Whole raw chicken days in refrigerator?

If I bought a nice young chicken today, by when must I cook it? A Google search tells me 1-2 days, which seems ridiculous given the fact that there's no way the store is selling all their chickens in a day. If it makes any difference, this is a high-quality organic chicken. My plans changed and won't be roasting it until the weekend...but will I kill my family??

Dani
  • Posted by: Dani
  • July 1, 2015
  • 1743 views
  • 4 Comments

4 Comments

boulangere
boulangere July 1, 2015
P.S. Dani, the designation "organic" merely refers how the chicken was raised, not necessarily to how it was processed. Poultry carry salmonella in their gut because they're poultry, regardless of how they are raised.
 
boulangere
boulangere July 1, 2015
I'm careful of poultry. By the "weekend," which day do you mean? In your shoes, I'd freeze it today, then pull it to the refrigerator at least 12 hours before you plan to cook/serve it.
 
cookbookchick
cookbookchick July 1, 2015
What's the sell-by date on your chicken?
 
Nancy
Nancy July 1, 2015
"sell by" is store recommendation, but by no means the end of healthy product life. still tasty (a site for estimating real durations of keeping food, not package directions, drawing on USDA, FDA & CDC advisories - i know, i know, usda not always the best) estimates to cook after 2 days in fridge after "best by" date on sealed package. once open, trust your eyes and nose - if smell is off, or chicken is slimy, best not to use.
 
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