How long to leave hot food out before putting in the fridge?

Gem-gem

kimwp said:

JIL said:

Putting hot food in fridges can raise the temperature inside the fridge and affect other stuff in there.

Its winter and freezing outside and our garage is probably as cold as the fridge. 

To put it into perspective, think about cafes and chip shops who cook loads of food and then its kept warm, if they can do that then it cannot be too bad that you are cooling something and then fridging. 

Thinking about the meat, it's to put it crudely a big lump of flesh, its covered and it's cold to the touch.  A couple of hours in the fridge near a warm bolognese sauce should not affect it. If it was off you would know.  If it's in date, looks ok and has been stored in the fridge it will be fine. 

The temperature at which the food is kept warm makes a difference I believe. The bacteria that everyone is concerned about with cooled rice produces the toxin in a particular temperature range, so food should not be kept at temperatures in that range.

There will be max times that the restaurants can keep food warm at - beyond that, they will be required to bin the food due to the bacterial build-up. But they will be more stringent than is necessary to allow some buffer and different circumstances. 

Rice is big cause of food poisoning. People think, ooo I must get the meat / curry in the fridge and leave the rice out. 

Here is the food safety guidance....

How long can you safely eat rice for after cooking?

Rice may be eaten cold if it is cooled down quickly. Put the rice in the fridge and consume within 24 hours.

You can get food poisoning from eating reheated rice. It's not the reheating that causes the problem, but the way the rice has been stored before it's reheated.

Keep rice in the fridge for no more than one day until reheating. When you reheat any rice always check the dish is steaming hot all the way through. 

Uncooked rice can contain spores of a bacterium called Bacillus cereus. This bacteria can cause food poisoning. The spores of Bacillus cereus can survive being cooked. The longer cooked rice is left at room temperature, the more likely it is that the bacteria or toxins will make the rice unsafe to eat.

Can you reheat rice?

Yes, but you should never reheat rice more than once.  And when you do reheat rice, make sure it is steaming hot all the way through.

If you have leftover rice you should chill it as quickly as possible, ideally within one hour. Dividing it into smaller portions can help with this. Also don't leave rice in the rice cooker, steamer or pan to cool down.

Can you reheat takeaway rice?

You should never reheat rice more than once. Extra care should be taken with takeaway rice. Ideally, takeaway rice should be eaten shortly after purchase or shortly after it has been delivered.

This is because some food businesses may pre-cook their rice and then re-heat it before it is given to customers. Whether it is safe to reheat the cooked rice will depend on how it was stored, handled and if it was cooked outright in the first place. It’s always worth asking the takeaway business how they handle the rice.

Can you freeze rice?

You can freeze rice but should cool the rice quickly before putting it in the freezer, and if you portion it out into smaller containers this will help chill it faster. To do this you could place the container of rice in cold water and once cool, cover and store it in the freezer. By making sure rice goes in the freezer within an hour of cooking, you will stop bacteria multiplying and producing a toxin. Before eating, you should defrost your rice in the fridge and then reheat it until it is steaming hot before eating immediately.

Pollycat

Apparently I do lots of things I shouldn't and don't do things I should.
But...I've managed to live over 70 years so will carry on as I've always done.

What did people do before fridges and freezers?
My gran had a meat safe on a Northern wall to keep her meat in and a marble slab in the pantry (admittedly, she did shop most days as was the norm in those days).

My 92 year old aunt told me a story about gran...in those days people cooked in lard - chips, eggs, bacon, sausage - and the fat was retained in the chip pan/frying pan for next time.
My aunt pointed out that the solidified lard had mouse prints in it but gran said "it'll be fine when it's heated up".

JIL

@Pollycat that took me back to my childhood and I was only thinking about it the other day.  My aunty telling us that the butter dish was designed to keep the mice off, when stored in the pantry. 

My mother in law used to half cook the Christmas turkey, put it on to roast on Christmas eve for a couple of hours, turned the oven off, went to bed and the oven went back on, Christmas morning.  She never had food poisoning, surprisingly. 

Gem-gem

Pollycat said:

Apparently I do lots of things I shouldn't and don't do things I should.
But...I've managed to live over 70 years so will carry on as I've always done.

What did people do before fridges and freezers?
My gran had a meat safe on a Northern wall to keep her meat in and a marble slab in the pantry (admittedly, she did shop most days as was the norm in those days).

My 92 year old aunt told me a story about gran...in those days people cooked in lard - chips, eggs, bacon, sausage - and the fat was retained in the chip pan/frying pan for next time.
My aunt pointed out that the solidified lard had mouse prints in it but gran said "it'll be fine when it's heated up".

My Mum would cook a piece of meat, drain it and then the dripping would be used to cook the roast potatoes the following week. 

My aunt use to place the leftover chicken back into the oven and then bring it back out to serve cold meats the following day. 

My DH and I have these conversations about what did people eat in the winter / spring before fridges and freezers. Also, further back in time before shops.