One of my sisters informed me last night that leftovers were to be dispatched within two days, a rule she attributed with great certainty to our late mother. (No confirming the rule with her!)
Funny, I said, because I always thought the rule was that if it wasn’t fuzzy or slimy or foul-smelling, it was OK. And just to be safe, toss it after a week. Is it worth noting that I have a strong gut? In any case, also to be safe, I would never serve anything more than three or four days old to guests. I’m OK with making myself sick, but I draw the line on sickening others (at least with my cooking). For instance, I would not eat or serve this:
Curious soul that I am, though, I had to find out the official rule, which I was pretty sure approximated my sister’s.
To my surprise, the authorities draw the line firmly in the middle. The Clemson University website was the most detailed I found on the topic, providing a page with thorough explanation and a table on safe leftover storage.
As a result of my new education, I stuck one item in the freezer, but I’ll go ahead and finish the leftover chicken I made last Saturday. (It smells fine! It’s only been six days! No mold or slime in evidence! And it’s only for me!)
Meanwhile, if you’re not the wild risk-taker than I am but your memory is as bad as mine frequently is, my search did reveal an inexpensive gadget for the memory-challenged: Called DaysAgo, it’s a timer that counts up at rather long intervals-days, of course. You can buy it from the DaysAgo company, or the website also has a list of retailers, both online and physical, that carry the gadget.
Now: Off to my leftovers and pondering what to take to tomorrow’s potluck…
Rebecca // May 12, 2007 at 6:00 pm
I grew up being forced to eat leftovers way past their sell-by date, and as a result of our childhood experiences, my sister doesn’t keep leftovers at all. My jaw drops as I see her throw away perfectly good halves of roast chicken, or scrape out 2/3 of a casserole that was just served that night. I will keep them for a reasonable length of time, but only if I’m pretty sure they will get eaten. My mother was famous for planning a whole meal around 1/2 a cup of leftover creamed corn, probably half rotten at that.
But I love the idea of this DaysAgo gadget; it sounds really useful, especially for those of us who are becoming increasingly memory-challenged.
Janet Majure // May 12, 2007 at 8:00 pm
I’m afraid I’d have to grab that half a chicken before it hit the trash!
Meanwhile, in lieu of the DaysAgo gadget, I figure if I can’t remember when I made it, it’s probably been in the fridge too long…