Can I eat this? Vegitarian Lentil soup left out overnight

April 13, 2023 4:30 PM

Got a hot vegitarian red lentil soup to go around 11:30PM, forgot to put it in the fridge, left it out on the table overnight and put it in the fridge around 6:30AM. Can i eat it if i cook it to a boil?
posted by wowenthusiast to Food & Drink (16 answers total)

I would eat this with no real qualms. I probably wouldn't feed it to a guest or someone with a delicate system because it definitely fails food-safety rules, but I have a pretty good success rate with left-out-overnight food myself.

Do you have any extremely important plans in the next 48 hours? If so, maybe not.
posted by Lyn Never at 4:36 PM on April 13, 2023 [4 favorites]

I mean, I would. I would have left it out like that deliberately. But it does fail food safety rules.
posted by stray at 4:43 PM on April 13, 2023 [4 favorites]

Unless you live somewhere tropical, I would definitely eat this - yeah, technically not what the FDA says is safe, but low risk. If you're worried, eat a small serving first as a test.
posted by coffeecat at 4:45 PM on April 13, 2023 [2 favorites]

Is this the only food you have? I would probably risk a serving and toss the rest (and I agree don't feed it to anyone else). If I had other options, I'd probably skip it.

I tend to be a bit fast and loose with food safety for myself and I've certainly eaten some kind of dodgy things especially if it's all I have around, but I tend to err on the side of caution more and more now. I do have a fairly sensitive system, though, but sometimes it's just not worth the risk.
posted by edencosmic at 4:51 PM on April 13, 2023

I would put it in a steel or glass container with a lid, and then put the container on a trivet inside my pressure cooker in about two inches of water and cook it at full pressure for 10 minutes.

That would kill any spores and degrade most bacterial toxins, though it still might not taste very good if it had already spoiled, and it might degrade the texture of the chopped vegetables a bit.
posted by jamjam at 5:03 PM on April 13, 2023 [2 favorites]

I would also eat that, have eaten that, will eat that again. (Also wouldn't serve to anyone else unless they knew the story and wanted in)
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:18 PM on April 13, 2023 [5 favorites]

My husbands family leaves chicken stock soup out like this on the regular.
I think it’s gross but no one has died yet.
But me personally? No
posted by St. Peepsburg at 5:34 PM on April 13, 2023 [1 favorite]

I've had no problem doing that with soups I've made, especially is the room is cold. But somehow I feel differently about soup I didn't make, not knowing everything about its history.
posted by trig at 5:46 PM on April 13, 2023 [2 favorites]

I would not eat this.

People have this incorrect idea that only animal products are dangerous if not stored correctly. But some of the worst food poisoning can be from things like rice and pasta.

Lentils would be fuel for both good and bad bacteria. You can't tell whether food is dangerous based on sight, smell or taste, and boiling might kill bacteria but it wouldn't remove any toxins that may have been made. It's not worth the risk.
posted by kinddieserzeit at 6:45 PM on April 13, 2023 [8 favorites]

I wouldn't eat this because the one time I gave myself food poisoning was from eating a lentil/barley mixture that had been refrigerated--but for too long. So agreeing with kinddieserzeit, above.
posted by apartment dweller at 8:03 PM on April 13, 2023 [3 favorites]

I was once very cavalier about food left out overnight in a cool kitchen until I left a fresh batch of vegan lentil soup on the stove and ate some the next day. Do not recommend.
posted by corey flood at 8:16 PM on April 13, 2023 [3 favorites]

Yes, eat this. Boil it for 12 minutes.
posted by Oyéah at 9:02 PM on April 13, 2023

No, do not eat this.

Have you ever had food poisoning?

Yes? Then you know it’s worth paying whatever the soup cost to avoid it.

No? Keep that streak alive.
posted by Caxton1476 at 3:00 AM on April 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

If I made a soup like that and left it out that long, I would definitely eat it. I do it all the time in fact. But it sounds like you bought this soup from somewhere and brought it home - so I wouldn't eat that now. You don't know how it's been stored and reheated before it got to you. Not worth risking it for a soup.
posted by cincinnatus c at 8:45 AM on April 14, 2023

Dunno why the 'yeah go ahead' crowd always seems to get their answers first on these, but add me to those that would say no, not even vegetarian dishes get a pass on this. Overnight is wayyy to long and $5 worth of food is not worth the chance of having to deal with food poisoning or a hospital visit.
posted by Aleyn at 11:18 AM on April 14, 2023 [2 favorites]

Also, reheating food doesn't help as bacteria can produce toxins that are not destroyed by heating. So don't go thinking that will save you either.
posted by Aleyn at 11:19 AM on April 14, 2023 [3 favorites]