# How long would you leave cooked food out?



## Rocklobster (Apr 3, 2012)

How long would you leave a meat sauce on the stove before reheating and eating? If you had to cook it early, leave for a while and come back and reheat it at supper, would you leave it off and covered for a couple of hours? or would you refrigerate it when it is still hot? Just curious...


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## FrankZ (Apr 3, 2012)

It may vary as the pot itself can be a nice heat sink to keep things warm enough.  

If I had to make it in the morning for dinner that night I would ice bath it and bring it down right quick to store in the fridge.  I took 8 quarts of stock down 130F in 10 minutes with an ice bath (and some agitation).


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## CharlieD (Apr 3, 2012)

If you just boiled tha sauce, and want/need to leave it on the stove for couple of hours, personaly, I would say it is not a problem. I am sure that a lot of people will disagree with me. But that's just me.


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## roadfix (Apr 3, 2012)

I know it's very bad practice but we often leave cooked foods in their original pots, saucers, or whatever, left on the stovetop overnight, then pack some of them for lunch to take to work the next day.


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## Rocklobster (Apr 3, 2012)

Yeah. My in laws used to leave the turkey carcass on the stove overnight and clean it and eat it for leftovers the following day....But, it is an old farmhouse that is heated with wood, that cools down overnight when the everybody is in bed.

I think two or three hours is fine if you are going to reheat and eat the majority of it. I have done it before with no problems. Especially if it is a well cooked and seasoned, tomato based sauce.

Anyway, that's what I am doing now. Cooking a tomato sauce with Italian sausage. I plan to go out in about an hour and come back later to eat it. I was just wondering what other people did. I will let you know tomorrow if it was a good idea or not. Maybe I will end up in the MIA thread.


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## jennyema (Apr 3, 2012)

2 hours

But why not just put it in the fridge?


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## Barryl.ashworth (Apr 3, 2012)

Once food is set out 2hrs is a rule thumb. The danger zone for food born illness is from 40F - 140F you should never allow food to be in that temp range for more than 2 hrs or you run the risk of an issue.


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## Rocklobster (Apr 3, 2012)

Barryl.ashworth said:


> Once food is set out 2hrs is a rule thumb. The danger zone for food born illness is from 40F - 140F you should never allow food to be in that temp range for more than 2 hrs or you run the risk of an issue.



Technically, that is correct. But I think there are many variables. I think you could leave a vegetable soup out for hours and not have to worry about getting sick. It may harm the flavor and ferment, but I don't think there would be any danger of a serious bacterial illness. Something with chicken on the other hand.....


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## Rocklobster (Apr 3, 2012)

jennyema said:


> 2 hours
> 
> But why not just put it in the fridge?


 
Convenience. Space issues. Not wanting to dirty another pot issues....


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## roadfix (Apr 3, 2012)

jennyema said:


> But why not just put it in the fridge?



We put them in plastic containers and put them in the fridge.  But often times, after consuming a bottle of wine with dinner we get so lazy afterwards we leave everything out on the counter til the next morning.   And I've done this, for instance, with grilled Johnsonville Hot Italian Sausages in tomato sauce many times.   It's best to put everything in the fridge within a couple of hours of cooking.


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## FrankZ (Apr 3, 2012)

Going from stove top to fridge may be just as bad (or worse) than leaving it sit for a few hours.  The fridge is not a magical box that cures all.  It takes time to cool down a large mass when it goes in, and it also heats up those items around it putting them at risk as well.  

I put some stock in the fridge overnight and then next morning it was 70F.  It had been in there for over 8 hours.  This is why I ice bath first.

Something to consider.


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## Andy M. (Apr 3, 2012)

IF the sauce is simmering and you turn off the burner and cover the pot, It will be a couple of hours before the internal temp of the sauce drops to 140ºF.  Then no more than two hours.  So you may get four hours out of it.  If it was going to be longer than that, I'd divide it up into a couple of smaller batches and ice bathe them prior to refrigeration.

On the other side of the argument, it's a very acidic environment and could be OK for longer.

How about storing it in a cooler full of ice?


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## Aunt Bea (Apr 3, 2012)

One of my favorite breakfasts used to be the pizza that sat out on the counter all night long so I would not be concerned about the sauce being out for a couple of hours.


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## GLC (Apr 3, 2012)

Two hours is just not going to be a problem. You killed everything that wasn't a spore, and those take days or weeks to cause problems. If I cooked it the night before, I'd chill it for the next evening, but I wouldn't throw it out if I forgot and left it out. 

These things are sometimes like the Army. The general want a parade at 8:00. The colonel says be ready at 7:00 to be safe. The major says 6:00 to be absolutely sure. By the time it gets down to the sergeant, the troops are falling in at midnight.


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## Merlot (Apr 3, 2012)

Aunt Bea said:


> One of my favorite breakfasts used to be the pizza that sat out on the counter all night long so I would not be concerned about the sauce being out for a couple of hours.


 
Funny.. pizza is the only thing I have ever eaten the next morning that had set out all night and I still examine it suspiciously to make sure it hasn't grown hair overnight....


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## PattY1 (Apr 3, 2012)

roadfix said:


> I know it's very bad practice but we often leave cooked foods in their original pots, saucers, or whatever, left on the stovetop overnight, then pack some of them for lunch to take to work the next day.




Growing up my mother would make Soups, Stews, Chili, Spaghetti Sauce or any other one pot meal in the early morning. Then she would leave it on the stove all day and we would heat it up in the evening. No one got sick or died.
How do you think people did it before Refrigeration?
I think people that are that worried should put their food in the garage or shed (second car, deck, screened in porch, attic) to cool if it makes them feel better.


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## roadfix (Apr 3, 2012)

I think growing up consuming day old unrefrigerated food made our system immune to semi-spoiled food for the most part...LOL...
As a matter of fact, just this afternoon at work I had chicken curry that my wife made which sat all night on the stove top for lunch today.  Being it was chicken I nuked the curry til it was boiling.  YMMV.

One common food item we always leave out til the next day is steamed rice.  I know we've had a lengthy thread about this issue a while back.


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## CharlieD (Apr 3, 2012)

roadfix said:


> I think growing up consuming day old unrefrigerated food made our system immune to semi-spoiled food for the most part...LOL...
> ...


 

We need a thumbs up smily here, well I give one. I bring my lunch for work and always forget to put in the fridge, by the time I get around eating it it is around 4, which means it's been seatting out for at least 8 hours. Thank G-d I am well.


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## CWS4322 (Apr 4, 2012)

When I lived in Germany, we had a small fridge (about the size of a bar fridge). The house did not have central heating and we would put leftovers in the laundry room. I suffered no ill effects from the food that was left out in the laundry room. But then, we also drank raw milk...why the laundry room? The ceramic fireplace was in the kitchen. We fermented kaffir in the cupboard in that kitchen...


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## PattY1 (Apr 5, 2012)

CharlieD said:


> We need a thumbs up smily here, well I give one. I bring my lunch for work and always forget to put in the fridge, by the time I get around eating it it is around 4, which means it's been seatting out for at least 8 hours. Thank G-d I am well.



Here you go. Save this one and use it. View attachment 13410


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## Luca Lazzari (Apr 5, 2012)

This is interesting, I never thought about it. I usually use the fridge for leftovers, but I have some advantages. We're a small family of 2 people, and we always cook exactly the quantity of food that we are going to eat. With some exceptions, like meat stock. In this case, I let the stock cool down for a couple of hours, then I transfer it in some container and put it in the fridge. Same think for other leftover: I let them cool down then I store them in the fridge in a proper container. I'm doing this not for health issues but just to put some order around: my kitchen is very small.
However, I never had any problem eating leftovers abandoned in their pan on the stove from the previous dinner, not to talk about pizza. But my immune system has been fortified during my army duty and 10 years of living alone as a sort of beastly caveman...


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## Margi Cintrano (Apr 5, 2012)

Buongiorno, 

I always, leave food out until it cools and then we put it into the Refrigerator, packaged to seal in flavors and protect for future use ...

In Madrid, we rent a Loft, and thus, leaving food out overnight, causes unpleasant odors.  So, we do not. 

Happy Holidays.
Margi.


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## Dengirl (Apr 5, 2012)

roadfix said:
			
		

> I know it's very bad practice but we often leave cooked foods in their original pots, saucers, or whatever, left on the stovetop overnight, then pack some of them for lunch to take to work the next day.



You mean simmering or  stove off?


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