Are you scared to leave food outside the fridge? (restaurant, frozen, tomatoes)
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It always amazes me that people believe a piece of food will turn into a cesspool of deadly germs from sitting at room temperature for 24 hours or less. And never keeping leftovers even in the fridge? Do you throw out a whole apple if it has one tiny spot too?
SO many tons of perfectly good food is thrown away each year.
I personally do not like the flavor of leftovers. Call me weird if you want. Whatever.
It's usually just me for dinner, so I rarely even bust out a pot to make anything. It's flip the top on a can of Campbell's, pour into bowl, heat in microwave for 90 seconds, add a few crackers and perhaps a sprinkle of Parm cheese...throw in a banana, or some almonds, and dinner is served. Once in every great while I will cook some rice or some noodles and add a sauce of some sort...I make just enough for one meal. I've also baked a small squash and eat that for a meal. A grilled cheese sandwich is not bad. I'll make those once in a while, except I rarely get through a loaf of bread before it gets fuzzy, so I rarely buy bread. Those are usually made after my kids leave and I try to use up the food that was in the house mainly for them. Quesadillas are easy, and I find tortillas are very versatile. I can use them to make breakfast burritos, a turkey or ham wrap, a quesadilla. A bowl of granola cereal mixed with a spoonful of Greek yogurt and topped with coconut milk is always a delicious dinner! If I do get full before I've eaten it all, I'm not going to save 1/4 cup of something. I'm also not going to force myself to finish it if I am full. It's taken me YEARS to get over the "clean your plate, kid; there are starving people in China" mindset. I've learned to listen to my body, and I'm much healthier for it.
I will eat around a spot or cut it out, yes. I don't eat the mushy, brown part of a banana either. Yuck.
I refrigerate everything cooked within 30 minutes. John left spaghetti out for 4 hours a couple of weeks ago and didn't tell me. We both ate it the next day and got sick. Better safe then sorry.
Are you sure it was the spaghetti? Honestly properly cooking sauce is not going to go bad in 4 hours.
I only leave the food out long enough for it to cool down to room temp and then it goes in the fridge, usually in Rubbermaid or Tupperware, or Ziploc bags. Exceptions would be fried chicken or turkey that might be out for an hour or two before refrigerating. Pizza, a few hours is okay then foil wrapped and into the fridge. I don't refrigerate potatoes, onions, bananas, tomatoes, or fresh bread. I like to keep nuts that I cook with (slivered almonds, pecans, walnuts) in the fridge to keep them from going rancid. Nothing in the world tastes worse than rancid oils, so I buy the small jars of peanut butter so we eat it before it goes rancid. If you've ever truly had food poisoning, you become more careful. Sandwiches or salads with mayo are the most common thing that people get food poisoning from. We had one lady have to be taken by ambulance from work and forever after mayonnaise was banned from all company potlucks!
I like to think I'm sensible, but I'm maybe a little lax. After dinner, any leftovers are promptly put into storage containers and covered, then put in the refrigerator after they've cooled. Once in a while something accidentally gets left out overnight. As long as it's been covered, I go ahead and eat it anyway.
Deli meats, dairy products and mayonnaise are always refrigerated (though, it's actually a myth that people commonly get sick from mayonnaise). I make my own mayonnaise and I know it's fresh and good (even though it contains raw eggs!) But I keep the stick of butter we are working on, peanut butter, and cooking oil in the cupboard. With five of us in the house, these things don't stay around long enough to get rancid.
Bread never goes in the fridge--it gets stale too fast that way. Tortillas do, as they get moldy otherwise. If I know we won't use the whole package of hamburger buns or whatever, I put them in the freezer, not the fridge.
Fruits and vegetables--it depends on the type. Since we don't cool our house, I put most everything in the refrigerator during the warm summer months, or they spoil very quickly. In the winter, more of them stay out. I always leave onions and potatoes out.
I often cook in the morning, when I have time. Let's say I make a spaghetti casserole with cooked meat, cooked noodles, and cooked sauce. If I make this at 10 AM, it will be noon before it is cool enough to put in the fridge. Then, I'll have to take it out to 4 PM to heat up for dinner. In such a case, I don't bother with the refrigeration, I just leave the dish covered on the counter all day knowing it will be thoroughly heated before eating. Never had any problems with this.
I cook at home with mostly fresh ingredients for 20 out of 21 meals, most weeks. I can honestly say I have never had food poisoning nor has anyone in my immediate family, to my knowledge, and it is not a great worry of mine. I do know people who have had salmonella and other types of food poisoning, and without exception, they all got it from food eaten away from home. Anecdotal evidence, I know, but it seems significant to me.
My immune system works overtime to keep me from getting sick from all the leftover junk I eat. Fortunately for me, it does a pretty good job, and I usually don't get sick very often. But I agree about the value of refrigeration. Every minute the food is in the fridge, is an extra minute of not growing bacteria in it. One extra minute can make the difference between getting sick or not.
It always amazes me that people believe a piece of food will turn into a cesspool of deadly germs from sitting at room temperature for 24 hours or less. And never keeping leftovers even in the fridge? Do you throw out a whole apple if it has one tiny spot too?
SO many tons of perfectly good food is thrown away each year.
I too don't like leftovers and will cook where I don't have any. On the off chance I do have leftovers, I give it to my pup. If I am making a particular favorite, I will make enough for one lunch worth of leftovers for hubby to take. He is the only one though, rest of fam is like me. No leftovers.
And this has zero to do with it being a cesspool. I prefer something different every day to eat. I am one of those that doesn't like to eat the same thing day after day. I rotate my menu on a monthly or so cycle.
I do put food in the fridge pretty quickly when I am done with it. I had food poisoning one time and NEVER want it again ! I wanted to die. I also toss food out that has been in the fridge for a few days, and I don't even keep food I have frozen around very long.
It drives me nuts when I see pizza we have had at work one day that has sat out over night, and then people are eating it the next day unrefridgerated ! I usually toss it out so no one gets sick.
I'm in the group that thinks the germ frenzy is making us sicker. I believe if we don't give our immune systems something to do, they just attack us instead. The germaphobes withe hand sanitizer and constant antibiotics are hurting themselves
I've seen friends from other cultures leave food out all night, heat it up the next day and eat it and never get sick. I was shocked to see them leave a pizza sitting out and eat it the next day.
I'm not extreme about leaving food out. Depending upon what it is, it may stay out for a couple of hours before I do something about it. Leftovers are eaten in 1-3 days depending upon what it is and what preparation has gone into it. I won't eat turkey that has sat in the fridge for a week. I'm not willing to take the chance.
I'm really nonalarmist about this. I've carried a lunch to work for years, and don't generally refrigerate it, which has meant that it has sat at room temperature for half the day by the time I eat it. Never had a problem. In all honesty, the idea of putting my food in a gross, seldom cleaned work breakroom fridge grosses me out much more than eating the lunch that's been sitting in my tote bag since the a.m.
This isn't food that's been sitting out in a brown bag in full sunshine outdoors on blacktop on a 90 degree day, or anything. Jut in a temperate, indoors "room temp" environment with standard heating in winter and cooling in summer.
I'm definitely of the non-germaphobe camp.
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I wanted to die. I also toss food out that has been in the fridge for a few days, and I don't even keep food I have frozen around very long.
