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

xxvickixx

A couple of hours, I would have though so. I have to confess sometimes I have forgotten about things OVERNIGHT!!! and still eaten them.
I imagine that this is not technically safe but me and my hubby are still here to tell the tale.
I would only risk it in the Winter when my kitchen is freezing anyway, maybe not so much in the Summer.

withabix

You boiled a pan of mince and veg.

You left the lid on.

Where will all the bacteria have come from exactly?

HalfPint

Hi Kezz,

Depends on what is in it...Providing there is nothing in there that ferments quickly then you should be fine. A couple of hours shouldn't make any difference. Just make sure, as with anything to be re-heated, to reheat it thoroughly.

Anything onion related will degrade quicker but again a couple of hours should be fine.

My general rule of thumb is left more than 3 hours with onions in I throw....otherwise 4 hours max...anything more throw cause it aint worth the risk.

Oh....hubby is chef so always errs on the side of caution rather than risk poisoning us :rolleyes: mind u...when I cook thats a risk anyway cause Im so useless in the kitchen (thats why a married a chef )

thriftlady_2

Of course it will be safe to eat -why wouldn't it be ? unless someone's tipped a bottle of drain cleaner in it while you weren't looking.

greenbee

You'd have to leave it out with the lid on to cool anyway, as you can't put it in the fridge until it has cooled down. It'll be fine (unless, as previously said, it's been tampered with, or has something exotic in it that needs to be cooled quickly), assuming your house is at a sensible temperature.

If it had been left in my kitchen, there'd be no problem - its about the same temperature as the fridge, and in my utility room the ice packs I took out of the freezer this morning haven't melted :rolleyes:

Zoomer

Blast the bejasus out of it in the micro just to be sure.

kezz

HalfPint wrote: »

Hi Kezz,

Depends on what is in it...Providing there is nothing in there that ferments quickly then you should be fine. A couple of hours shouldn't make any difference. Just make sure, as with anything to be re-heated, to reheat it thoroughly.

Anything onion related will degrade quicker but again a couple of hours should be fine.

My general rule of thumb is left more than 3 hours with onions in I throw....otherwise 4 hours max...anything more throw cause it aint worth the risk.

Oh....hubby is chef so always errs on the side of caution rather than risk poisoning us :rolleyes: mind u...when I cook thats a risk anyway cause Im so useless in the kitchen (thats why a married a chef )

It does have celery and onions in it and has probably been there for over three hours. The kitchen is really cold but when I took the lid off it was still warm.

motherkitty

Sorry to be thick, but why would the fact it had onions in it make it degrade quicker?

LJM

it will be fine i do with mine sometimes

hotcookie101

I regularly leave stuff out in kitchen overnight to cool (read-forgot about it!) have not poisoned myself yet!!