Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with freshness

Can dried lentils go bad?

ilovermontmeta — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 09:24:30 -0800

Do dried lentils go bad? I have a bag of red lentils in an airtight container and they have been there for a while. What's weird is that they are no longer red. Any ideas why?

Tuna sandwich longevity?

seiryuu — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 11:50:20 -0800

I made a tuna sandwich for lunch and left it at home. Will it still be edible? I made a tuna sandwich - the tuna fish is mixed with mayo and pickles, and the sandwich is in a closed ziploc bag... I prepared it about 7:30am and wonder whether it will be safe to eat at 6 tonight when I get home. I live 15+ miles from work so driving back at lunch time would cost about as much in gas as getting something at Quizno's.

Is there a bad day to eat fish in NYC?

afroblanca — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 15:20:41 -0800

Fact or fiction : All (or most) NYC restaurants get their fish deliveries on the same day every week. So, as the legend goes, it is a bad idea to order fish in a restaurant on the day or two preceding that day.

Some say that the deliveries come on Monday, others say Tuesday. It seems implausible, but I've heard it from a number of people who have lived in the city for longer than I.

How to keep bread fresh?

Caviar — Sat, 02 Jul 2005 14:14:58 -0800

How do I keep bread for more than a few days? It doesn't seem particularly humid in my kitchen, but If I leave bread in a plastic bag, it stays plenty soft, but grows mold, sometimes within two days. If I leave it out, it gets stale. There must be a useful middle ground somewhere.

I'm not a big fan of thawed frozen bread. I've tried keeping it in the microwave when I'm not using it (which is most of the time), but that doesn't seem to help the mold problem.

Any tricks? Are there some kinds of bread boxes that work better than others? Do I just have unreasonable expectations about how long a loaf of bread (or rolls) should last?