Food safety

Miss_Ratty

Thanks all! Sorry for the late response...I used it on a pizza and seemed ok, but only used the tiniest bit. I think I may chuck it even though it was unopened before the other night. The bottles and holder are very lovely though, so i'm thinking of washing them and sterilising them and using for something else! :-) x

picklednut

I'm a bit of a worrier and probably waste a lot of food as I throw stuff away that I think has been in the fridge too long as I'm not sure what guidelines I should be following and always err on the side of caution. I normally go by the Use By date on foods but can't do this with freshly cooked meals or fresh stuff bought from the Butchers or Greengrocers.

Eg if I bought meat from the Butchers how long would the raw meats (eg mince / chicken breasts / whole chicken etc) stay fresh in the fridge for before I had to cook it. Also, when I've cooked say a meal with the chicken (eg Sunday Roast), how long can I keep the leftovers in the fridge for?

If I make a stew / other mince based meal and have leftover, how long could I keep the leftovers in the fridge for.

Finally, how long does fruit last in the fridge eg. is it ok to have apples in the fridge for a couple of week or should they be thrown after a certain length of time?

I want to stop wasting food but don't want to poison any of my family in the process so any help would be very much appreciated!

daska

Start by looking at it, does it look ok? Or is it covered in mould / sitting a puddle of something not so nice? Does it still look bad after a wash or a scrape?

Smell is often a good indicator. Smell it when you buy it fresh so that you have something to compare to and if it's stopped smelling like that you might have a problem, and most things start to smell foul after a while at which point chuck it on the compost heap. The obvious exception to this rule is cheese (Fish, IMHO, should NOT smell overly fishy.)

If sight and smell seem ok then personally I'd give it a go. If it's been sitting there a while I might make sure I cook it for a couple of minutes longer.

But, to be fair, I have a couple of general rules I go by. Fresh fish gets eaten the day it's bought. Cooked dishes get 3 days. Meat cooked within 5 days.

elsien

Miss_Ratty wrote: »

I was told by my great-gran not to throw out her chocolates that had a use by two years ago that "we didn't have them dates in my day and I'm still alive"!

My 95 year old grandmother is the same. We had an argument the other day about some cooked meat she'd left sitting in the cupboard for days that she wanted me to put on a sandwich for her, because she said she'd never kept it in the fridge before and has always been fine.
I did feel obliged to point out her newly refurbed and centrally heated (to about 25C) kitchen is a bit different to the chilly wooden outhouse she used to have, or a cold store room in a generally nippy part of Wales when she was younger. Which might explain the stomach upsets she keeps getting.
She didn't believe me though - the battle continues.

LondonDreamer

daska wrote: »

But, to be fair, I have a couple of general rules I go by. Fresh fish gets eaten the day it's bought. Cooked dishes get 3 days. Meat cooked within 5 days.

This is about my limit for meats as well. But I tend to freeze everything as soon as I get it, that way I don't have to worry if we have a change in meal plan and something doesn't end up getting used that week.

As for items like apples, they can sit in cold storage quite happily for months so they'll be fine in the fridge for a few weeks. And then once they've gone a bit brown and wrinkly, they're still perfectly fine in a pudding.

Patchwork_Quilt

I freeze meat on the day I buy it and then defrost it overnight in the kitchen to cook the next day. This way, I never have raw meat hanging around in the fridge.

When I've cooked anything, I'll leave it only until the third day before I throw it away. For example, if I roast a chicken on Sunday, the last day I would eat the left overs would be Wednesday.

Hope this helps.

meritaten

I usually apply the 'three day rule'! bought fresh from butcher - after three days it gets the sniff test! if it passes then it gets cooked and eaten! rarely fails that! from the supermarket - I usually try to use it before the best before or use by date - if it passes it - then it gets the sniff test again!
cooked meats - again three days! in the fridge of course. sniff test applies!
stews - I think I could make one last forever! why? because they either get frozen the same day or they get heated up to boiling and simmered for twenty minutes each day they last!

HappyMJ

picklednut wrote: »

I'm a bit of a worrier and probably waste a lot of food as I throw stuff away that I think has been in the fridge too long as I'm not sure what guidelines I should be following and always err on the side of caution. I normally go by the Use By date on foods but can't do this with freshly cooked meals or fresh stuff bought from the Butchers or Greengrocers.

Eg if I bought meat from the Butchers how long would the raw meats (eg mince / chicken breasts / whole chicken etc) stay fresh in the fridge for before I had to cook it. Also, when I've cooked say a meal with the chicken (eg Sunday Roast), how long can I keep the leftovers in the fridge for?

If I make a stew / other mince based meal and have leftover, how long could I keep the leftovers in the fridge for.

Finally, how long does fruit last in the fridge eg. is it ok to have apples in the fridge for a couple of week or should they be thrown after a certain length of time?

I want to stop wasting food but don't want to poison any of my family in the process so any help would be very much appreciated!

I use the same as has been mentioned sight and smell.

Fruit lasts ages. Even an apple way past it's best before date can still be used for something.

Stop buying so much food. Meal plan a weeks worth of food and then go shopping with last list and strictly keep to it and you shouldn't be wasting any food at all. Although I make my meal plan up as I wander about the supermarket finding yellow stickered food.

meritaten

we didnt have best before or use by dates - but then our mums tended to shop daily. local butchers and greengrocers etc. and if any of those had 'bad' produce the local mums blacklisted them!
my mum and myself was taught to use the common sense approach........if it looked ok and smelled ok and tasted ok - then it was OK!
I do take notice of use by and sell by dates - but I dont let them rule me! common sense tells me that if a piece of meat looks and smells bad (but the use by date is a couple of days ahead) then I dont use it! conversely - if it looks ok and smells ok - then its fine to eat I will eat it! even if its past its 'eat before' date!

Bronnie

As far as mince is concerned if you're not going to cook it on the day of purchase, I would always stick it in the freezer. Supermarket mince off the shelf in the sealed plastic containers lasts a little bit longer, maybe to the next day but butcher's mince tends to go off very quickly. My butcher told me it was because of the heat generated by friction as the meat went through the mincer.

You can put it in the fridge the night before you want to use it to defrost or defrost in the microwave and cook immediately.

Once cooked, mince dishes will last as long as any other meat meals in the fridge.

You can't go far wrong with fruit and veg. If it goes wrinkly or bendy it'll still be ok cooked in a soup or fruit crumble. Even if it develops mouldy bits or bruises, just cut them off, wash the rest of the fruit/veg and it will be fine.

Don't be afraid to use your senses, as mentioned and common sense and develop your instincts and ask on here if you're not sure! It's not rocket science!!