King Henry VIII chose turkey for his Christmas dinner in the 16th century, King Edward VII made it popular, and now we eat around 10 million for Christmas every year in the UK!
Bochkarev Photography / Shutterstock.com
Around 25% also buy ours before the holiday period, so how can we safely store it - along with those other popular festive meats, such as gammon, sausage meat and ham?
Without proper storage, there is a real risk of food poisoning and spoilt food, so follow our guide to successful meat storage at Christmas.
How to store meat in the run-up
Most meat can only be left at room temperature for 1-3 days before it starts to spoil. Here are some useful tips:
- Get meat into the fridge or freezer as soon as it arrives in your home. It's usually best to store meat in the packaging it arrived in, but you can also put it in in freezer-safe food boxes for easy stacking and labelling.
- If you're putting meat in the freezer, label it with details of the contents and the date that it went in.
- When storing meat in the fridge, place it at the bottom. This is the coldest section and if any juices leak, they won't contaminate other food.
- When you freeze meat, it will last for around six months. You can freeze it right up to its use-by date. When you defrost it, use it on the same day.
- The safest way to defrost meat is in the fridge. Give it a good 24 hours and cook it directly from the fridge.
Tip: Meat starts to degrade when its surface is exposed to microbes. This means that joints last longer than cubed meat and mince will last the shortest time. Don't worry though if it turns a little grey - this is just the oxidization process. Some producers use additives to artificially maintain the red appearance, but it's simply a chemical presentation.
How to safely use meat leftovers
The most popular Boxing Day meats tend to be gammon, pulled shoulder of pork, simple bacon joints and of course leftover turkey! It's important to prepare them safely before you serve them though. So long as the cooked or salted meat has been stored overnight in the fridge, it can be sliced and served again the next day. Many people will also cook the leftover turkey in curries or soups, for example.
A cook's thermometer can be a handy tool for the kitchen. The standard advice is to cook any food so that it achieves a temperature of 70°C for 2 minutes – this is enough time to kill harmful bacteria. Different meats also need different degrees of cooking. For example, whole cuts of lamb and beef such as roading joints can be pink inside because food poisoning bacteria are usually only on the surface. It's important to cook and seal the surface of the meat.
Other products such as duck, poultry, pork, rolled joints, burgers, sausage and liver need to be cooked until their juices run clear, there is no pink meat inside and so they are steaming hot throughout.
Can you store cooked meat in the freezer?
Yes. Allow it to cool before placing it in a suitable freezer bag or airtight food-grade storage container.
What containers should you use?
Food storage boxes and tubs tend to be your best bet because they have lids, they’re made from food-grade plastic and are designed to be suitable for all types of storage, including in the freezer.
With these safety tips and processes in place, you can enjoy a Christmas packed with delicious AND safe food.