaten worse myself, so I'd feel a bit hypocritical saying that. Besides, waste is lame.

Do the smell test.

This.

Reluctant to say go for it, but I to have eaten worse.....out of a grocery store dumpster no less. (Yes, we cooked it well!)

Looking bad is one thing, but as long as it doesn't smell bad, it should be fine.

We ate recalled ground meat from Costco once that had an E. Coli scare. We just made sure to cook it 100%.

I honestly wouldn't care and eat it lol

If it were here where the overnight hight was 40 degrees, I'd say it's safe if the packaging is intact. If it were here and left a month from now for two weeks in the car (if it were never started and heated) I'd still eat it.

Sometimes we must just use common sense. Ask yourself, how cold was it? Was the car in a heated garage? Was the car heater on during the night? Has it turned a funky shade of brown or a pale shade of green? Does it smell ok?

When in doubt just don't eat it. But if it were in my car last night all night, I'd be making some tacos right now.

Wow some of you are dare devils. I run a frozen deptarment, and I will not sell any frozen meat that has thawed out. Fresh meat on the other hand, if the cases stop functioning, and no one is aware of it, the meat has 2 hours before it is a no sale item. Basically, if the meat smells "cooked", it is not good.

Refreezing is a myth.

As long as the packaging is unbroken one night should be fine, as long as we are not talking summer temperatures here.

Refreezing is a myth because any meat you buy is already thawed and refrozen at least once, and probably half a dozen times.

Where I live we get our beef partly from Africa and partly from Europe. This is because European beef is quite fat and people don't like that. African beef is mainly free-range and these cows are much less fat. So that beef gets mixed with European beef to provide a fat content that people like.

In any case, when these cows in Africa are slaughtered the beef is frozen and goes over here. It is thawed, mixed with European beef, frozen again and sent to supermarkets.

Where it is thawed again when it is put on the shelves.

What should be slightly worrying about beef is the level of fecal content. Because of money the conveyor belts on which the cows to be slaughtered get hauled around move ever faster. A butcher for a company like McDonalds has less than half a minute to spend per cow. This means that they can not work securely and accurately and this means that they often accidentally slash the bowels, contaminating the meat. The meat is then hozed down but this of course does not remove all fecal matter.

It is perfectly legal and perfectly harmless, as long as the hamburger is well-cooked.

It is also perfectly disgusting and next time you buy cheap beef like a McDonalds burger remember that they literally contain [censored].

I don't care if http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDvSPQ7megQ is real or not, it's disturbing, and you made me remember it. D:

As for the ground beef, keep in mind it doesn't have to be very cold for you to see your breath outside. If it was barely touching that temperature outside then I'm not certain I'd trust the temperature inside of the car.

If you're not absolutely certain it's good anymore I'd rather let my wallet take the hurt than my health.

I don't know if it's real either, but it is certainly biologically and scientifically possible. Mamallian waste products contain quite a bit of nutrients still.

Its real.. Eat recycled food.

why not? there shouldn't be any thing wrong with it, it takes longer than 8 hours for meat to spoil, especially if its packaged it can go for about a week. even spoiled meat isn't necessarily bad for you all the time, its nasty tasting as hell, but I know of health nuts who insist on eating a little of it.

the real danger is when the meat is contaminated with something like feces or salmonella.

There's a difference between what a food retailer should be allowed to sell, and what people can actually eat, though. Food standards laws are set intentionally tight so there's little to no margin for error, but that's not the same as saying meat has an on/off switch whereby at an arbitrary cut-off point it's no longer safe to eat...

Eat it or else the taco gods will be mad. MAD I SAY MAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!

You have to let beef thaw out anyway, so why not eat it.

Never waste the PROTEINZ!