Leftover Advice

Mrs7ones

Hi,
how long is it safe for me to keep leftovers without freezing them?
Say I made a curry last night (wednesday), and there was a portion leftover, will it still be sate to eat tomorrow(friday) or sat'day, or is that pufhing it?

The same with the sunday roast... How many days after sunday is it still safe to eat?
And if i freeze cooked meat, what's the best way of storing it? Foil wrapped or bagged or ina chinese box??

Ta :beer:

squeaky

I'm on the cautious side, I think, and for fish or chicken based meals I like to use them up within three days and pretty much everything else within five. So I'd be happy to say that you'll be OK with your planned usage.

As for the roast - people used to have leftovers through most of the week in the days when there were no such things as refridgerators (though they did usually have cool rooms or a cold marble shelf in the pantry) - so again, if you're not going to use it within five days or so it would be better frozen. I've not had any problems storing leftover roasts using each of the methods you've listed, so it's a matter of personal choice for you, I guess.
If you're going to slice it I'd suggest you wrap your portions in cling film because meat does dry out in the freezer.
Defrost in the microwave if you have one, and then it's a good idea to reheat it in the sauce or gravy you'll be serving it with to protect it from drying out. Don't forget that it should be piping hot throughout - which means a minimum temperature everywhere of not less than 72° C.

[Deleted User]

:rotfl: Years ago when I was a young Mum 1966, I only had a tiny fridge when we lived in a very small flat and were saving hard for our first house .In those days a leg of lamb bought from the butcher's on Saturday afternoon cost 17/6d (80p) was cooked on
Sunday for lunch with roast spuds and all the trimmings,
cold with pickle and boiled spuds on Monday ,
a few slices in gravy on Tuesday with a bit of mash ,
a bit curried on Wednesday with rice
Thursday the last of it made rissoles with chips and peas for tea in the evening .
On the last night of the leg, my husband used to say thank God it's all gone:D Bless him he was good about how I could streetch a joint out. As long as it was in the fridge wrapped in foil and kept cold I never had a problem and we were never ill.
I suppose if you were worried about it then use the best thing of all,your nose ,if it smells o.k. then it probably is o.k. I think with a curry there shouldn't be too much of a problem. I'm still here 42 years later :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

belfastgirl23

I tend to have a three day rule. So if I cook something on Sunday, Wednesday is the last day for it. But this is as much cos if I haven't eaten it by Wednesday then I probably really don't want to eat it anyway

Mrs7ones

This is all good news.
Before descovering MSE, I used to think I was pretty savvy re being economical with money where food is concerned - I have always cooked from scratch and shopped around etc, but now I've taked to saving the tinyest leftover.....
So, thanks for the advice, it's good to know that being frugle isn't going to kill my kids!!

angelavdavis

One thing I tend to do with chicken or turkey is strip the meat off the bones (put it in the fridge) and boil up the carcass within a couple of days - I think the meat can go off when it is still on the bone, not sure why exactly, but its a practice my Mum does and so I have followed it on!:D