Dear Heloise: I read a letter in your column about eating chicken that was stored unwrapped. At the end of your answer, you said never to refreeze meats, fowl or seafood after they’ve been thawed out. I had a butcher tell me years ago that it was OK to do, and I’ve been doing it since then without a problem. — Sharon G., in Tucson, Ariz.

Sharon, refreezing meat, poultry and seafood may not kill you, but there will be some changes. If you have thawed out the meat in the refrigerator, it’s usually safe enough to consume. But the changes in the product will result in meat that is drier and tougher and has less flavor.

Bacteria will also multiply. Refreezing meat does not kill bacteria; it only makes bacteria become dormant. Once the meat is thawed out again, the bacteria will get busy multiplying.

So, it’s up to you whether you want to consume foods that have been thawed out once, then refrozen. — Heloise

HOME WARRANTY SCAM

Dear Heloise: I recently received a phone call from a man who said that he represented a home warranty company. He started to scold me for not filling out paperwork that his company sent me to make certain our home warranty did not expire.

First of all, we’ve never had a home warranty, but we’ve always had home insurance. I know the difference. Then he said my husband must have handled it and forgot to mention it to me. Interesting! My husband has been dead for nearly 12 years.

I wasn’t busy, so I decided to string him along. I said this sounded like a scam, and he assured me that it wasn’t. Just to prove they were sincere, he’d ask his boss to lower the monthly price of the warranty from $230 a month to $179 a month for the first year if I agreed to an automatic withdrawal from my checking account each month.

I kept jabbering away until I finally burst out laughing. Then I hung up on him. I told my attorney about the phone call, and he did some digging and found out that it really was a scam! Moral of the story: Never allow anyone to withdraw money from your bank account without checking them out. And never casually do business like this over the phone. — Lois R., in St. Paul, Minn.

WEDDING SNAFU

Dear Heloise: My granddaughter is getting married close to Christmas this year. They have decided to go with what they say is now the trend of asking people to pay to come to their wedding. I find this unbelievably rude. They want $350 per couple and $275 for singles, but because I’m her grandmother, they said they’ll admit me for a mere $200. I’m not going.

What happened to the days when couples set a budget that includes everything they will spend? A wedding was the celebration of love for one another and the joyous beginning of a new life. A small wedding was intimate, personal and dignified. After all, two people were joining their two lives, not joining the circus! — Carla W., in Hartford, Conn.

Carla, many readers have written in about the imposed payment that people are requiring for weddings nowadays. Well, readers, what do you think? Would you pay to go to the wedding? — Heloise

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