leftovers

how long would you leave leftovers in the fridge and consider them still edible?

Three days tops for us, too. 24 hours if they're restaurant leftovers.

[DCJenn]

No more than three days. and I'm a freak about lunch meat, too. I think my husband would eat lunch meat forever...like unless it has visible mold. I actually stopped buying it for a while because he won't ever toss it. (why do I have to be responsible for crap I don't even eat? oh, that's right- because I'm a dawkter's spouse and hell, we're responsible for everything...)

Now, here's a question for the masses- I have a vat of (vegetarian) shortening that I've carted from TX to DC and back to TX. Does it go bad and how will I know?

Jenn

[SuzySunshine]

We learned our lesson the hard way last winter and now everything that goes into the fridge gets a label with the date. Ours is usually more like 4 days, max, but they don't usually last that long because I'll take them for lunch.

Processed items, like lunch meat, we tend to keep a little bit longer - though not too much.

[Michele]

we will eat it unless it smells bad (smells rotten)/looks bad (has obvious mold on it)....otherwise it's still good!

Jenn - do you mean like Crisco? my Crisco has a date on the bottom of the tub...~1 year from now and I just bought it....so I'm guessing your stuff is bad.

Maybe we need to take Food Science 308. I am much pickier about keeping meat than veggie leftovers though I don't know if that makes a huge difference. 6-7 days is probably the max. :!

[Malpka]

ETA: Food Science 308 pretty much scarred me for life.

Yep, one grad class in environmental and occupational health, and I will never look at or enjoy food the same way again.

I eat it the next day, freeze it, or it gets tossed.

[Grog]

Maybe we need to take Food Science 308. !

So you can learn the names of the little creatures that grow there?

I'm just making WAY TOO MUCH food just now, I'll have to freeze it. The problem is, out of sight, out of mind, and I never really remember about it...

[DCJenn]

Fod 308 must be like being married to a fire inspector. (My first husband) no lie, we're in the fab resort on our honeymoon in Acapulco and he rolls over in the king sized bed and looks me in the eye and says, "you know, if this place catches on fire we're dead."

Jenn

[alison]

Yikes, Jenn!
It must be like my dad telling me which buildings are up to building code or not.

I have this thing about pasta. As in the noodles. I always boil up a package and we end up with leftovers that either get eaten up or...not. I throw them out after 2 days. I don't really have this fear of eating something old with any other food except for pasta.

[Grog]

Fod 308 must be like being married to a fire inspector. (My first husband) no lie, we're in the fab resort on our honeymoon in Acapulco and he rolls over in the king sized bed and looks me in the eye and says, "you know, if this place catches on fire we're dead."

Don't get too passionnate there!!!!

I have always gone by the 3 day rule too. I've decided the only way to eat properly when I am on my own is to make something and eat it for a few days. I find it so depressing cooking for 1 and tend to have cereal for dinner.
We dont have a freezer, that would help!

[Grog]

I have always gone by the 3 day rule too. I've decided the only way to eat properly when I am on my own is to make something and eat it for a few days. I find it so depressing cooking for 1 and tend to have cereal for dinner.
We dont have a freezer, that would help!

When I didn't live in a place where I was cooked for (I live in a college and we have a food coop, chef etc... cooking for us 5 dinners/week), I got together with three girlfriends on a Saturday or Sunday and we did this:

around 9am: lengthy breakfast and gossip in the kitchen of one of us, drinking coffee and browsing recipe books and throwing around ideas. Decide on four recipes to make, usually one soup, one sauce (spaghetti sauce, different recipes), one stew or curry, and one dessert. Make groceries list. If possible we'd make some recipes with overlap so we could simplify the cooking process, i.e. using the same type of vegetables etc. to reduce dishwashing time. Every recipe for about 4 portions was multiplied by 3.

Around 11am: Go to the farmer's market and grocery store, get everything we need.

Around 1pm: Go back to the kitchen (same or different) and get started. Do most of the chopping first, grind spices if necessary, etc. Continue gossip. Cool music on.

Around 3pm: Open bottle of white or rosé wine, start actually cooking/baking things.

Around 5pm: Washing dishes while meals finish cooking.

Around 6pm: Having eaten bits and pieces (lots of veggies) all afternoon, nobody's too hungry, but we taste a bit of everything, have some more wine while the food cools down in multiple tupperware containers.

Around 7:30pm: Everyone goes home with 3-4 portions of different dishes, instead of 12 portions of, say, spaghetti sauce if you were to do this by yourself at home. One of each dish goes in the fridge and the rest in the freezer (it doesn't take such a big freezer, just the normal refrigerator should hold about 10-15 containers...). The person whose kitchen we used has a clean kitchen and food too. Everyone had a good time with friends, a bit of wine, lots of gossip, good music, quality time.

For the next 2-3 weeks: Eat the frozen food once or twice a week when too busy to cook. Or bring some for lunches. Be merry and healthy.

Repeat when freezer is empty or you mis the girlfriends!!

I cook every night Monday through Thursday, then we eat leftovers for the rest of the week. Everything gets thrown out on Sunday, which is when I shop for the following week. This keeps the stinky, moldy food away.

Jodi

[Vishenka69]

I also pretty much throw stuff out after it gets moldy/smelly or it's been about a week or so. DH will usually only tolerate left-overs once, so I need to freeze right away or take lunch for next day.