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For home-cooked food, what are the least likely to get spoiled within several hours (from leaving home in the morning to lunch break in as late as mid afternoon), in room temperature, without refrigeration? (am talking about cooked food only, so excluding canned food, raw vegetables such as salad, etc.)
E.g. I suppose cooked vegetables are safer than meat products. What about scrambled eggs? (hard boiled eggs should last longer than scrambled eggs I suppose?) What about spaghetti or noodles?
of course as a lot of people know, I don't really worry to much about food spoiling. I guess this comes from growing up in an ere when we had very little refrigeration, not to mention in school we took our lunch, usually in a paper sack and often had egg salad or tuna sandwiches. We all survived nicely. This was before the age of a/c. I don't think you have to worry too much about most foods if you take them right from the ridge just before leaving for work. I don't mean, letting lunch sit in a hot car, I am talking about in an office setting. Let me add, it isn't the spoiling that bothers me as much as the flavor. Nothing to me would be less appealing than a luck warm salad.
I had a roommate that would eat leftover chicken, pizza, whatever the next day after it had been out on the counter all night long... He's not dead yet.
Acidic stuff. Like german potato salad or macaroni/tortellini salad that uses vinegar instead of mayo. Dry cured ham with hard cheeses. Or even a bread salad. That's what I normally bring to picnics: Panzanella | The Pioneer Woman Cooks | Ree Drummond
Japanese style bentos (homemade) fit the bill. They are designed to last at room temp for several hours, and can even handle hot humid environments.
The key is to make sure you close up your container after the food as cooled down (e.g. let the lunch cool to room temp before putting on the lid). Do not grab a bento from the fridge and run, either, as the condensation will encourage spoilage. Excess moisture is your enemy.
Any kind of luncheon meat ie Oscar Mayer is safe at room temp for hours and hours. The reason is all the chemicals in it basically preserve it for you.
Or you can bring a can of tuna with a new unopened small bottle of mayo. Can make your salad there by pre-slicing some celery. Then with some bread you have your sandwich. Its the same as you would get at Subway just not cold.
People in Japan pack a lot of things in packed lunches to take to work or school that most Americans wouldn't think of leaving out at room temperature for hours.
Cooked eggs, sausages, chicken, fish, meatballs, sliced pork or beef, etc...
Do a web search for "bento" and look at the pictures. Those bento lunches all sit at room temperature until lunch time.
MIL did say not to include egg salad or potato salad, because the mayonnaise might go bad.
But eggs and potatoes are fine without mayonnaise.
I've also heard warnings from my daughter's kindergarten that we should wash our hands very well before handling food to put in a lunchbox, and that using vinyl gloves is even better.
As long as it's not dairy like yogurt or milk and not mayo, I think pretty much just about anything can be left out for a few hours. Sometimes I don't put my pasta or sandwich in the fridge. My office is pretty cool so food can sit on my desk for 4 or 5 hours. Soup doesn't need to be refridgerated--look at all the cans on the shelves in the grocery store.
Cheese won't go bad but it could get super soft (depending on the cheese).
Yeah, I agree with oldtrader and others, don't take the risk. Just because a few people and everyone they know hasn't gotten sick doesn't mean you won't. Is it really that important to take something perishable for lunch over your health? If so, then carry on. If not, invest in a few ice packs and an insulated lunch sack.
Oh and that argument that everyone had about how a certain country that is NOT ours always takes their lunches un-refrigerated? They probably grew up that way and is immune for the most part. Someone here in the US and for the first time? Not immune. And even then a quick google shows stomach issues are common in Asia as well. So there goes that theory.
Fried chicken, Italian dry salami sandwiches, meat pies called "Pasties"
pizza, chili, smoked ham sandwiches
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hasn't gotten sick doesn't mean you won't. Is it really that important to take something perishable for lunch over your health? If so, then carry on. If not, invest in a few ice packs and an insulated lunch sack.
