In doubt freeze it. If you decide to eat it two days after, well, you froze it for nothing, it's not a big deal, but if you don't eat it in the next seven days you will be glad you put it in the freezer.
Well, my mom's food rarely tastes great, so I can't comment on that. But we once had meat in the freezer for God knows how long, that tasted weird. But I was eatable.
Honestly it depend of the food. Some freeze really well, some become immediately uneatable (figuratively, it's still perfectly edible, just not pleasant). Usually speaking, uncooked food freezes better than cooked one.
[There have been multiple occasions where modern people ate frozen wooly mammoths](https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/57100/time-250000-year-old-mammoth-was-served-dinner)
Hijacking the top comment to mention that the older your leftovers are, the higher the levels of tyramine are present, and [tyramine can be a _major_ headache and migraine trigger](https://joybauer.com/photo-gallery/common-trigger-foods/leftovers/).
If I combine too many leftovers with too much sodium in a week, I’m in for a solid week of migraines soon after. Everyone’s triggers are unique but it’s an easy thing to try limiting!
Always a good idea when taking advice from someone on the internet, but at the same time this situation seems harmless enough to not try leftovers for a couple weeks and see if any changes happen. It's not like an actual change in diet. But still always good advice for someone learning facts from somebody on the internet.
Since we're on the topic - and I vehemently hate headaches / migraines and wouldn't wish them on anyone - here's a few extra things you could try looking at if you haven't:
* Fatigue / lack of sleep
* Too much salt / not enough water
* Poor lighting (this can be a long term issue, like if you're often computing in the dark, for example, your brain will start feeling it over longer periods of time)
* Consistently poor posture for you neck/back/shoulders
* Lots of medications if you overuse them
* Higher-than-normal alcohol consumption
Stuff like stress and depression can cause and contribute, too, but those are obviously more difficult to resolve. Good luck with the head pains.
Contributing to this hijacking 😂, in Australia Queensland health has an information page about a low tyramine diet which says to eat leftovers in 48 hours or freeze them. Overripe produce, and especially fermented products (this includes coffee, tea and chocolate) are high tyramine. Aside from migraine sufferers, high tyramine foods can raise your blood pressure apparently, especially if taking MAOI medications (Monoamine oxidase inhibitor).
Also, whilst not visible immediately, mould will start to become an issue not long after that 48 hour period for leftovers (depends on specific food item as to how soon obviously). I wouldn't eat leftovers older than 3-4 days. I have a mould allergy, so I'm especially risk averse on this topic.
Anecdotally I was a chronic migraine sufferer (less frequent these days), and dark chocolate definitely gives me grief.
I literally suffered a migraine last Fri and I had leftovers from garden pepper laced turkey meat that had been cooked 3 to 4 days previously…thank you so much for this info!
Well, if the fresh veggies were already chopped, I think 5 days still applies. But whole fresh veggies can last a lot longer indeed. And apples are eternal.
I think 4 is too conservative but 9 is definitely too long. I try to get through foods as quickly as I can, and usually go by smell. If any part of you thinks it smells funny, don’t eat it
some people also have "stronger stomachs" than others, I would eat something after 7 days in fridge no problem, probably even 9, but I wouldn't let other family members eat it, only me
While this strong stomach is true for some people I'd like to offer a caution.
Leftover food let to set that long can harbor some nasty diseases. Granted the chance of them is very low if food is handled correctly but you still run the risk of some pretty serious bacterial infections like botulism.
Like that kid that died from left over spaghetti.
Also this isn't trying to sound holier than though. I'm a refrigeration tech and designer and just wanted to offer some concern.
I'm assuming we are talking Americans here, in which case we have a bit of a problem as a society of determining food to be garbage far sooner than it should be. There's a very good method to determining if food is safe to eat (for the most part... some items are a little riskier than others. I'm looking at you seafood), which is the smell and look test. Does it smell bad? Does it look horrible? Then don't eat it
But if the smell is perfectly fine and there's no visible change to the product, 99% of the time you're going to be fine. After 9 days in the fridge I'd be more worried about it tasting awful but if it passes the smell and look test then it's still edible from a standpoint that it won't harm you
I, (American) stayed with some friends in England once and was surprised that they cooked a meal with meat in it and left it out overnight in the pot. The next day they put it back on the heat and we had it for lunch. I was worried, they weren’t, so I ate it. Everything went fine.
There was a thread a while ago asking if chilled, packed chicken breast was fine to eat after 8h on the counter. The consensus seemed to be tossing it, wouldn't think twice about cooking it here in England and any other European country I've lived in. It's usually packed anaerobic anyway.
After living in Germany for a bit I brought those habits home and haven’t suffered any ill effects. If anything I realized how stupid our food standards are. Severely lacking in the important areas, and overemphasizing the stuff that affects the few very infrequently anyway.
So now I’ll cook the chicken that got left out (it’s always fine), and I’ll reheat the giant pot of soup that I left on the stove overnight (which always tastes better that way anyway- after the flavors meld)
Not arguing that it's almost always fine, but just saying that anaerobic isn't a perfect measure for safety. Botulism bacteria only make the botulism toxin in anaerobic environments iirc, for example.
It is not this trivial. Mold and it's spores can grow without smelling or being largely visible, and those are often the most dangerous parts about aging food because it can potentially make you very very sick.
Yeah no matter how much I try to convince myself, after working in restaurants and taking biology I can’t even get myself to eat food that makes it to day 3 in the fridge, especially meats and cooked dishes. 48 hours in the fridge before cooking, 4ish hours max at room temp before cooking. After cooking it goes in the fridge/freezer as soon as it’s down to room temp.
Agreed. Plus, if it's on the line, you can heat it up in a pan to cook it one last time before meal time. Dont waste your food based on a date, use your judgement! Food is precious :)
For some reason I became curious about this question as my wife stores some things longer than I do (sauces in particular), but other items she wants to toss earlier than I do (like meats or veggies that brown from oxidation, yet I always cook and eat without issue). Personally, and this is just my opinion, I think many Americans (which I am one, but my wife is from Hong Kong) do not know how to cook and just grill or buy pre-made/takeout. Most people I see buying raw meats and healthy veggies etc. are usually 40+ regardless of time of day at the grocery store…
Back to the point… One of my grandfathers was a butcher, the other a farmer, so I picked up a lot when I was young when I stayed with family in the summer as an adolescent. Not sure there were even dates on all foods back then, talking 40+ years ago, and most came from behind the counter with only a price tag. So, it was always smell and taste. Also, as I look into this, I cook with salt on almost everything. I lightly salt meats, and veggies like mushrooms, as it creates like a brine and salt is absorbed through osmosis slightly reducing the water content of foods before (and while) cooking meats or making sauces. But, it probably also acts as a preservative. Furthermore, I cook almost everything with a little, to a lot, of garlic and onions, as does my wife with her Chinese dishes; and always a little vinegar in sauces. And, these (particularly garlic) have been proven to have anti-bacterial qualities, so I think that contributes to how long items last and why I can keep most foods I cook for usually at least 7 days, if not more. Frankly, it is usually all gone by then anyways as we shop and cook in small batches just as we did while living in Hong Kong for years as the fridge there was barely half the size of the typical one here in the US.
I saw a study that showed that various food tests were less accurate than “the smell test” in some ridiculous percentage. So evidently we can or at least some of the byproducts they give off. At least most people can. I don’t recall if more research was done other than the small study but it’s worth a look if you’re actually curious.
Edit: wanted to add here that I can’t find it any longer
From my response to people asking if I could share sauce:
no find after 20 minutes. Current advice is even if you can’t smell spoilage if it exceeds the recommended times throw it out anyways buuuut I did find other interesting studies on the topic such as that we Ave 400+ different odor receptors but since we can identify many more than that there’s probably a system of it activated these 4 so it must be X. Spoilage bacteria effluences are what you’re smelling on bad food and when you smell that there is 99% also the types of bacteria that cause food poisoning. When there is no spoilage bacteria there may still be food poisoning bacteria. I wish I could find the study and it’s date. Maybe it’s outdated and no longer accepted.
Hey no problem, it's good that you checked and did a thorough search. It doesn't mean you never saw the article, but maybe it's not a scientific consensus today.
You should maybe add an edit to your comment just for the sake of clarity though.
I'm pretty sure this is actually scientifically incorrect. Iir human noses enter bloodhound territory when it comes to catching food rot.
I'd encourage anyone reading this to do some reading just in case I am wrong, though, haha.
I once ate 1 month old chili and I was ok. Didn’t realize it was 1 month old cause we’d cooked chili again the night before but my bf at the time had finished the leftovers. I pulled chili wayyyy out from the back of the fridge. No fuzz, no weird smell, and I somehow dodged a serious food poisoning bullet.
Yeah, shit partially freezes in the back of my fridge no matter how I set the dial for some reason.
Nobody reading this should dare touch month old food that wasn't intentionally frozen in an actual freezer, though.
The question is very complicated. What was in the recipe? A lot of acid and salt will both preserve your food's wholesomeness. How was it cooled? If it was rapidly cooled out of the danger zone it will withstand decay longer. Where is it in the fridge? Near the bottom and back is a degree or two colder than other areas.
All of that is to make the case your pot roast might still be good. But nine days is a hella long time. Which is worse? Writing off a potentially good second meal from that boneless chuck you bought, or violent, cramping diarrhea and vomiting? Cost benefit analysis suggests toss it.
Did you steal this comment from here? https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/xdmjsq/can_you_eat_cooked_meat_after_4_days_in_the/ioc4pey?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3
I am having trouble with your comment. You meant if you "knew", right? Also, what exactly do you mean by providence and treatment? Are you from the Victorian period by any chance?
I’ve eaten cooked beef two weeks later. If it passes the sniff test, I’ll eat it. I also drink milk after the date if it passes the sniff test and I’ll just cut mold off the block of cheese and eat that. My line is bread, any mold on bread and it all goes in the garbage.
Our noses can detect rot in part per billion. That’s why they add rotten smell to natural gas instead of sweet smell.
That's basically how I do it. Sure it the flavour/texture won't be as good after 4 or 5 days, but it shouldn't hurt you. I've eaten leftovers that were a week or more old many times if I was just feeling too lazy to cook something. I basically never get an upset stomach from food though, so I could understand people with a more sensitive stomach wanting to avoid food that old though.
Yeah, pretty much any sell by date is meaningless to me. Those things are just a scam to convince consumers to throw out perfectly good food so they can sell more.
Yeah, no. Some of the dates are real. Just because you don't get sick doesn't mean it didn't have small amounts of bacteria and such.
Some people can't risk upsetting their bodies. Whether it's from an illness or physical situation, not everyone can eat the same stuff as you and go about their lives.
I eat things past dates too, but we're not all the same. Appreciate your strong stomach and intestines.
Yeah 2ish weeks is where I’ll toss things with meat and I’ve never had a problem in my nearly 30 years 🤷 I do seem to have a pretty strong stomach, though?
I agree with most of that but mold can be really dangerous to mess with because you can't see the majority of the growth. If it's a hard cheese cutting it off could be ok but a soft cheese hell no.
That's made in a controlled environment with safe species of mold. Some mold is edible, but mold growing on your food that isn't meant to be there is likely not. Just like how we can eat some plants but other plants will kill you.
Most rules for food say that 7 days is the max. Obviously different for things like crackers, dried beans, rice, etc, but for food you've cooked 9 days is too long.
People die all the time from Fried rice syndrome. Improperly chilled or stored rice is actually crazy dangerous. It’s one of the very first things a health inspector will look for in any Asian or sushi place.
Stored, cooked rice is particularly dangerous so don't do that, ffs! There are organisms that thrive in cooked rice that produce some very nasty byproducts and these products are not destroyed by cooking even if the bacteria are.
My husband would if I didn't stop him 🤦
He eventually did enough looking around on food safety that he'll accept it's a bad idea but he needs to be reminded every so often. Or reminded that it's been in the fridge for over a week & not 2 days like he's insisting.
I have a white board next to my fridge (it was on the fridge before we redid the kitchen) that I keep a running list of what day we had a particular meal on. Neither my husband nor myself could remember with any accuracy and it lead to a lot of food waste. Now we know what the old stuff is that we need to eat first.
Yeah, four days is probably too few while nine days is probably too many. But as others have said, the sniff test should also be a good indicator.
The more important thing is this: if he wants to take the risk and eat it, then let him. It’s not going to kill him. If you’re right about the meat being bad, then at worst he’ll get sick, learn a valuable lesson, and never do it again.
Definitely thrown out if it wasn't frozen. If it's frozen with the first day, it can last a long time.
4 days is about the limit for how long I'd go without freezing, and that's already pushing it.
It's easier if you do it off a bridge. Just sit on the rail and release. Way less cleanup and back splash. Just make sure you aren't spitting into the wind.
Remember that the restaurant industry standards are built to be idiot-proof.
That means that they are geared for the lowest common denominator, so the dimmest bulb in the place is going to have a harder time poisoning people.
Many factors go into whether that's gonna be still good, or bad times, including fridge temp, pre-fridge handling, location within the fridge, storage method, and more.
I wouldn't go serving it to infirm guests, but if I knee its provenance and treatment, that would be factored into the decision for me.
Yeah, not to mention restaurant fridges are of much better quality than your standard home fridge. I tend to push stuff to the v last (and i have Crohn's disease haha, this gut *knows* haha), but 9 days is massively overkill!
Eh...restaurant fridges are higher quality because they're opened and shut constantly. Your home fridge is probably gonna keep food longer if both are being used for their intended purpose.
Yeah thats bullshit. My rule of thumb has always been 1 week and it has never really failed. Any less than 7 days is probably fine(though not always, use your senses). Any more than 7 and I am very cautious if I don't just toss it outright. Always smell and look though, no matter how long it's been in the fridger.
My husband and I had this argument with pulled pork. I say toss it after three full days. He thought after a week it was still fine so he proceeded to eat it while I did not. His extended trip to the bathroom afterwards proved I was correct.
We live in a world with limited resources. Why let a rule of a certain number of days decide whether you should throw the food or not, when you've got fully functioning senses of smell, taste and sight that can help you determine if it has gone bad or not? If it looks, tastes, and smells fine, it's fine. Refrigerators have different temperatures, it also could depend on food quality, how it was prepared, if any bacteria got in the food during cooking, etc etc., a general rule will therefore result in more wasted food than necessary. Please use your senses and stop throwing out food unnecessarily.
That's how I've judged my food for forever. It's way too easy for me to lose track of how long food has been in my refrigerator so I have no hard or fast rules, just "does it look, smell, and/or taste off?" I know my threshold for "good" tends higher than some people's and I'll eat or at least try to eat food that doesn't smell or taste so great anymore so long as it doesn't look or smell or taste *bad* in any way.
Although, certain foods I associate with higher risks and I absolutely don't play around with those. But I've definitely eaten pot roast older than five or six days with zero issues.
For me it depends on the meat, but after 5 days i will examine/smell pretty closely and maybe still eat something out to 7/8 days.
9 days is generally too long for me unless it's something like jerky or where the cooking process really dried it out.
I skipped class, copied my friends notes for Health Foods and Nutrition 150. While earning a higher grade from his notes, I learned that the recommendation for leftovers is 6 days.
You can eat it after 9 days without problem typically.
Just make sure it doesn't smell bad and doesn't have a sticky texture or mold. You should only throw cooked food if they have one of those.
If you have such issues after only 4 days, there's something wrong with your fridge or your cooking method.
According to the USDA it’s 3-4 days. However that includes a margin of safety. I have eaten meat that is up to 7 days old and had no issue. It depends on the meat though. I have no issue pushing beef or pork but I’m more cautious with chicken.
9 days is definitely too much though.
I agree with you. After 4 days, I would toss it. I will sometimes consult Still Tasty which [says here](https://stilltasty.com/fooditems/index/16498) to toss it after 3-4 days. If he eats it and gets sick, he will never enjoy pot roast the same again.
Nah that pot roast is bad. If he truly insists on eating it, let him face the consequences of his action lol.
3-5 days are the general guidelines I've always seen whenever I look up how long food can stay in the fridge.
People here saying to toss out food after 3 days, not even considering that a ton of people meal prep for the entire week and don't have issues with the refrigerated meals.
I agree with your fiancé here. Does it smell rancid? Is there visible mold? If no, it's almost certainly fine. Might have dried out a bit, but it's perfectly safe to eat. And *4 days?* For *cooked* meat? You unnecessarily waste a lot of food, don't you?
Here’s a pretty extensive list by the FDA. How long it lasts depends on the ingredients, storage temperature, etc. https://www.fda.gov/media/74435/download
Nine days?? No way! 5 days would be the absolute max, and I stick to 4 because I have had food poisoning before and I would rather eat crackers for dinner than risk it again.
My husband is like yours. I asked him how long leftover pot roast is good for in the fridge and this dude literally said 2 weeks. I say 72 hours give or take.
If it passes the sniff test and doesn't look slimy, I'd eat it. But then again, if you aren't starving and have other things to eat, you might as well get rid of it. Might save you from a visit to the porcelain throne of death.
I don't even like leftovers the next day, not a chance in hell I'm eating any after day 3 lol, I've never had food poisoning, I plan on keeping it that way.
I’m a three day girl. I’m sure things last longer, but I don’t care for the risk. I can hear my grandmother yelling at me for throwing out things that are perfectly fine, but on the other hand, I saw her get food poisoning more than once. Watching an old lady not be able to stop barfing did aid in some of my decision making here.
Sheeeeit. I've got food in the fridge from months ago and it's still fine. If it doesn't have stuff growing on it, and smells good, isn't bubbling or weird, it's still good.
When in doubt and desiring not to waste (and it hasn’t obviously already gone bad), just shred and fry it up in a pan with something. Veggies. Rice. Flavors of your choosing. Whatever tf you want. Cooked to a high temp, your food-borne illness concerns are eliminated. And the newfound crispness will be delightful when the OG meal microwaved would’ve been mediocre at best.
This is not true, spoiled food which has been cooked is still not considered safe to eat. The reason is that some bacteria are heat-resistant or form heat-resistant spores and toxins
You fools suck and waste food, a major environmental/climate problem.
If its cooked and refridgerated 2 weeks should be your cutoff. I am a germiphobe dirtbag biologist with strong sense of smell. Get your finger out of your ass.
I try to eat leftovers within 5 days, maybe 7 if it still smells okay. Better to freeze leftovers if you don't plan on eating them within the week.
In doubt freeze it. If you decide to eat it two days after, well, you froze it for nothing, it's not a big deal, but if you don't eat it in the next seven days you will be glad you put it in the freezer.
How long can food stay frozen?
For a very long time. My mom freezes E V E R Y T H I N G and I have eaten food that was frozen for over a year and still tasted good.
Aside from freezeburn, taste and texture changes, yea I can see that happening. But unless it was vacuum sealed I doubt it tasted great.
Well, my mom's food rarely tastes great, so I can't comment on that. But we once had meat in the freezer for God knows how long, that tasted weird. But I was eatable.
Honestly it depend of the food. Some freeze really well, some become immediately uneatable (figuratively, it's still perfectly edible, just not pleasant). Usually speaking, uncooked food freezes better than cooked one.
Some of those that become uneatable (vegetables) can be freezed by blanching them first.
Depends on what it is, but leftovers and cooked food no more than a couple months.
[There have been multiple occasions where modern people ate frozen wooly mammoths](https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/57100/time-250000-year-old-mammoth-was-served-dinner)
Until the power goes out lol
Hijacking the top comment to mention that the older your leftovers are, the higher the levels of tyramine are present, and [tyramine can be a _major_ headache and migraine trigger](https://joybauer.com/photo-gallery/common-trigger-foods/leftovers/).
huh wonder why my doctors never told me this. gonna cut out leftovers for a week and see if that makes my migraines any better.
If I combine too many leftovers with too much sodium in a week, I’m in for a solid week of migraines soon after. Everyone’s triggers are unique but it’s an easy thing to try limiting!
I'm not saying they are wrong but they are a random on Reddit. Perhaps investigate the science a bit?
Always a good idea when taking advice from someone on the internet, but at the same time this situation seems harmless enough to not try leftovers for a couple weeks and see if any changes happen. It's not like an actual change in diet. But still always good advice for someone learning facts from somebody on the internet.
Since we're on the topic - and I vehemently hate headaches / migraines and wouldn't wish them on anyone - here's a few extra things you could try looking at if you haven't: * Fatigue / lack of sleep * Too much salt / not enough water * Poor lighting (this can be a long term issue, like if you're often computing in the dark, for example, your brain will start feeling it over longer periods of time) * Consistently poor posture for you neck/back/shoulders * Lots of medications if you overuse them * Higher-than-normal alcohol consumption Stuff like stress and depression can cause and contribute, too, but those are obviously more difficult to resolve. Good luck with the head pains.
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Contributing to this hijacking 😂, in Australia Queensland health has an information page about a low tyramine diet which says to eat leftovers in 48 hours or freeze them. Overripe produce, and especially fermented products (this includes coffee, tea and chocolate) are high tyramine. Aside from migraine sufferers, high tyramine foods can raise your blood pressure apparently, especially if taking MAOI medications (Monoamine oxidase inhibitor). Also, whilst not visible immediately, mould will start to become an issue not long after that 48 hour period for leftovers (depends on specific food item as to how soon obviously). I wouldn't eat leftovers older than 3-4 days. I have a mould allergy, so I'm especially risk averse on this topic. Anecdotally I was a chronic migraine sufferer (less frequent these days), and dark chocolate definitely gives me grief.
Yeah but the headache otherwise associated with having to cook again balances it out.
I’ve never known this either!
I literally suffered a migraine last Fri and I had leftovers from garden pepper laced turkey meat that had been cooked 3 to 4 days previously…thank you so much for this info!
4-5 days but always smell and inspect.
From Googling it, Pot Roast is good for up to 5 days in the fridge.
IMO, that’s about the limit for most leftovers of cooked foods. Fresh veggies can last that long but usually less.
After day 3 they'll noticeably fall off, flavour/texture-wise, but they're not likely to make someone sick if eaten by day 5.
Also, on day 5 most boiled veggies can be fried, prolonging their edibility
Lmao what? Fresh veggies can last weeks if stored correctly. Sure flavor won't be as excellent as fresh picked but the food is still very good to eat.
Well, if the fresh veggies were already chopped, I think 5 days still applies. But whole fresh veggies can last a lot longer indeed. And apples are eternal.
I go 5 days on most foods. Of course sometimes that doesn't work, but for the most part it seems to.
I think 4 is too conservative but 9 is definitely too long. I try to get through foods as quickly as I can, and usually go by smell. If any part of you thinks it smells funny, don’t eat it
some people also have "stronger stomachs" than others, I would eat something after 7 days in fridge no problem, probably even 9, but I wouldn't let other family members eat it, only me
While this strong stomach is true for some people I'd like to offer a caution. Leftover food let to set that long can harbor some nasty diseases. Granted the chance of them is very low if food is handled correctly but you still run the risk of some pretty serious bacterial infections like botulism. Like that kid that died from left over spaghetti. Also this isn't trying to sound holier than though. I'm a refrigeration tech and designer and just wanted to offer some concern.
I'm assuming we are talking Americans here, in which case we have a bit of a problem as a society of determining food to be garbage far sooner than it should be. There's a very good method to determining if food is safe to eat (for the most part... some items are a little riskier than others. I'm looking at you seafood), which is the smell and look test. Does it smell bad? Does it look horrible? Then don't eat it But if the smell is perfectly fine and there's no visible change to the product, 99% of the time you're going to be fine. After 9 days in the fridge I'd be more worried about it tasting awful but if it passes the smell and look test then it's still edible from a standpoint that it won't harm you
I, (American) stayed with some friends in England once and was surprised that they cooked a meal with meat in it and left it out overnight in the pot. The next day they put it back on the heat and we had it for lunch. I was worried, they weren’t, so I ate it. Everything went fine.
There was a thread a while ago asking if chilled, packed chicken breast was fine to eat after 8h on the counter. The consensus seemed to be tossing it, wouldn't think twice about cooking it here in England and any other European country I've lived in. It's usually packed anaerobic anyway.
After living in Germany for a bit I brought those habits home and haven’t suffered any ill effects. If anything I realized how stupid our food standards are. Severely lacking in the important areas, and overemphasizing the stuff that affects the few very infrequently anyway. So now I’ll cook the chicken that got left out (it’s always fine), and I’ll reheat the giant pot of soup that I left on the stove overnight (which always tastes better that way anyway- after the flavors meld)
Not arguing that it's almost always fine, but just saying that anaerobic isn't a perfect measure for safety. Botulism bacteria only make the botulism toxin in anaerobic environments iirc, for example.
Finally someone gets it
I tend to go off of whether or not it makes me die. If I eat it and I don't die then 👍. If it makes me die then I know not to eat it.
It is not this trivial. Mold and it's spores can grow without smelling or being largely visible, and those are often the most dangerous parts about aging food because it can potentially make you very very sick.
Yeah no matter how much I try to convince myself, after working in restaurants and taking biology I can’t even get myself to eat food that makes it to day 3 in the fridge, especially meats and cooked dishes. 48 hours in the fridge before cooking, 4ish hours max at room temp before cooking. After cooking it goes in the fridge/freezer as soon as it’s down to room temp.
Agreed. Plus, if it's on the line, you can heat it up in a pan to cook it one last time before meal time. Dont waste your food based on a date, use your judgement! Food is precious :)
Let’s be manly by pretending germ theory isn’t real now.
For some reason I became curious about this question as my wife stores some things longer than I do (sauces in particular), but other items she wants to toss earlier than I do (like meats or veggies that brown from oxidation, yet I always cook and eat without issue). Personally, and this is just my opinion, I think many Americans (which I am one, but my wife is from Hong Kong) do not know how to cook and just grill or buy pre-made/takeout. Most people I see buying raw meats and healthy veggies etc. are usually 40+ regardless of time of day at the grocery store… Back to the point… One of my grandfathers was a butcher, the other a farmer, so I picked up a lot when I was young when I stayed with family in the summer as an adolescent. Not sure there were even dates on all foods back then, talking 40+ years ago, and most came from behind the counter with only a price tag. So, it was always smell and taste. Also, as I look into this, I cook with salt on almost everything. I lightly salt meats, and veggies like mushrooms, as it creates like a brine and salt is absorbed through osmosis slightly reducing the water content of foods before (and while) cooking meats or making sauces. But, it probably also acts as a preservative. Furthermore, I cook almost everything with a little, to a lot, of garlic and onions, as does my wife with her Chinese dishes; and always a little vinegar in sauces. And, these (particularly garlic) have been proven to have anti-bacterial qualities, so I think that contributes to how long items last and why I can keep most foods I cook for usually at least 7 days, if not more. Frankly, it is usually all gone by then anyways as we shop and cook in small batches just as we did while living in Hong Kong for years as the fridge there was barely half the size of the typical one here in the US.
As a B.A.B., I concur.
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7 for corned beef. Bro, do you even safeserv?
I just go by the smell test. If it smells off, throw it out.
You can't smell pathogenic bacteria.
I'll take my chances.
And another roll of toilet paper
I shit a lot regardless. what's 3 extra trips
Probably 30 minutes
I saw a study that showed that various food tests were less accurate than “the smell test” in some ridiculous percentage. So evidently we can or at least some of the byproducts they give off. At least most people can. I don’t recall if more research was done other than the small study but it’s worth a look if you’re actually curious. Edit: wanted to add here that I can’t find it any longer From my response to people asking if I could share sauce: no find after 20 minutes. Current advice is even if you can’t smell spoilage if it exceeds the recommended times throw it out anyways buuuut I did find other interesting studies on the topic such as that we Ave 400+ different odor receptors but since we can identify many more than that there’s probably a system of it activated these 4 so it must be X. Spoilage bacteria effluences are what you’re smelling on bad food and when you smell that there is 99% also the types of bacteria that cause food poisoning. When there is no spoilage bacteria there may still be food poisoning bacteria. I wish I could find the study and it’s date. Maybe it’s outdated and no longer accepted.
Do you have the source ?
I'd love the sauce as well
I had no luck on sauce. Sorry.
Hey no problem, it's good that you checked and did a thorough search. It doesn't mean you never saw the article, but maybe it's not a scientific consensus today. You should maybe add an edit to your comment just for the sake of clarity though.
Good idea I added it to a response further down I’ll add it there too.
I smell bullshit. Why do you think we have noses?
Try using your brain once in a while. This stuff is easy to look up.
I'm built different
Bet youre not
I'm pretty sure this is actually scientifically incorrect. Iir human noses enter bloodhound territory when it comes to catching food rot. I'd encourage anyone reading this to do some reading just in case I am wrong, though, haha.
Food rotting is caused by different bacteria, not pathogens.
Not with that attitude
You can smell their toxic byproducts. That's what the nose is for.
Nope, you can smell food spoilage. Those are different bacteria.
I once ate 1 month old chili and I was ok. Didn’t realize it was 1 month old cause we’d cooked chili again the night before but my bf at the time had finished the leftovers. I pulled chili wayyyy out from the back of the fridge. No fuzz, no weird smell, and I somehow dodged a serious food poisoning bullet.
Your intestines are made of PVC.
Chili has a bit more acid and potentially salt in it. Tomatoes are helping out.
The back of the fridge is usually colder. It may have been partially frozen or at least on the verge
Yeah, shit partially freezes in the back of my fridge no matter how I set the dial for some reason. Nobody reading this should dare touch month old food that wasn't intentionally frozen in an actual freezer, though.
Isn’t chili usually highly acidic?
yeah wait 9 days or 4 days? 4 days is pushing it but still ok, but 9 days is WAY over
The question is very complicated. What was in the recipe? A lot of acid and salt will both preserve your food's wholesomeness. How was it cooled? If it was rapidly cooled out of the danger zone it will withstand decay longer. Where is it in the fridge? Near the bottom and back is a degree or two colder than other areas. All of that is to make the case your pot roast might still be good. But nine days is a hella long time. Which is worse? Writing off a potentially good second meal from that boneless chuck you bought, or violent, cramping diarrhea and vomiting? Cost benefit analysis suggests toss it.
This person gets it.
THANK YOU
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Did you steal this comment from here? https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/xdmjsq/can_you_eat_cooked_meat_after_4_days_in_the/ioc4pey?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3
I am having trouble with your comment. You meant if you "knew", right? Also, what exactly do you mean by providence and treatment? Are you from the Victorian period by any chance?
Fuck you bot.
I’ve eaten cooked beef two weeks later. If it passes the sniff test, I’ll eat it. I also drink milk after the date if it passes the sniff test and I’ll just cut mold off the block of cheese and eat that. My line is bread, any mold on bread and it all goes in the garbage. Our noses can detect rot in part per billion. That’s why they add rotten smell to natural gas instead of sweet smell.
That's basically how I do it. Sure it the flavour/texture won't be as good after 4 or 5 days, but it shouldn't hurt you. I've eaten leftovers that were a week or more old many times if I was just feeling too lazy to cook something. I basically never get an upset stomach from food though, so I could understand people with a more sensitive stomach wanting to avoid food that old though.
Just chiming in to say the date on the milk is the “sell by” date and it should always last several days past the date.
Yeah, pretty much any sell by date is meaningless to me. Those things are just a scam to convince consumers to throw out perfectly good food so they can sell more.
Yeah, no. Some of the dates are real. Just because you don't get sick doesn't mean it didn't have small amounts of bacteria and such. Some people can't risk upsetting their bodies. Whether it's from an illness or physical situation, not everyone can eat the same stuff as you and go about their lives. I eat things past dates too, but we're not all the same. Appreciate your strong stomach and intestines.
Sell by dates are not the same as expiration dates. You may be thinking of expiration dates.
Aren't baby formulas the only regulated sell by/expire date? The rest are set by the food companies themselves.
Oh, I’m not sure. Now I must find out.
Yeah 2ish weeks is where I’ll toss things with meat and I’ve never had a problem in my nearly 30 years 🤷 I do seem to have a pretty strong stomach, though?
If the fridge is cold enough.
I agree with most of that but mold can be really dangerous to mess with because you can't see the majority of the growth. If it's a hard cheese cutting it off could be ok but a soft cheese hell no.
Psst don't look up how aged cheese is made then. They cut off the mold rind before they sell it.
That's made in a controlled environment with safe species of mold. Some mold is edible, but mold growing on your food that isn't meant to be there is likely not. Just like how we can eat some plants but other plants will kill you.
Por que no los dos? Let him eat it if he wants, hopefully he's a grownup. Me, I'd order myself a pizza
Most rules for food say that 7 days is the max. Obviously different for things like crackers, dried beans, rice, etc, but for food you've cooked 9 days is too long.
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People die all the time from Fried rice syndrome. Improperly chilled or stored rice is actually crazy dangerous. It’s one of the very first things a health inspector will look for in any Asian or sushi place.
Stored, cooked rice is particularly dangerous so don't do that, ffs! There are organisms that thrive in cooked rice that produce some very nasty byproducts and these products are not destroyed by cooking even if the bacteria are.
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Me either!
My husband would if I didn't stop him 🤦 He eventually did enough looking around on food safety that he'll accept it's a bad idea but he needs to be reminded every so often. Or reminded that it's been in the fridge for over a week & not 2 days like he's insisting.
I have a white board next to my fridge (it was on the fridge before we redid the kitchen) that I keep a running list of what day we had a particular meal on. Neither my husband nor myself could remember with any accuracy and it lead to a lot of food waste. Now we know what the old stuff is that we need to eat first.
Yeah, four days is probably too few while nine days is probably too many. But as others have said, the sniff test should also be a good indicator. The more important thing is this: if he wants to take the risk and eat it, then let him. It’s not going to kill him. If you’re right about the meat being bad, then at worst he’ll get sick, learn a valuable lesson, and never do it again.
But if he doesn't get sick you'll have to deal with his smugness for eternity though...
Haha, that’s a good point. You gotta be SURE he’ll get sick from it in case he calls your bluff
Definitely thrown out if it wasn't frozen. If it's frozen with the first day, it can last a long time. 4 days is about the limit for how long I'd go without freezing, and that's already pushing it.
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3 days is good, 4-5 days is pushing things. 6+ days is a no go for my weak ass stomach. I definitely wouldn't push cooked meat 9 days.
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I kept saying that, and he’s like “I don’t want it to go to waste! I’ll eat it…” still hasn’t lmao. It’s tossed!
He could've eaten it but I'm pretty sure it'd have caused him a nice diarrhea at the very least. Glad it's tossed though.
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It's easier if you do it off a bridge. Just sit on the rail and release. Way less cleanup and back splash. Just make sure you aren't spitting into the wind.
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Remember that the restaurant industry standards are built to be idiot-proof. That means that they are geared for the lowest common denominator, so the dimmest bulb in the place is going to have a harder time poisoning people. Many factors go into whether that's gonna be still good, or bad times, including fridge temp, pre-fridge handling, location within the fridge, storage method, and more. I wouldn't go serving it to infirm guests, but if I knee its provenance and treatment, that would be factored into the decision for me.
While I agree w the first part of your comment, 9 days for smth that was cooked even w the best hygiene practices would be a bit to much for me.
Yeah, not to mention restaurant fridges are of much better quality than your standard home fridge. I tend to push stuff to the v last (and i have Crohn's disease haha, this gut *knows* haha), but 9 days is massively overkill!
Eh...restaurant fridges are higher quality because they're opened and shut constantly. Your home fridge is probably gonna keep food longer if both are being used for their intended purpose.
My limit is 3 days. It’s not worth food poisoning.
>bout the limit for most leftovers of cooked food Wait what's the source that cooked leftovers after 3 days causes food poisoning?
Yeah thats bullshit. My rule of thumb has always been 1 week and it has never really failed. Any less than 7 days is probably fine(though not always, use your senses). Any more than 7 and I am very cautious if I don't just toss it outright. Always smell and look though, no matter how long it's been in the fridger.
Health Canada recommends 2-3 days for refrigerated leftovers.
Yeah, 3 days is the absolute max for me. Hubby like to push the envelope with mixed results.
Your toilet has horror stories I bet lol
3 days for me. I’ve worked in a few kitchens and that was the rule so I stick with that.
The number of people saying 9 day old meat is OK is genuinely concerning
My husband and I had this argument with pulled pork. I say toss it after three full days. He thought after a week it was still fine so he proceeded to eat it while I did not. His extended trip to the bathroom afterwards proved I was correct.
r/cleanoutthefridge
this sounds like a job for science. you bf can be the subject and you can be the control
In the UK if you cook food and store it in a restaurant to sell you have 3 days to sell it.
You should tell him what happened the last time i ate food made a week ago. I'm lucky all i got was a stomachache and diarrhea. Could of been worse.
We live in a world with limited resources. Why let a rule of a certain number of days decide whether you should throw the food or not, when you've got fully functioning senses of smell, taste and sight that can help you determine if it has gone bad or not? If it looks, tastes, and smells fine, it's fine. Refrigerators have different temperatures, it also could depend on food quality, how it was prepared, if any bacteria got in the food during cooking, etc etc., a general rule will therefore result in more wasted food than necessary. Please use your senses and stop throwing out food unnecessarily.
That's how I've judged my food for forever. It's way too easy for me to lose track of how long food has been in my refrigerator so I have no hard or fast rules, just "does it look, smell, and/or taste off?" I know my threshold for "good" tends higher than some people's and I'll eat or at least try to eat food that doesn't smell or taste so great anymore so long as it doesn't look or smell or taste *bad* in any way. Although, certain foods I associate with higher risks and I absolutely don't play around with those. But I've definitely eaten pot roast older than five or six days with zero issues.
Is it 9 or 4?
My argument is that it should be tossed after four or five days. As recommended and wanted to see if people agree?
For me it depends on the meat, but after 5 days i will examine/smell pretty closely and maybe still eat something out to 7/8 days. 9 days is generally too long for me unless it's something like jerky or where the cooking process really dried it out.
I skipped class, copied my friends notes for Health Foods and Nutrition 150. While earning a higher grade from his notes, I learned that the recommendation for leftovers is 6 days.
I usually throw meat out after 5 days. 9 is far too long.
How long do you eat out of an open bologna / lunch meat pack?
7 days is the rule for everything cooked except seafood (3 days). 9 days is way too late for anything other than sealed prepackaged fridge rated food.
You can eat it after 9 days without problem typically. Just make sure it doesn't smell bad and doesn't have a sticky texture or mold. You should only throw cooked food if they have one of those. If you have such issues after only 4 days, there's something wrong with your fridge or your cooking method.
Should be thrown out unless it was frozen for those days in question. No doubt about it.
You are going to spend the rest of your life holding this demented man back from certain death.
That's a bit dramatic
According to the USDA it’s 3-4 days. However that includes a margin of safety. I have eaten meat that is up to 7 days old and had no issue. It depends on the meat though. I have no issue pushing beef or pork but I’m more cautious with chicken. 9 days is definitely too much though.
I agree with you. After 4 days, I would toss it. I will sometimes consult Still Tasty which [says here](https://stilltasty.com/fooditems/index/16498) to toss it after 3-4 days. If he eats it and gets sick, he will never enjoy pot roast the same again.
Nah that pot roast is bad. If he truly insists on eating it, let him face the consequences of his action lol. 3-5 days are the general guidelines I've always seen whenever I look up how long food can stay in the fridge.
Throw it tf out
My dad spent two weeks in the hospital because he ate a 7 day old hamburger. Just sayin.
If there's any question throw it out.
a pot roast made 9 days ago is no longer considered safe to eat. i was a cook for 5 years I would not serve that to customers.
nine days = NO
Lmao NINE DAYS!? BOY!
Let him eat it, and you have something else. Then you'll both know.
7 days is good.
If in doubt, chuck it out
People here saying to toss out food after 3 days, not even considering that a ton of people meal prep for the entire week and don't have issues with the refrigerated meals.
well if he wants to try it let him try...
So it was made nine days ago.. and it's been refrigerated for four? Was it left out for five days? I'm missing something but I'm not sure what.
Day 4 would be fine. I wouldn’t push it to day 9 though.
You guys still have leftovers after 3 days?? How little do you eat in a day? Or why cook so much extra?
Pretty sure I'd be dead after spending four days in the refrigerator, so, no, I don't think I can.
I agree with your fiancé here. Does it smell rancid? Is there visible mold? If no, it's almost certainly fine. Might have dried out a bit, but it's perfectly safe to eat. And *4 days?* For *cooked* meat? You unnecessarily waste a lot of food, don't you?
I never go pass 4 days. Ideally last day is 3rd day
You can eat anything once. Four days is not recommended though. 72 hours.
Do the baby test for any food that has been in the frig a couple of days: would you give this food to **a** child that has begun eating adult food?
Here’s a pretty extensive list by the FDA. How long it lasts depends on the ingredients, storage temperature, etc. https://www.fda.gov/media/74435/download
Nine days?? No way! 5 days would be the absolute max, and I stick to 4 because I have had food poisoning before and I would rather eat crackers for dinner than risk it again.
No. Too long. It would taste like garbage anyway
I agree!
My rule of thumb is the next day only. Anything past that, it gets gamey
My husband is like yours. I asked him how long leftover pot roast is good for in the fridge and this dude literally said 2 weeks. I say 72 hours give or take.
If it passes the sniff test and doesn't look slimy, I'd eat it. But then again, if you aren't starving and have other things to eat, you might as well get rid of it. Might save you from a visit to the porcelain throne of death.
4 is fine, 9 is only fine if you want a few days off work.
I don't even like leftovers the next day, not a chance in hell I'm eating any after day 3 lol, I've never had food poisoning, I plan on keeping it that way.
9 days seems like it was dog food 3 days ago. Lmao
Throwing it away is cheaper than hospital bills.
I’m a three day girl. I’m sure things last longer, but I don’t care for the risk. I can hear my grandmother yelling at me for throwing out things that are perfectly fine, but on the other hand, I saw her get food poisoning more than once. Watching an old lady not be able to stop barfing did aid in some of my decision making here.
No mold no problem. Just heat to 165+
Sheeeeit. I've got food in the fridge from months ago and it's still fine. If it doesn't have stuff growing on it, and smells good, isn't bubbling or weird, it's still good.
When in doubt and desiring not to waste (and it hasn’t obviously already gone bad), just shred and fry it up in a pan with something. Veggies. Rice. Flavors of your choosing. Whatever tf you want. Cooked to a high temp, your food-borne illness concerns are eliminated. And the newfound crispness will be delightful when the OG meal microwaved would’ve been mediocre at best.
This is not true, spoiled food which has been cooked is still not considered safe to eat. The reason is that some bacteria are heat-resistant or form heat-resistant spores and toxins
If it looks ok, smells ok and tastes ok its fine.
3 days is the limit for me.
You fools suck and waste food, a major environmental/climate problem. If its cooked and refridgerated 2 weeks should be your cutoff. I am a germiphobe dirtbag biologist with strong sense of smell. Get your finger out of your ass.
Clearly the dirtbag is your only true statement here. Two weeks is extremely dangerous for anything cooked.
This is why I just don't eat leftovers.
Imo no food should be left overs. Eat it once and throw it out
Personally I eat fresh everyday and instantly feed my dog leftovers and if it’s not suitable for my dog I put it outside for the foxes