Safe storage of cooked food.

tomstickland

I moved out ot my own flat a few weeks ago. Since then I've been having fun getting back on with cooking after years of being lazy. I've been amazed at how cheaply I can eat well. Sure, the hardcore OSers could probably halve my bill, but I'm doing quite nicely on £20-£25 a week and not trying too hard. That covers about 5 evening meals and a full cooked breakfast on Sat and Sunday, tea, milk, bread etc coming out at a max of around £3 per meal I guess.

I'm 33, live on my own, used to cook a bit when I was at university etc.

My major mistake so far has to be overestimate how much I need to buy - I cooked a bolognaise and it lasted 2 days, I overdid some bogof deals so ended up with two quiches overdate, but still ate them, I'm not throwing anything away!

Anyway, tonight I made a full on lasagne, and I've probably only eaten 1/4 of it and I don't fancy eating it for the next 3 nights. Nothing wrong with it, but boredom will set in.

My question is a pretty basic one about how to safely store cooked food. How long could I leave it unrefrigerated, refrigerated and frozen?

j-baby-scotland

Get a freezer!
I bulk cook chilli, bolognese, sweet n sour etc.
Freeze bread, take out slices as needed.

I err on the side of caution, & am happy with that, many would cook & eat, having refrigerated for three days & eating.

That would bore me! Plus wouldn't want to even err too close to food poisoining!

Edit .... I can't spell bolognaise

tomstickland

I've got a built in freezer, so I can some freezing. I don't have the space for a stand alone freezer. I could make space eventually.

carrottopsuk

I found this link on the Mega Index which may help you:

http://www.martins-seafresh.co.uk/frozen_facts.htm

janeawej

I try to make an extra portion *(well 6 in my case!) when i cook one of our favourites and freeze it for a lazy day, most stuff can be kept indefinately in the freezer, at least 6 months which should give you plenty of time to eat it, why not ask your friends to save the plastic ovenproof dishes that readymeals come in then you can reuse them by freezing food in them, defrosting and popping straight into the oven, i do this for mum and vegi dd, very handy and saves having to buy lots of freezer stuff, they can be used over and over but dont cook at over 200c as i once did and ended up with a melting mess!

tawnyowls

It's always safer to refrigerate as soon as possible, especially with dodgy things like rice. I always make far more than needed, especially if it's going to be baked in the oven (why waste energy having it only half-full?), then dish up single portions into tubs - generally plastic ice-cream or takeaway cartons, although I've bought some cheap in pound shops too. You do have to be a little careful with these; I wouldn't reheat the stuff in them, because you can never be sure the plastic's food grade and able to withstand microwaving without leaching chemicals, so I usually just take them out, pour hot water over them to loosen, then reheat on a plate. Far healthier than shop-bought ready meals (as I'm sure we're all about to find out from that new programme where people have to live on ready meals for a month).

jessicamb

I agree with the overcooking for one part - I only seem to able to cook for four or more. It is economical as long as you dont mind eating the same meal four times in a row - or being able to freeze portions.

tomstickland

Yes, the raw ingredients seem to be best bought in standard pack sizes, so I end up with enough for 4 and it's more cost and effort effective to make a larger batch.

TBH, there's still a lot of novelty in seeing how long I can go on a simple meal.

mookybargirl

If you are re-heating things like lasagne etc - what temperature do you aim for when re-reheating in the oven?

JoeyEmma

I normally shove must things on between 180 and 200 and they cook fine. Never given myself food poisoning (famous last words)

frugalfairy_3

If you're reheating anything with meat in, make sure it's really piping hot and bubbling when you reheat it, otherwise you're running the risk of some nasty bug getting you. I also reheat at about 180-200 degrees (which I think is about Gas 5 or 6).