How long to you leave leftovers in the fridge?

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gramarye
gramarye Posts: 586 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I made two jars of refrigerated oatmeal on Wednesday night before bed. I ate one Thursday, but forgot the second on Friday and am now dubious of it. It smells fine. More importantly: I'm gonna be hungry at 10am here (when I eat my desk breakfast, lol) and want to eat it. But I'd also like not to make myself sick.

In specific and in general: what's your leftover timeline rule?
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  • abatonfan
    abatonfan Posts: 1,120 Member
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    If it still looks good and tastes fine, I eat it. Five days isn't too long of a period for most food to spoil if it is stored properly (I often go 7-8 days between grocery trips and don't see much spoilage in terms of food on the 8th day vs the 1st -most food is often still good even if I eat it 3-4 days after the "use by" date).
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
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    Depends on what it is. Soups, stews, etc can be left a week. Raw veggie salads do not get left at all if there are greens in there with dressing (can't stand slimy lettuce, even if it became slimy because of dressing). Cooked meat (that is not part of a stew) gets left a max of 3 days.

    I never make oatmeal ahead of time because it only takes 2 minutes to fix it in the morning (in the microwave) but I would think 2-3 days should be fine, unless there is fruit like bananas in it that can break down quicker.
  • gramarye
    gramarye Posts: 586 Member
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    Cool, thanks! Generally I follow the smell and taste thing, but my dad worked in kitchens all his life and admonishes us kids if we leave stuff in the fridge longer than three days. So I'm never sure if he's too strict due to his background or if I'm too fast-and-loose with food safety rules, lol.
  • WholeFoods4Lyfe
    WholeFoods4Lyfe Posts: 1,518 Member
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    Until it goes bad.

    Seriously, I can only eat so much and my family doesn't eat leftovers. Most foods I'd say have a 5 day window. Open it and smell, you'll know if it's turned.

    Oatmeal made Wednesday night/Thursday morning? I'd totally eat that today.
  • yesimpson
    yesimpson Posts: 1,372 Member
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    If it smells and tastes fine, it'd eat it.

    If I was feeding it to someone else, especially a small child, elderly person or someone with another reason to cautious, I won't do it, but I'm tough enough and ugly enough to handle something a little past its best. Never had food poisoning yet from eating leftovers (Indian takeaways are another story).
  • lexykassan
    lexykassan Posts: 19 Member
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    It's probably fine. Two days is not very long. StillTasty has pretty good advice on how long things can be kept and even they say 3-5 days. http://www.stilltasty.com/fooditems/index/17786
  • Mentali
    Mentali Posts: 352 Member
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    This thread makes me feel like I'm taking risks with my health - the other day I found a tupperware container of some leftovers that I was certain I had made about 10 days before and I ate it with no issues. 3 days??
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
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    gramarye wrote: »
    Cool, thanks! Generally I follow the smell and taste thing, but my dad worked in kitchens all his life and admonishes us kids if we leave stuff in the fridge longer than three days. So I'm never sure if he's too strict due to his background or if I'm too fast-and-loose with food safety rules, lol.

    Serving to others is a different story and he is right to be more cautious. Using something myself, I trust the looks and smell. If you aren't sure, just dump it.
  • jhall260
    jhall260 Posts: 111 Member
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    I am a stickler with my leftovers. I personally would not eat it.
  • gramarye
    gramarye Posts: 586 Member
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    michelle172415 wrote: »
    Until it goes bad.

    Seriously, I can only eat so much and my family doesn't eat leftovers. Most foods I'd say have a 5 day window. Open it and smell, you'll know if it's turned.

    Oatmeal made Wednesday night/Thursday morning? I'd totally eat that today.

    I feel your pain on that family thing. I'm usually cooking for two or three people (my son spends half of his time with his dad) and neither the special dudefriend nor the child eat leftovers. I usually just try to get through them for lunch, or pawn them off on friends if I know I'm making a large batch of something.
  • michellesz
    michellesz Posts: 428 Member
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    I would go with the looks good and smells good advice, but at the same time depending what it is, I wouldn't push more than 5 days to be sure not to have any adverse reactions :cold_sweat: . The fresher the better :smiley:
  • ForeverSunshine09
    ForeverSunshine09 Posts: 966 Member
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    Mentali wrote: »
    This thread makes me feel like I'm taking risks with my health - the other day I found a tupperware container of some leftovers that I was certain I had made about 10 days before and I ate it with no issues. 3 days??

    I have done the same. You are not alone. If it smells and looks fine and I taste it and it tastes fine I am eating. I have yet to get any foodbourne illnesses. I am too cheap and probably too lazy to throw out perfectly good leftovers.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
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    gramarye wrote: »
    michelle172415 wrote: »
    Until it goes bad.

    Seriously, I can only eat so much and my family doesn't eat leftovers. Most foods I'd say have a 5 day window. Open it and smell, you'll know if it's turned.

    Oatmeal made Wednesday night/Thursday morning? I'd totally eat that today.

    I feel your pain on that family thing. I'm usually cooking for two or three people (my son spends half of his time with his dad) and neither the special dudefriend nor the child eat leftovers. I usually just try to get through them for lunch, or pawn them off on friends if I know I'm making a large batch of something.

    I actually love leftovers, but I do a lot of casseroles and stews and those often are better as leftovers than they are the first day, especially tomato based things like lasagna, chili, etc. I usually make 4-6 servings just for myself and eat the same thing for a few days. If it is a 6 serving dish, I freeze 2-3 servings for those times I need a variety or I don't have time to prepare anything.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,714 Member
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    I'd have to check. Going to look in my fridge now.................

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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  • mankars
    mankars Posts: 115 Member
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    ...unless it's become too soggy or tastes bad, eat it.
  • Sarahb29
    Sarahb29 Posts: 952 Member
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    It depends on what it is. Cooked meats I prepare and eat up to 3 days ahead of time. Salad can last up to a week if there's no dressing already in it. Oatmeal I prepare for my kiddo on Sundays and that lasts all week. I leave it plain though and add fillings later, in the fridge it's nothing but plain steel cut oats. Not even milk. Then I add in raisins and maple syrup one day, blueberries the next, maybe bananas another day, etc with a little milk. If I made it with banana on Sunday by day two or 3 it would smell awful because the banana would be decomposing.

    In your situation, you're fine :)
  • 100df
    100df Posts: 668 Member
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    If leftovers aren't eaten after 2 days I toss. I clean out the fridge every time I put something new in it. It never gets gross using this method.

    Housewife pet peeve - husband and kid putting leftovers in the fridge and not eating them. Just throw it out without playing the leftover game. We all know it's not going to get eaten and I will toss.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
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    If it's a starchy food it will smell terrible when it goes bad. If oatmeal smells okay it has not spoiled.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
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    gramarye wrote: »
    I made two jars of refrigerated oatmeal on Wednesday night before bed. I ate one Thursday, but forgot the second on Friday and am now dubious of it. It smells fine. More importantly: I'm gonna be hungry at 10am here (when I eat my desk breakfast, lol) and want to eat it. But I'd also like not to make myself sick.

    In specific and in general: what's your leftover timeline rule?

    4 -5 days should be safe for most leftovers that have been refrigerated.
    I personally would eat the oatmeal today or throw it out. I don't think it would make you sick to eat it if it has been constantly refrigerated but would think it might get gross after about 5 days.
  • gramarye
    gramarye Posts: 586 Member
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    I appreciate all of the insight, everyone! I will definitely eat it unless it tastes bad when I start, lol. :)

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