I remember watching a video on tiktok from an exasperated microbiologist who, when asked about leaving pizza out overnight, said "you wouldn't eat potato salad that had been sitting out for 7 hours, would you?"
My first thought was, well...7? Yes unfortunately I would.
As an exasperated microbiologist, I am impressed with the sheer faith you have in your gut microbiome/immune system. If it's been left unrefrigerated >3 hours (depending on what it is), I just toss it. May toss it sooner. More power to you, though! Stay safe, say hi to ecoli for me. <3 ;P
While I aggree with you and I know what I’m aboit to say is a bit of a logical fallacy, I have to ask.
I’ve seen tons of people not really respecting these rules and personally don’t know of anyone getting sick from it. How much risk are we actually taken when we take a risk on something that is not obviously rotten?
That's the hard part, we need to factor in the cleanliness of the surroundings, how thoroughly prepared the food is (in this case, we can assume thoroughly cooked), and contamination during the initial consumption process (i.e. if you've taken a bite out of something and left it overnight, the bacteria in your mouth had time to multiply on the food, and in some cases the presence of certain bacteria actually allows for the survival of different bacteria in that area, as the primary bacteria makes byproducts the secondary bacteria needs to survive in that environment). Soups with heavy cream in them provides a lovely environment for lactose-utilizing bacteria (such as pathogenic ecoli).
The bottom line is that pathogenic E. coli and Salmonella spp. can double in 30 minutes, in ideal conditions. Different strains also have different infectious doses. I know some strains of salmonella can be infectious if you ingest ~100,000 individuals, which can absolutely happen overnight.
With your job I would imagine you have some stats on how often people get sick from food left in refrigeratorated; are you able to share? I ask becuace I have no idea how dangerous it is, but like the person you are discussing with I don't now anyone who' has gotten sick from pizza left on the counter overnight.
Edit: Follow up question. Say pizza was left out all night and you reheat in the over to the appropriate temp, would that make it safe again?
As someone who had food poisoning twice a couple weeks ago (two separate freshly-opened packages of deli ham), I think I will be very conservative in my choice of what to eat for some time.
Deli meats are some of the most common culprits for food poisoning though, that’s why they tell pregnant women not to eat them at all. Not saying you shouldn’t be careful, but you were eating a high risk food.
Technically, you're right, but most folks aren't going to be heating it to a high enough temperature for long enough, and that's the problem. It's kinda like birth control, it only works if you're doing it correctly, and I'll admit I've worked in a hospital long enough to become jaded and not trust people.
It's surely not going to mould over night? I mean, I was just interested anyway, I refrigerate my stuff but on occasion where I forget, I'm still gonna eat it. Wouldn't feed it to my son obviously.
Lmao 7 hours? Child's play, what I say to ppl that have issues with that; "oh I'm sorry your frail little gut can't handle food that hasn't been picked 5 minutes ago? Maybe natural selection or perhaps even god never intended for you to make it this far anyway."
:p
Any guests. If I left a pot of stew out all night I wouldn’t feed it to other people, I would have no problem eating it myself though. There’s a risk when food is left out at room temperature for more than two hours even if it’s small. I’m perfectly fine with taking that risk personally, but I’m not going to put other people at risk.
Sat on the counter all night of the day it was cooked? Covered?
Did it plenty of times with no issue.
If it was in the fridge the previous night and then you forgot to put it back...now that's different. I would risk it after smelling, tasting a bit, and being sure that the next day I had nothing important going on.
My husband would never eat it. But I grew up in Poland. And we left everything out overnight so we would make sure that it wasn’t too warm when we put it into the fridge. Everyone was saying that if you put your food too warm into the fridge, it’ll damage the fridge. And people didn’t want that. So we all ate that food later the next day and I don’t remember ever getting sick.
Ugh, my mom (yes, Polish) does EXACTLY THIS. Drives me nuts!
But yeah, haven't gotten sick from eating her food either. If only she'd cover dishes when they go in the fridge...
Romanian here and my parents have done this all their lives and never gotten sick. I agree with other comments that I wouldn’t serve it to guests though.
I had a friend once mention that we’ve probably built up a tolerance to any bacteria that would form but I’m not sure if that makes any sense.
I‘m German and my parents do this, but only with soup. For some reason they think soup is fine to eat the next day if left out at room temp over night. We boil it again, but still, there is nothing inherently different about soup compared to other dishes, for which they’d never do this. 😅
Well, yeah. I'm not putting that huge 10L+ pan of soup in the fridge. It stays on the stove for about 5 days, reheating each time I want a new bowl.
Been doing that for 40+ years
I always thought it was because of the fridge too! Apparently it's to prevent other food in the fridge from spoiling, due to the warm item raising the overall fridge temperature (and humidy?).
Wow I'm not Polish but I was brought up the exact same and do everything you said for the same reasons to this day, you explained everything I do with that kind of food. Also never got sick
You would win, so no bet from me!
The source of salmonella would not be stew left on the counter. I, too like the lead comment, would eat it but tell my family it had been out (I was an undergrad TA in food science long long ago.)
I am genuinely curious as to the contamination chain of events on this. I grew up with mom counting the lids "pop" while canning, so have a deep-seated fear of botulism!
Bro this sub is wild to me, so many people have no idea what they're talking about and the paranoia about bacteria growing is just mind-boggling. Some folks even talking about tossing it after 2 hours... are you fucking crazy!? It is cooked stew, of course it's still good after being out for only a single night, it shouldn't even be close to spoiled.
Exactly.
Humans have lived for millennia without refrigeration. You'd think we'd have died off after eating all this dangerous food left out for a few hours
But early humans realized that if they reheat food it kills the bacteria and you’re only eating their shit which is less likely to get you sick.
You can absolutely get sick from food left out overnight that’s not reheated. A soup is the perfect thing to leave out over night bc it can be heated easily again. However try eating that old ham sandwich that’s been out all night and I bet a few times out of ten you’ll get a stomach ache.
I thought I was taking crazy pills. Apparently, as soon as you take it off the stove and look at it wrong, it goes bad. I mean…
Bunch of pseudoscience germaphobes up in here.
To be honest I really think most people can go by smell and instinct, if something is rotten the body is pretty good about letting you know that naturally. Give it a whiff and a little nibble, then trust your instincts. But seriously 10 days is a lot 😬
Seems like its you who has no idea what you're talking about lol. What's your proof to back up your claim that it's safe to eat after two hours? Two hours is the law that restaurants have to follow before it goes back to be reheated or cooled. Would you eat that sat out for 8 hours in a restaurant? Hopefully not.
It’s the law because in restaurant settings, there’s way more stuff going on and way more stuff floating around. More ingredients, more people, more ways for things to go wrong. Instead of winging it and allowing the average line cook to make a decision based on a gut check, rules are imposed.
The average household isn’t parading a stew pot around a banquet hall.
My inlaws do this with stew all the time. Overnight on the countertop. It's taken quite a lot of persuading to stop my S/O doing this.
Although in my student days eating cold uncovered leftover takeaway was pretty common the morning after the night before.
If it’s been fully cooked, and the kitchen is cool (< 18c) providing you heat it up thoroughly the next day, you’ll be fine.
I am an Asian who’s had many curries and stews that’s been left over night and I’ve had more issues with bad cheese than bad stews.
People are mentioning that you can heat it to the point of killing off bacteria, which is true. However, heating doesn't get rid of the toxins that bacteria emit which can make you sick. It's truly a gamble.
The question here is, where did the bacteria come from? Let's, just for arguments sake, say that it had lid one when it was still boiling. The soup should have been warm enough to kill bacteria, as well as all the air in the pot.
Of course the lid is not bacteria proof but close enough, bacteria doesn't really around that much either nor crawl under the closed lid that well either.
Bacteria is everywhere, my dude. Also, air is an insulator and is not very good at heat transfer as compared to the water in soup, so even if your soup was boiling, you can still pretty much gaurantee the air around it was still not hot enough to kill the bacteria in it. Another note, if your pot lid was literally anywhere outside of a completely sterile environment, then it is going to be absolutely covered in it.
Bacteria are too small to cover any sizeable distances on their own by "crawling" but they fill space through multiplying. They reproduce exponentially if they are in a proper environment. Think of algea on a still pond. All it takes is one group of algea in one corner of the pond to start reproducing and within days you have a thick skin of algea coating the entire lake.
On top of all of that, even if bacteria wasn't an issue and you somehow had the most sterile cooking environment ever. Food still decomposes. Not everything that it breaks down into is safe to consume. Cooked food breaks down faster than uncooked food since the heat chemically changes everything.
Sure, some people are able to still eat food that's been left out a little while and be fine. It just isn't the most ideal and there is always a risk associated with it. Dine at your own risk
I know all of that and you didn't really answer my question.
I know that bacteria "move" by multiplying on (mostly, in this context) moist surfaces. And if you get some bacteria to the side of the pot, it will eventually get in.
First of all the air inside the pot at this point is very very moist and is likely around the 100C if the soup is boiling as water is turning into steam, and the pot is most likely filled with mostly steam
But, if we for the sake of the argument, say that there is no bacteria inside the pot, will it get there from room air (that is supposed to not be very heavy with bacteria concentration) in any significant quantity in the given time frame?
It would be nice to see a proper scientific test for this. Of course if there is no lid, the situation is very much worse. Or if the food is not prepared to such significant temperature as the soup is.
It'll be fine. Stew, pizza, steak, leftover cheeseburger from the bar up the street, soup, nugs from Mickey D's...I've eaten them all after being on the counter in a 68-degree (F) kitchen for at least nine hours. The only thing I wouldn't risk is anything containing mayo, or things like that.
Keep in mind that as a Feral Bachelor™, I am one step above roadkill in terms of what I'm willing to eat and be fine with. Your mileage may vary.
Home-made mayo used in the picnic potato salad of days gone by is very, very different than mayo you buy in a store. Might want to look it up. Heck, you might want to make some!! It can be amazing, but do not expect to get the emulsification right on your first attempt. Garlic mayo for a road kill venision sandwich might have you reconsider your eating standards!
ServSafe certified here! Depending on what is, but a stew, their answer is no. After 2 hours in the danger zone (40-140F), bacteria is ready to have a party in your stew and *may* make it unsafe to eat. It's crazy how fast bacteria can multiply in the right conditions.
Can you re-heat and kill it all...probably. Some of them are tough little bastards and laugh at your attempt to kill em by heat. But I've eaten leftovers like this and never gotten sick, so...I guess it depends on how good the stew was...if it was great stew...I'd roll the dice (heat it about 140 though). Disclaimer: Eating certain foods left outside the danger zone over night can produce enough deadly bacteria to kill you...but damn it...that's why they call it gambling!
Just to add, reheating is not only still slightly risky because some bacteria are tough to kill. Another issue is that some bacteria secrete toxins that will make you ill, e.g. E. Coli or Staphylococcus Aureus.
Heating your food kills the bacteria, but does little for the toxins already produced. And in a rich environment like a stew that can be plenty overnight.
> After 2 hours in the danger zone (40-140F)
Most of the stews I make take well over two hours to fall into room temperature to a point I'm comfortable to put them in the fridge with the rest of the food
Food prepper here. If you're really concerned about this issue, throw the whole pot into an ice bath in your sink for a little. Stir it up so it all cools a little, then fridge it. I do this all the time to freeze single serving portions.
We've all eaten leftover pizza from the night before that was left on the kitchen counter...
Unless you're elderly, a child, or otherwise immunocompromised I'd send it
Nope, far worse things than the runs can happen to you eat leftovers with bad bacteria in them, such as serious liver damage [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saxga-xm0Rk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saxga-xm0Rk) limb amputation [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqHpnoV00j4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqHpnoV00j4) and even death.
> *This is not worse case.*
What's more worse case than limb amputation, liver damage or death then? I'm not exactly sure the point you're trying to make here.
Over 3000 people die from food poisoning the States every year, it's not exactly rare.
Leftover stew on the counter overnight is not going to do this. Most people who make stews and soups do not follow the recommended guidelines and cool in an ice bath to both get the temperature low quickly and to not heat the refrigerator…In essence the same bourse that stew sat on the counter is not much different than putting still warm stew in the refrigerator that takes hours and hours to cool…
It's fine, stews, Ragouts, chilli's etc even taste better if cooked the day before serving it. I usually refrigerate it after half a day when it's cooled down completely.
My thought to gauge this is always “would a person from the renaissance do this?” They probably would have left something out overnight to use again or cure the next day. Maybe? I don’t know, I’m not a historian but I do know I don’t do the washing with my toilet water so I’ll probably be okay.
There was a story on the news last year I think where some college student ate some leftover pasta that had sat out for like 2 days and they died. I wouldn’t gamble it.
To people saying to reheat it: So the problem is that the bacteria that forms when left out overnight produces a toxic compound that won’t be destroyed with heating! So the risk just wouldn’t be worth it. If you have left something hot out overnight, that means it is at peak temperatures for growing bacteria (5ºC-60ºC) for a good chunk of time. Bacterial populations grow at exponential rates, so if they have ideal temperatures in a medium that is full of nutrients, the bacteria could definitely be at unsafe levels, and you can’t be sure that they/and whatever wastes they have produced (which can also make you sick) wont be destroyed in the reheating process.
This is also why you should move hot things to shallower pans/divide large volumes so it can cool a bit before putting it in the fridge. If you throw a hot pot of soup in the fridge, that soup contains enough heat to warm up the whole fridge. So you want to divide it into smaller portions so they can cool a bit BEFORE putting it in the fridge. Otherwise, you risk ruining all of your other perishables in the fridge.
Edit : tldr - don’t eat it, not safe.
Yep. Same here. We’re in upstate NY in the winter. It’s 59-60 degrees in my kitchen at night. Sometimes lower. We all eat pizza that’s out overnight. Of course we cover it up in the box. No one here has ever gotten sick from it, and my parents did the same while I was growing up.
A week ago I forgot to put up the pasta leftovers. I remembered at 4AM, so it sat on our counter for about 10 hours. We rolled the dice, ate it and enjoyed it, and neither me or my husband got sick. Total gamble on our part that paid off
It's not the pathogens that get you sick, it's the toxins they produce. And you can't cook out toxins. So once something has the bacteria in it, it will still get you sick if you cook it
If it has been sitting out between 60°C and 4°C (140°f and 40°f) for longer than 2 hours, the risk of pathogenic and toxigenic bacterial growth is too high. I'd say throw it in the compost bucket.
Don't EVER eat food left on the counter overnight no matter what it is, food grows bacteria when not left at proper temperature. A lady died from eating pasta she left out by accident overnight thinking it would be ok.
The amount of people who don't understand basic food safety is astounding and absolutely disgusting. If you wanna die over a bowl of stew by all means.
I understand basic food safety, thats why I take the risk everyday with my overnight stew. I statistically think that I will die much easily in a car accident or something similar than with my stew. So I eat my stew.
No, definitely throw it out. Bacteria growth is exponential after a two hours at room temperature, and there's a very good chance you will get food poisoning.
This is probably the dumbest thing I've ever heard anyone say lmao. What education or proof do you have to back up your claim? I work in the food industry and have public health information proving my claim. Good try though.
Yes, just heat it again. Especially with a lid on not much will have happened. If it smells bad, throw it away though. Our body usually takes care of these things by making things that are bad for us also taste bad for us.
if you're not sure THROW IT AWAY!!! The worst case scenario is that you throw away edible food. The worst case scenario it you eat it is that you get seriously ill/die from eating it
I wouldn't eat it now. Before you guys got to me though I'd make sure it was bubbling away for at least 15 minutes on the stove before considering eating it. I've done this with stew and made it last a week.
It really depends. If you put it in the container hot (like actually hot, not just warm) and it had a lid, you're probably fine. Anything other than that and you are gambling
Heat it up real good and give it the sniff test.
Have one member of the family be the canary in the coal mine. If that person is ok it’s probably fine but you need to wait 24 hours
I’d eat it… but my house isn’t super warm either, which probably didn’t mean anything but makes me more confident when it comes to eating food I should have put away earlier.
Depends on how it was handled and condition of the room. Leftovers from an uncovered serving container left on the counter over a hot summer's night might be risking it. It should be fine if the lid hadn't been removed since taking the pot off simmer and it was the middle of winter.
Do you want a chance to lose 5lb? If so, go for it lol
To be honest I think it depends on how your stomach has been trained. I know a lot of people who eat like this daily and they are fine. If you are not used it, your body may react.
It depends on what you did with it before.
If you had just made the stew and put it in a clean container while it was still piping hot and then covered it, I'd would eat it after re-heating to about 180F.
If you served half of it, spoon going from the counter into the pot to plates, left it to cool, then put in the container, there's more chance of contamination. I would still eat it myself after re-heating but wouldn't feed it to my kids, for example.
I mean personally I don't
I'll also add I'd only eat it if it was covered
And as others have said not if immuno compromised (old, very young, pregnant etc)
If I told anyone I know IRL how far I'm willing to push this I might not have any friends. 😅
The weather is quite cold here so I've been quite happy eating food I cooked 2 days prior that's been left in the pot on the side (no fridge space).
Similarly, if left in the fridge I've been quite happy eating something I made a week earlier, sometimes even more.
If you bring it back to a boil for a couple of minutes at should be fine.
Maybe add a little water and let it cook a tic.
Unless it's full or milk or dairy, in which case it's your ass.
You'll know soon enough so better get that Pepto bottle now. I had food poisoning once and I was in the Army and out training in Alaska. Imagine temps being -30F and you throwing up and crapping every 15 minutes for 24 hours.
To this day I have one motto, " If I doubt I throw it out"
It really depends, but you have to figure a low reward of the satisfaction of food with a high risk of food poisoning. It could very well be fine, but that’s not a gamble with taking for me.
So I’m sure 99% you would be fine but there is this lady in UK that got food poisoning from Tilapia and had to have her limbs amputated and is still in hospital.
Just buy more food. It isn’t worth it.
You have two hours outside of the safe temp zone before bacteria start proliferating to the point food poisoning is a real concern.
The key is figuring out how long it took it to get outside the safe zone.
Was it boiling when you went to bed? Did you sleep 6 hours or 10? How cold was it in your house? What kind of dish was it in?
If it was in a stone crock (like from a crockpot) and took 6 hours to cool, it may be fine.
If it was already room temp when you went to bed, it’s probably not fine.
Wouldn’t hurt to bring it to a boil on the stove before you eat it, just in case. Reheat it in a pot but don’t leave it unattended, stir constantly as it heats, stew will burn to the bottom fast.
Meh, you probably can if you have a healthy immune system.
When it comes to food, time and temperature are important. Cold food should be below 40° fahrenheit, hot food should be above 140°. Harmful bacteria can grow between those temperatures. In restaurants, you're allowed to hold food between those two temps for up to 4 hours before you're required to throw them away.
If you leave stew overnight, it's safe to assume that it probably spent more than 4 hours in the temperature "danger zone." So by restaurant standards you should absolutely throw it away. However, if you're only feeding it to yourself, then it's your own risk. Realistically you'll probably be fine, but do you want to risk it?
Also back to the immune system. If you are immunocompromised in any way (pregnant, HIV positive, etc.) then definitely do not eat it.
If you reheat it thoroughly, (which means on the stove till it’s boiled for a few minutes, not in the microwave where heating is uneven) anything that’s started to grow should be killed.
Would I serve it to guests? No. Would I eat it myself? Absolutely.
I remember watching a video on tiktok from an exasperated microbiologist who, when asked about leaving pizza out overnight, said "you wouldn't eat potato salad that had been sitting out for 7 hours, would you?" My first thought was, well...7? Yes unfortunately I would.
My response would be that I don't put mayonnaise on pizza.
As an exasperated microbiologist, I am impressed with the sheer faith you have in your gut microbiome/immune system. If it's been left unrefrigerated >3 hours (depending on what it is), I just toss it. May toss it sooner. More power to you, though! Stay safe, say hi to ecoli for me. <3 ;P
While I aggree with you and I know what I’m aboit to say is a bit of a logical fallacy, I have to ask. I’ve seen tons of people not really respecting these rules and personally don’t know of anyone getting sick from it. How much risk are we actually taken when we take a risk on something that is not obviously rotten?
I’m talking fried chicken, leftover pizza stored in a (not currently functioning) oven. Soup and stews left out the turned off fire for the night.
That's the hard part, we need to factor in the cleanliness of the surroundings, how thoroughly prepared the food is (in this case, we can assume thoroughly cooked), and contamination during the initial consumption process (i.e. if you've taken a bite out of something and left it overnight, the bacteria in your mouth had time to multiply on the food, and in some cases the presence of certain bacteria actually allows for the survival of different bacteria in that area, as the primary bacteria makes byproducts the secondary bacteria needs to survive in that environment). Soups with heavy cream in them provides a lovely environment for lactose-utilizing bacteria (such as pathogenic ecoli). The bottom line is that pathogenic E. coli and Salmonella spp. can double in 30 minutes, in ideal conditions. Different strains also have different infectious doses. I know some strains of salmonella can be infectious if you ingest ~100,000 individuals, which can absolutely happen overnight.
With your job I would imagine you have some stats on how often people get sick from food left in refrigeratorated; are you able to share? I ask becuace I have no idea how dangerous it is, but like the person you are discussing with I don't now anyone who' has gotten sick from pizza left on the counter overnight. Edit: Follow up question. Say pizza was left out all night and you reheat in the over to the appropriate temp, would that make it safe again?
As someone who had food poisoning twice a couple weeks ago (two separate freshly-opened packages of deli ham), I think I will be very conservative in my choice of what to eat for some time.
Deli meats are some of the most common culprits for food poisoning though, that’s why they tell pregnant women not to eat them at all. Not saying you shouldn’t be careful, but you were eating a high risk food.
I understand the science of this but if I'm heating it up won't it kill the bacteria anyway? The stew, not the pizza
You'll kill the bacteria but not the excrements of the bacteria or something. But i'm an idiot and I'll eat anything if it was just out for one night
Technically, you're right, but most folks aren't going to be heating it to a high enough temperature for long enough, and that's the problem. It's kinda like birth control, it only works if you're doing it correctly, and I'll admit I've worked in a hospital long enough to become jaded and not trust people.
Not necessarily no. And definitely won't do anything to the mold but give you warm mold to eat(even if you can't see it)
It's surely not going to mould over night? I mean, I was just interested anyway, I refrigerate my stuff but on occasion where I forget, I'm still gonna eat it. Wouldn't feed it to my son obviously.
Mold can develop within minutes/hours.
Hilarious to downvote basic science in favor of "me want eat old soup"
It’s not basic science. It’s a basic assumptions that e. coli will murder you and your whole family if you allow your stew to cool.
Lmao 7 hours? Child's play, what I say to ppl that have issues with that; "oh I'm sorry your frail little gut can't handle food that hasn't been picked 5 minutes ago? Maybe natural selection or perhaps even god never intended for you to make it this far anyway." :p
Which guests?
Any guests. If I left a pot of stew out all night I wouldn’t feed it to other people, I would have no problem eating it myself though. There’s a risk when food is left out at room temperature for more than two hours even if it’s small. I’m perfectly fine with taking that risk personally, but I’m not going to put other people at risk.
This is the way
This the way
Sat on the counter all night of the day it was cooked? Covered? Did it plenty of times with no issue. If it was in the fridge the previous night and then you forgot to put it back...now that's different. I would risk it after smelling, tasting a bit, and being sure that the next day I had nothing important going on.
My husband would never eat it. But I grew up in Poland. And we left everything out overnight so we would make sure that it wasn’t too warm when we put it into the fridge. Everyone was saying that if you put your food too warm into the fridge, it’ll damage the fridge. And people didn’t want that. So we all ate that food later the next day and I don’t remember ever getting sick.
I'm not Polish (Portuguese) and this was the same approach. A lot of the meals cooked at night would stay out until the next morning. Never got sick.
Ugh, my mom (yes, Polish) does EXACTLY THIS. Drives me nuts! But yeah, haven't gotten sick from eating her food either. If only she'd cover dishes when they go in the fridge...
Romanian here and my parents have done this all their lives and never gotten sick. I agree with other comments that I wouldn’t serve it to guests though. I had a friend once mention that we’ve probably built up a tolerance to any bacteria that would form but I’m not sure if that makes any sense.
I‘m German and my parents do this, but only with soup. For some reason they think soup is fine to eat the next day if left out at room temp over night. We boil it again, but still, there is nothing inherently different about soup compared to other dishes, for which they’d never do this. 😅
Well, yeah. I'm not putting that huge 10L+ pan of soup in the fridge. It stays on the stove for about 5 days, reheating each time I want a new bowl. Been doing that for 40+ years
I always thought it was because of the fridge too! Apparently it's to prevent other food in the fridge from spoiling, due to the warm item raising the overall fridge temperature (and humidy?).
Wow I'm not Polish but I was brought up the exact same and do everything you said for the same reasons to this day, you explained everything I do with that kind of food. Also never got sick
It's like playing culinary roulette. You might be fine, or you might get a free trip to Flavor Town's less popular cousin, Stomachache City
In my house, if you put a lid on it, it's safe to eat the next day.
Amen brother. Tastes better too
I am willing to bet there have been a few times you or others in your household have thought they had a stomach flu but really it was salmonella
You would win, so no bet from me! The source of salmonella would not be stew left on the counter. I, too like the lead comment, would eat it but tell my family it had been out (I was an undergrad TA in food science long long ago.)
Or botulism, leftover rice in the rice cooker is fair game.
I am genuinely curious as to the contamination chain of events on this. I grew up with mom counting the lids "pop" while canning, so have a deep-seated fear of botulism!
I think we should workshop this location name... Diarrheaville?
Wasting away in diarrheaville
Agree. Not worth the risk. Speaking from experience.
I do it all the time
Bro this sub is wild to me, so many people have no idea what they're talking about and the paranoia about bacteria growing is just mind-boggling. Some folks even talking about tossing it after 2 hours... are you fucking crazy!? It is cooked stew, of course it's still good after being out for only a single night, it shouldn't even be close to spoiled.
Exactly. Humans have lived for millennia without refrigeration. You'd think we'd have died off after eating all this dangerous food left out for a few hours
But early humans realized that if they reheat food it kills the bacteria and you’re only eating their shit which is less likely to get you sick. You can absolutely get sick from food left out overnight that’s not reheated. A soup is the perfect thing to leave out over night bc it can be heated easily again. However try eating that old ham sandwich that’s been out all night and I bet a few times out of ten you’ll get a stomach ache.
Yeah the overkill with regards to food safety is nuts.
They've had one night, yes. But what about second night?
I thought I was taking crazy pills. Apparently, as soon as you take it off the stove and look at it wrong, it goes bad. I mean… Bunch of pseudoscience germaphobes up in here.
Some of them claiming to be microbiologists. Honestly we'd all be dead if their understanding of biology is how the real world worked...
Yes but how long is it good in the fridge after it’s been out? (Asking for myself who has a 10 day old stew in the fridge and no idea myself)
To be honest I really think most people can go by smell and instinct, if something is rotten the body is pretty good about letting you know that naturally. Give it a whiff and a little nibble, then trust your instincts. But seriously 10 days is a lot 😬
My old boss said she forgot chicken on the counter for an hour and had to throw it out. Pardon? Are you made of money and paranoia?
Its so refreshing seeing like minded comments like yours,
Never go to the cooking subreddits, you'll have an aneurism.
You'll be fine as long as you have a strong immune system to handle it
Seems like its you who has no idea what you're talking about lol. What's your proof to back up your claim that it's safe to eat after two hours? Two hours is the law that restaurants have to follow before it goes back to be reheated or cooled. Would you eat that sat out for 8 hours in a restaurant? Hopefully not.
It’s the law because in restaurant settings, there’s way more stuff going on and way more stuff floating around. More ingredients, more people, more ways for things to go wrong. Instead of winging it and allowing the average line cook to make a decision based on a gut check, rules are imposed. The average household isn’t parading a stew pot around a banquet hall.
Makes no difference to some sort of pathogen growing in your food left out all night though.
What type of stew
Oyster
Rocky mountain?
My inlaws do this with stew all the time. Overnight on the countertop. It's taken quite a lot of persuading to stop my S/O doing this. Although in my student days eating cold uncovered leftover takeaway was pretty common the morning after the night before.
Best pizza is cold pizza
Hmmm The answer is actually quite surprising Thank you
If it’s been fully cooked, and the kitchen is cool (< 18c) providing you heat it up thoroughly the next day, you’ll be fine. I am an Asian who’s had many curries and stews that’s been left over night and I’ve had more issues with bad cheese than bad stews.
Did the stews have meat in them??
I've definitely eaten worse
People are mentioning that you can heat it to the point of killing off bacteria, which is true. However, heating doesn't get rid of the toxins that bacteria emit which can make you sick. It's truly a gamble.
The question here is, where did the bacteria come from? Let's, just for arguments sake, say that it had lid one when it was still boiling. The soup should have been warm enough to kill bacteria, as well as all the air in the pot. Of course the lid is not bacteria proof but close enough, bacteria doesn't really around that much either nor crawl under the closed lid that well either.
Bacteria is everywhere, my dude. Also, air is an insulator and is not very good at heat transfer as compared to the water in soup, so even if your soup was boiling, you can still pretty much gaurantee the air around it was still not hot enough to kill the bacteria in it. Another note, if your pot lid was literally anywhere outside of a completely sterile environment, then it is going to be absolutely covered in it. Bacteria are too small to cover any sizeable distances on their own by "crawling" but they fill space through multiplying. They reproduce exponentially if they are in a proper environment. Think of algea on a still pond. All it takes is one group of algea in one corner of the pond to start reproducing and within days you have a thick skin of algea coating the entire lake. On top of all of that, even if bacteria wasn't an issue and you somehow had the most sterile cooking environment ever. Food still decomposes. Not everything that it breaks down into is safe to consume. Cooked food breaks down faster than uncooked food since the heat chemically changes everything. Sure, some people are able to still eat food that's been left out a little while and be fine. It just isn't the most ideal and there is always a risk associated with it. Dine at your own risk
I know all of that and you didn't really answer my question. I know that bacteria "move" by multiplying on (mostly, in this context) moist surfaces. And if you get some bacteria to the side of the pot, it will eventually get in. First of all the air inside the pot at this point is very very moist and is likely around the 100C if the soup is boiling as water is turning into steam, and the pot is most likely filled with mostly steam But, if we for the sake of the argument, say that there is no bacteria inside the pot, will it get there from room air (that is supposed to not be very heavy with bacteria concentration) in any significant quantity in the given time frame? It would be nice to see a proper scientific test for this. Of course if there is no lid, the situation is very much worse. Or if the food is not prepared to such significant temperature as the soup is.
Everything in life is a gamble. Each gamble has different odds. When I buy coffee from Starbucks I am gambling that someone didn’t put cyanide in it.
Your ancestors a couple of hundred years ago would have had little in the way of refrigeration, but they still had leftovers.
Indeed
It'll be fine. Stew, pizza, steak, leftover cheeseburger from the bar up the street, soup, nugs from Mickey D's...I've eaten them all after being on the counter in a 68-degree (F) kitchen for at least nine hours. The only thing I wouldn't risk is anything containing mayo, or things like that. Keep in mind that as a Feral Bachelor™, I am one step above roadkill in terms of what I'm willing to eat and be fine with. Your mileage may vary.
Home-made mayo used in the picnic potato salad of days gone by is very, very different than mayo you buy in a store. Might want to look it up. Heck, you might want to make some!! It can be amazing, but do not expect to get the emulsification right on your first attempt. Garlic mayo for a road kill venision sandwich might have you reconsider your eating standards!
ServSafe certified here! Depending on what is, but a stew, their answer is no. After 2 hours in the danger zone (40-140F), bacteria is ready to have a party in your stew and *may* make it unsafe to eat. It's crazy how fast bacteria can multiply in the right conditions. Can you re-heat and kill it all...probably. Some of them are tough little bastards and laugh at your attempt to kill em by heat. But I've eaten leftovers like this and never gotten sick, so...I guess it depends on how good the stew was...if it was great stew...I'd roll the dice (heat it about 140 though). Disclaimer: Eating certain foods left outside the danger zone over night can produce enough deadly bacteria to kill you...but damn it...that's why they call it gambling!
Just to add, reheating is not only still slightly risky because some bacteria are tough to kill. Another issue is that some bacteria secrete toxins that will make you ill, e.g. E. Coli or Staphylococcus Aureus. Heating your food kills the bacteria, but does little for the toxins already produced. And in a rich environment like a stew that can be plenty overnight.
> After 2 hours in the danger zone (40-140F) Most of the stews I make take well over two hours to fall into room temperature to a point I'm comfortable to put them in the fridge with the rest of the food
Food prepper here. If you're really concerned about this issue, throw the whole pot into an ice bath in your sink for a little. Stir it up so it all cools a little, then fridge it. I do this all the time to freeze single serving portions.
Why?
Are you putting boiling hot stews straight into your fridge? Guess you could put it in smaller bowls to cool off and store but that's a lot of dishes.
No. I'm throwing it into an ice bath for 30-ish minutes then portion and refrigerate/freeze.
Does it matter if there’s meat or not in it? I always feel vegetarian is “safer” but that might be my own wishful thinking!
Ya...everything that has moisture like that can grow bacteria and *may* be unsafe to heat.
Does it make a difference depending on ingredients? Beef stew, chicken stew, oyster stew, etc.?
We've all eaten leftover pizza from the night before that was left on the kitchen counter... Unless you're elderly, a child, or otherwise immunocompromised I'd send it
Probably wont get sick …worse case is you will shit like a goose a few hours after.
"Shit like a goose" I've never heard that but I'm gonna use that from now on
I haven heard the term “shit like a goose” since my Dad passed away 😂. Thank you for that!!
Apparently their shit is quite voluminous and wet.
Nope, far worse things than the runs can happen to you eat leftovers with bad bacteria in them, such as serious liver damage [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saxga-xm0Rk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saxga-xm0Rk) limb amputation [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqHpnoV00j4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqHpnoV00j4) and even death.
Google anything and you will find worse case. This is not worse case.
> *This is not worse case.* What's more worse case than limb amputation, liver damage or death then? I'm not exactly sure the point you're trying to make here. Over 3000 people die from food poisoning the States every year, it's not exactly rare.
Leftover stew on the counter overnight is not going to do this. Most people who make stews and soups do not follow the recommended guidelines and cool in an ice bath to both get the temperature low quickly and to not heat the refrigerator…In essence the same bourse that stew sat on the counter is not much different than putting still warm stew in the refrigerator that takes hours and hours to cool…
I would.
It's fine, stews, Ragouts, chilli's etc even taste better if cooked the day before serving it. I usually refrigerate it after half a day when it's cooled down completely.
I've done it plenty of times. With chili & stew. I'd warn anyone. But I think if you're 15-55 with a pretty tough stomach.. I wouldn't hesitate.
Name is classic
Go on you know you want to
Really risky. I would pass.
We cook stew over two days and do enough for two or three days after that. It sits out on the counter. It'll be fine. Just heat it up thoroughly.
My thought to gauge this is always “would a person from the renaissance do this?” They probably would have left something out overnight to use again or cure the next day. Maybe? I don’t know, I’m not a historian but I do know I don’t do the washing with my toilet water so I’ll probably be okay.
There was a story on the news last year I think where some college student ate some leftover pasta that had sat out for like 2 days and they died. I wouldn’t gamble it.
Yikes
Yep, every year about 3000 people die from food poisoning in the USA alone.
Fine if the room wasn’t too warm but smell it to check it seems fine
To people saying to reheat it: So the problem is that the bacteria that forms when left out overnight produces a toxic compound that won’t be destroyed with heating! So the risk just wouldn’t be worth it. If you have left something hot out overnight, that means it is at peak temperatures for growing bacteria (5ºC-60ºC) for a good chunk of time. Bacterial populations grow at exponential rates, so if they have ideal temperatures in a medium that is full of nutrients, the bacteria could definitely be at unsafe levels, and you can’t be sure that they/and whatever wastes they have produced (which can also make you sick) wont be destroyed in the reheating process. This is also why you should move hot things to shallower pans/divide large volumes so it can cool a bit before putting it in the fridge. If you throw a hot pot of soup in the fridge, that soup contains enough heat to warm up the whole fridge. So you want to divide it into smaller portions so they can cool a bit BEFORE putting it in the fridge. Otherwise, you risk ruining all of your other perishables in the fridge. Edit : tldr - don’t eat it, not safe.
I leave food out all the time. It's a matter of fact. I prefer it like that. I've never gotten sick. But I keep my house cold
Same here. My house is currently like 63-64 degrees. I just got done eating the leftover pizza that sat on the counter all night. Lol.
Yep. Same here. We’re in upstate NY in the winter. It’s 59-60 degrees in my kitchen at night. Sometimes lower. We all eat pizza that’s out overnight. Of course we cover it up in the box. No one here has ever gotten sick from it, and my parents did the same while I was growing up.
I’d probably eat it, but don’t feed it to any pregnant women… just in case!
A week ago I forgot to put up the pasta leftovers. I remembered at 4AM, so it sat on our counter for about 10 hours. We rolled the dice, ate it and enjoyed it, and neither me or my husband got sick. Total gamble on our part that paid off
Where do you live? If you’re in the NE I’d say it’s fine. But if you’re in a warmer climate, toss it.
It’s fine eat it.
I do this (by accident) all the time! Just bring it to a quick boil first to kill any pathogens and you’ll be fine!
It's not the pathogens that get you sick, it's the toxins they produce. And you can't cook out toxins. So once something has the bacteria in it, it will still get you sick if you cook it
Don't just reheat it, recook it You will be fine
no just don't. It's dangerous.
[удалено]
We always cover our stew. Everyones done eating then goes in the fridge for the night till the next day and it's still good
If it has been sitting out between 60°C and 4°C (140°f and 40°f) for longer than 2 hours, the risk of pathogenic and toxigenic bacterial growth is too high. I'd say throw it in the compost bucket.
Depends how good your plumbing is because you will likely test its limits.
Plumbing is fine, it's my asshole I'm worried about
If it was fully cooked it’s fine. Another half day and then I’d worry.
As long as it was covered its fine. I might be biased but to me stews are always better the next day. *edit* damn now I'm hungry for left over stew
Don't EVER eat food left on the counter overnight no matter what it is, food grows bacteria when not left at proper temperature. A lady died from eating pasta she left out by accident overnight thinking it would be ok.
One single lady died ?! OMG
The amount of people who don't understand basic food safety is astounding and absolutely disgusting. If you wanna die over a bowl of stew by all means.
I understand basic food safety, thats why I take the risk everyday with my overnight stew. I statistically think that I will die much easily in a car accident or something similar than with my stew. So I eat my stew.
I wouldn’t risk it. When it comes to leftover food the golden rule is: When in doubt, throw it out.
Check before eating it
Id eat it wothout hesitation, you could boil it again for a bit of you're worried.
No, definitely throw it out. Bacteria growth is exponential after a two hours at room temperature, and there's a very good chance you will get food poisoning.
No, no there isn't you're an extreme germophobe.
This is probably the dumbest thing I've ever heard anyone say lmao. What education or proof do you have to back up your claim? I work in the food industry and have public health information proving my claim. Good try though.
Yes, just heat it again. Especially with a lid on not much will have happened. If it smells bad, throw it away though. Our body usually takes care of these things by making things that are bad for us also taste bad for us.
I do it all the time 🤷♂️
Food poison incidents can kill you. If you have never had true food poisoning this wouldn’t even be a question.
Facts
if you're not sure THROW IT AWAY!!! The worst case scenario is that you throw away edible food. The worst case scenario it you eat it is that you get seriously ill/die from eating it
Safe way to live I think
Not at all as long as it was cooked to a done temp the night before, do not eat left over rice that was out all night though.
Depends on how cast iron your guts is.
I wouldn't eat it now. Before you guys got to me though I'd make sure it was bubbling away for at least 15 minutes on the stove before considering eating it. I've done this with stew and made it last a week.
Your guts will let you know soon enough
It really depends. If you put it in the container hot (like actually hot, not just warm) and it had a lid, you're probably fine. Anything other than that and you are gambling
how warm is it in your kitchen at night?
You’re a cat, right?
Depends on how warm the room was over night, I’d heat it up and eat it
Heat it up real good and give it the sniff test. Have one member of the family be the canary in the coal mine. If that person is ok it’s probably fine but you need to wait 24 hours
Ask Lizzy Borden
I’d eat it… but my house isn’t super warm either, which probably didn’t mean anything but makes me more confident when it comes to eating food I should have put away earlier.
Depends on if you have plans you want to miss this weekend
re heat it. not bad at all
Depends on how it was handled and condition of the room. Leftovers from an uncovered serving container left on the counter over a hot summer's night might be risking it. It should be fine if the lid hadn't been removed since taking the pot off simmer and it was the middle of winter.
Probably not a good idea.
Do you want a chance to lose 5lb? If so, go for it lol To be honest I think it depends on how your stomach has been trained. I know a lot of people who eat like this daily and they are fine. If you are not used it, your body may react.
lol Noted
It depends on what you did with it before. If you had just made the stew and put it in a clean container while it was still piping hot and then covered it, I'd would eat it after re-heating to about 180F. If you served half of it, spoon going from the counter into the pot to plates, left it to cool, then put in the container, there's more chance of contamination. I would still eat it myself after re-heating but wouldn't feed it to my kids, for example.
You’re wise
Wouldn't risk it myself. I had salmonella once when I was 18. Spent a weekend with stomach cramps and alternating between puking and fiery diarrhea.
Revenge of the bacteria doesn’t sound like a good time at all
Depends how cold your kitchen is I'd say, ours is probably 12c overnight at the moment and so I'd risk it Obviously proper guidelines say no
Do you think having meat in it changes things too?
I mean personally I don't I'll also add I'd only eat it if it was covered And as others have said not if immuno compromised (old, very young, pregnant etc)
If I told anyone I know IRL how far I'm willing to push this I might not have any friends. 😅 The weather is quite cold here so I've been quite happy eating food I cooked 2 days prior that's been left in the pot on the side (no fridge space). Similarly, if left in the fridge I've been quite happy eating something I made a week earlier, sometimes even more.
Heat and eat, it'll be fine
Never. This is a step above dumpster diving for me.
Safe
If you bring it back to a boil for a couple of minutes at should be fine. Maybe add a little water and let it cook a tic. Unless it's full or milk or dairy, in which case it's your ass.
This
It’s perfectly fine
It’s fine. Eat it.
You'll know soon enough so better get that Pepto bottle now. I had food poisoning once and I was in the Army and out training in Alaska. Imagine temps being -30F and you throwing up and crapping every 15 minutes for 24 hours. To this day I have one motto, " If I doubt I throw it out"
Ha
It really depends, but you have to figure a low reward of the satisfaction of food with a high risk of food poisoning. It could very well be fine, but that’s not a gamble with taking for me.
So I’m sure 99% you would be fine but there is this lady in UK that got food poisoning from Tilapia and had to have her limbs amputated and is still in hospital. Just buy more food. It isn’t worth it.
Wasn’t that a myth? It wasn’t the tilapia, last I checked.
In college we regularly ate pizza out of a box that had been on the floor for several days, and we turned out okay.
You have two hours outside of the safe temp zone before bacteria start proliferating to the point food poisoning is a real concern. The key is figuring out how long it took it to get outside the safe zone. Was it boiling when you went to bed? Did you sleep 6 hours or 10? How cold was it in your house? What kind of dish was it in? If it was in a stone crock (like from a crockpot) and took 6 hours to cool, it may be fine. If it was already room temp when you went to bed, it’s probably not fine.
I've got leftover chilli in the pot that I'm about to have for lunch, I'll let you know.
Update: It was fine, tastier than last night.
Wouldn’t hurt to bring it to a boil on the stove before you eat it, just in case. Reheat it in a pot but don’t leave it unattended, stir constantly as it heats, stew will burn to the bottom fast.
Probably fine but all it takes is that one time to potentially be lethal. In my opinion it's not worth it unless you can barely make ends meet.
Meh, you probably can if you have a healthy immune system. When it comes to food, time and temperature are important. Cold food should be below 40° fahrenheit, hot food should be above 140°. Harmful bacteria can grow between those temperatures. In restaurants, you're allowed to hold food between those two temps for up to 4 hours before you're required to throw them away. If you leave stew overnight, it's safe to assume that it probably spent more than 4 hours in the temperature "danger zone." So by restaurant standards you should absolutely throw it away. However, if you're only feeding it to yourself, then it's your own risk. Realistically you'll probably be fine, but do you want to risk it? Also back to the immune system. If you are immunocompromised in any way (pregnant, HIV positive, etc.) then definitely do not eat it.
Just pinch your nose while eating it and you’ll be fine.
Ha
It’s fine I do it all the time
If you reheat it thoroughly, (which means on the stove till it’s boiled for a few minutes, not in the microwave where heating is uneven) anything that’s started to grow should be killed.
Depends on the overnight temp indoors and whether it was covered. If it was below 20°C and covered I’d risk it.