Safety Guidelines for Handling Leftovers

The frugal homemaker always has a plan to store, reheat or cook up leftover foods.  However, the many cases of food poisoning in the home due to improper handling of leftover food can result in hospital expense rather than savings.  Arming yourself with the knowledge on leftover food handling is key to avoiding unnecessary expense.

Refrigerate cooked food within 2 hours after cooking.

Food should be refrigerated not more than 2 hours after being cooked.  This time limit is even shorter—1 hour—in hot weather conditions.  The reason for this is because food which is kept at room temperature for more than 2 hours becomes a favorite medium for bacterial growth.

When serving food, make sure it does not come into contact with unclean surfaces.

The idea is to keep food as far away from bacterial contamination as possible.  Always serve foods in a clean serving plate and with a serving spoon.  Make sure the dining table and countertops are clean.  Of course, proper hand washing before meals also helps to prevent cross-contamination of food.

Before storing leftover food in the ref, put them in small containers.

When you refrigerate leftover foods, do not store them in large containers as doing so delays cooling and freezing times.  Instead, divide the food into smaller containers for rapid cooling.

Thaw frozen leftover food in the refrigerator.

The ideal place to thaw leftover food is still in the refrigerator, not on the the kitchen countertop or at room temperature.  This way of thawing may be long but ensures safety from spoilage.  To hasten thawing, you may break the frozen item with a spoon before returning it back to the refrigerator.

Eat leftover food, ideally, within 2 days of refrigeration.

Leftover food is not the same as bulk cooking foods or freeze-and-reheat foods which are fresh, not exposed to air and can thus be frozen for weeks.  Leftover food is food that has been served and may have been contaminated with safe levels of bacteria and therefore must be eaten up within 2 days.

Reheat frozen leftover foods all the way through.

Liquid leftover foods such as soups, chowders, sauces and gravies must be reheated to boiling point before being served and eaten.  Solid ones should be reheated up to a core temperature of 75 degrees F.  Be sure to serve and eat reheated foods piping hot—that is, do not wait for it to return back to room temperature.  When reheated foods are still not consumed, throw them away instead of freezing them again.