Archive:Quick Questions on food safety / sell by / use by dates

ifonlyitwaseasier

if you need to chill stews/soups quickly maybe try this use ice cubes, then thicken up the sauce when re-heating it

Robothell

sandraroffey wrote: »

....... the hot stuff instantly lowers the temperature of the fridge........

Raises the temp - not only dangerous from a food safety oint of view but also not energy efficient and bad for bank balance, carbon footprint etc.

thatnewgirl

Thank you all.
Sandra- so it is not that the lamb wouldn't be safe to eat but rather that other things in the fridge may have been warmed by it? Is that right?

pigpen

It is best to let things cool naturally then put in the fridge..

But yes, it will be the things inside the fridge already, that would turn sour.

thatnewgirl

I have checked tonight's casserole. It has been in the slow cooker for just over three hours on high and is actually cooked now(the diced lamb just fell apart) so I've transferred it to another dish and will leave it out for an hour and a half and then pop it in the fridge. Hope that'll be ok.

withabix

Unless your fridge is crap, it shouldnt make any difference to the stuff already in there, as the fridge should be capable of cooling the air that was being warmed up by your hot lamb.

The chilled stuff that was already in your fridge probably won't have increased in temperature much AND will actually have helped the fridge cool down quicker than it would have done hat it been emptier.

nickyhutch

I cook chillis, spag bol, stew etc and leave it in the big pan on the hob!!!!! It gets eaten within a day or two, and I've killed no-one yet. Mind you, our kitchen is positively arctic.

foreversomeday

nickyhutch wrote: »

I cook chillis, spag bol, stew etc and leave it in the big pan on the hob!!!!! It gets eaten within a day or two, and I've killed no-one yet. Mind you, our kitchen is positively arctic.

How do you do this, out of curiosity? Do you use a lid? Does it only work in winter?

I only ask because I often leave leftovers (after dinner served up) in the pan to cool before freezing and occasionally I forget, and it's always gone manky by morning.

nickyhutch

I leave a lid on (2 greedy cats) and yes, I guess in warm or hot weather I wouldn't do it - probably wouldn't be making that sort of food in warm or hot weather either if I think about it.

I think food like stew/casserole/chilli tastes nicer a day or two later too.

sandraroffey

yes it will i'm afraid. never put warm/hot things in the fridge, always cool everything thoroughly AND as quickly as possible. put it into smaller dishes so that it all cools quicker. while its keeping warm like that for a long time, the nasty bugs are multiplying in the heat they love so much. and when you reheat anything, it must be heated to a very very hot degree, again to kill the bugs that live in a warm environment.

this will happen to anything that has been cooked but especially to meat and meat products, including gravy!!!

thats one of the many reasons that food poisoning happens.