Should this go in the fridge?
December 5, 2022 4:49 PM Subscribe
I don't understand what leftovers should go in the fridge, and what can be left on the counter. North America, heated house, no dogs, no particular health concerns. Please advise.
Some things are obvious: leftover steak goes in the fridge, for example. But what about leftover cheese pizza? Leftover pepperoni pizza? Leftover carrot cake with cream cheese frosting? Buffalo cauliflower things? Peanut butter doesn't go in the fridge, jam doesn't have to... but if I make a PB&J for tomorrow's packed lunch, shouldn't it go in the fridge? Leftover apple pie? Leftover pumpkin pie? WHAT IS THE LOGIC? HOW DO THESE THINGS WORK?!?
I haven't had food poisoning for over 30 years and would like to keep that going, but I also don't like what refrigeration does to some leftovers.
Some things are obvious: leftover steak goes in the fridge, for example. But what about leftover cheese pizza? Leftover pepperoni pizza? Leftover carrot cake with cream cheese frosting? Buffalo cauliflower things? Peanut butter doesn't go in the fridge, jam doesn't have to... but if I make a PB&J for tomorrow's packed lunch, shouldn't it go in the fridge? Leftover apple pie? Leftover pumpkin pie? WHAT IS THE LOGIC? HOW DO THESE THINGS WORK?!?
I haven't had food poisoning for over 30 years and would like to keep that going, but I also don't like what refrigeration does to some leftovers.
Are you looking for the food safety answer, like that you learn about when doing a food handler's permit for a food service job? From a food safety perspective, literally every item you listed would want to be refrigerated, except unopened jam. Or colloquial answers, "no need to refrigerate that, it'll be fiiiine"?
For the most part, it comes down to "will this grow microorganism that could make you sick" which is a process the refrigerator can slow down. Learn about preserving foods to learn about what doesn't need refrigeration.
An open container of baking soda will help absorb awful fridge flavor. The baking soda box says to change it monthly.
posted by aniola at 5:03 PM on December 5, 2022 [5 favorites]
For the most part, it comes down to "will this grow microorganism that could make you sick" which is a process the refrigerator can slow down. Learn about preserving foods to learn about what doesn't need refrigeration.
An open container of baking soda will help absorb awful fridge flavor. The baking soda box says to change it monthly.
posted by aniola at 5:03 PM on December 5, 2022 [5 favorites]
Think about it this way: when you buy it at the store, is it refrigerated or not? Use that as a guide.
- Leftover pizza: in the fridge. If you bought uncooked pizza at the store, it would be in the fridge or freezer section.
- Leftover carrot cake: debatable, but my grocery store sells it unrefrigerated so there's that.
- Buffalo cauliflower thingys: in the fridge. When you buy cauliflower it's in the cooler section of the vegetable aisle.
- Peanut butter, no.
- Jam and jelly can go bad fairly quickly once opened, so in the fridge.
- PB&J: I put it in the fridge, but only because I pack it with the rest of my lunch for the next day and stick that in the fridge. If I left it out I'd forget it.
- Apple pie: my grocery store sells it unrefrigerated, but with a very short sell by date, usually only a few days. Longer than that, in the fridge.
- Pumpkin pie is horrible so just toss that out immediately.
Someone will come along and tell you about how they don't refrigerate leftovers and they've never gotten sick, and how our ancestors didn't have refrigerators and they survived.
Somehow they always gloss over the fact that old graveyards are full of people who died from food born illnesses. Food poisoning is no joke, and can make you really sick or even kill you. When in doubt, put it in the fridge.
posted by ralan at 5:04 PM on December 5, 2022 [10 favorites]
- Leftover pizza: in the fridge. If you bought uncooked pizza at the store, it would be in the fridge or freezer section.
- Leftover carrot cake: debatable, but my grocery store sells it unrefrigerated so there's that.
- Buffalo cauliflower thingys: in the fridge. When you buy cauliflower it's in the cooler section of the vegetable aisle.
- Peanut butter, no.
- Jam and jelly can go bad fairly quickly once opened, so in the fridge.
- PB&J: I put it in the fridge, but only because I pack it with the rest of my lunch for the next day and stick that in the fridge. If I left it out I'd forget it.
- Apple pie: my grocery store sells it unrefrigerated, but with a very short sell by date, usually only a few days. Longer than that, in the fridge.
- Pumpkin pie is horrible so just toss that out immediately.
Someone will come along and tell you about how they don't refrigerate leftovers and they've never gotten sick, and how our ancestors didn't have refrigerators and they survived.
Somehow they always gloss over the fact that old graveyards are full of people who died from food born illnesses. Food poisoning is no joke, and can make you really sick or even kill you. When in doubt, put it in the fridge.
posted by ralan at 5:04 PM on December 5, 2022 [10 favorites]
Pizza should always go in the fridge. PB&J is one of the few sandwiches that can withstand summer heat without becoming deadly so there should be no problem leaving it out on your counter overnight. Anything with mayonnaise should definitely be refrigerated, though. Leftover pies and cakes and other baked goods only go in the fridge in my household if they have whipped cream. In fact, I tend to leave these either uncovered or very loosely covered with waxed paper. I guess the rule-of-thumb is that items with ingredients that don't need constant refrigeration can sit out, at least in the short run.
posted by DrGail at 5:07 PM on December 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by DrGail at 5:07 PM on December 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
The official food safety answer is that pretty much all of it should go in the fridge (maybe not the PB&J, maybe not the apple pie).
Real world, I put the pizza in the fridge, but wouldn't hesitate to eat it if left out overnight by accident. Cake, even with cream cheese frosting, is fine on the counter (plenty of sugar in the frosting to preserve it, but also cream cheese doesn't go bad immediately if unrefrigerated). Cooked cauliflower goes in the fridge. PB&J, definitely not. Jam only needs to go in the fridge if it is low sugar, but overnight is fine regardless. Apple or pumpkin pie, also not in the fridge.
Is there a slightly higher risk of food poisoning with this approach? Sure, a very small one. Is it worth worrying about? Not really, in my opinion.
posted by ssg at 5:15 PM on December 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
Real world, I put the pizza in the fridge, but wouldn't hesitate to eat it if left out overnight by accident. Cake, even with cream cheese frosting, is fine on the counter (plenty of sugar in the frosting to preserve it, but also cream cheese doesn't go bad immediately if unrefrigerated). Cooked cauliflower goes in the fridge. PB&J, definitely not. Jam only needs to go in the fridge if it is low sugar, but overnight is fine regardless. Apple or pumpkin pie, also not in the fridge.
Is there a slightly higher risk of food poisoning with this approach? Sure, a very small one. Is it worth worrying about? Not really, in my opinion.
posted by ssg at 5:15 PM on December 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
Bonus: Anything simple that has live cultures in it, if it hasn't been opened (and thus exposed to new bugs that could, like, generate uninvited mold or whatever) is fine well past the expiration date. If you know a source of expired cultured foods, go for it. It's fine. They don't really expire, and if they did, you'd know. In the book "The Art of Fermentation", Sandor Katz was talking to a relevant US government employee and although I forget the details, my takeaway was that it is very safe to experiment with cultured foods.
Examples of things people think of when they think of this might include centuries-old wine or decades-old cheese. My partner found an large unopened container of plain yogurt in the back of a friend's fridge once and ate it and had no gut issues whatsoever. It was a year past its expiration date.
posted by aniola at 5:15 PM on December 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
Examples of things people think of when they think of this might include centuries-old wine or decades-old cheese. My partner found an large unopened container of plain yogurt in the back of a friend's fridge once and ate it and had no gut issues whatsoever. It was a year past its expiration date.
posted by aniola at 5:15 PM on December 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
I have no idea the official rules, but if it’ll fit in the fridge and i cant think if a reason it shouldn’t go in the fridge, i just put it in the fridge. Just make a blanket rule and it makes your life easier.
If I’m still on the fence and/or low on fridge space, i tend to think to myself “how sad would i be if this went bad?” and use that to judge fridge space priority.
posted by cgg at 5:18 PM on December 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
If I’m still on the fence and/or low on fridge space, i tend to think to myself “how sad would i be if this went bad?” and use that to judge fridge space priority.
posted by cgg at 5:18 PM on December 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
If it has an animal product, it goes in the fridge. Cheese, meat, eggs. Butter is an exception for Reasons, but should still go in the fridge if you can’t store it properly. (The reason cakes are exempt is because of their high sugar content. To be safe, do refrigerate, though! Even though most people don’t! They do grow microbes.)
If it has been cooked, fridge! If it has been exposed to air, fridge!
The peanut butter exception is because of oil, and other preservatives. Natural nut butters will get rancid faster outside of the fridge than in it.
This is all from 20 year old bio courses that I may be slightly mis-stating. But the principal is sound. It’s the reasoning that I wonder if it had changed or if I don’t remember correctly.
posted by Bottlecap at 5:21 PM on December 5, 2022 [4 favorites]
If it has been cooked, fridge! If it has been exposed to air, fridge!
The peanut butter exception is because of oil, and other preservatives. Natural nut butters will get rancid faster outside of the fridge than in it.
This is all from 20 year old bio courses that I may be slightly mis-stating. But the principal is sound. It’s the reasoning that I wonder if it had changed or if I don’t remember correctly.
posted by Bottlecap at 5:21 PM on December 5, 2022 [4 favorites]
I mean, I’m not a fan of refrigerated and reheated pizza and I pretty much just leave it out in the box on the counter over night and it’s always been fine, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend that route.
I think the question of what time of answer you’re looking for (safety rules? Common approaches? Just barely avoiding food poisoning?) is a good one to help clarify your answers.
posted by raccoon409 at 5:31 PM on December 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
I think the question of what time of answer you’re looking for (safety rules? Common approaches? Just barely avoiding food poisoning?) is a good one to help clarify your answers.
posted by raccoon409 at 5:31 PM on December 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
People above have generally answered your questions already I think.
I want to comment about a couple of things. I'm in a humid and sometimes hot climate. We generally default to refrigeration for leftover pizza and the cauliflower stuff, for most things really except for peanut butter. We store our opened jams in the fridge because our climate means we get a lot of mold on things. This is the same reason we refrigerate leftover pumpkin pie pretty quickly, and stuff like apple pie or carrot cake after a couple of days.
My mother-in-law, who lived in a cool and low humidity climate, was able to leave a lot of things out for longer than we are ever able to. So, the short version is that you need to factor climate/temperature into how you handle this issue.
posted by gudrun at 5:42 PM on December 5, 2022 [8 favorites]
I want to comment about a couple of things. I'm in a humid and sometimes hot climate. We generally default to refrigeration for leftover pizza and the cauliflower stuff, for most things really except for peanut butter. We store our opened jams in the fridge because our climate means we get a lot of mold on things. This is the same reason we refrigerate leftover pumpkin pie pretty quickly, and stuff like apple pie or carrot cake after a couple of days.
My mother-in-law, who lived in a cool and low humidity climate, was able to leave a lot of things out for longer than we are ever able to. So, the short version is that you need to factor climate/temperature into how you handle this issue.
posted by gudrun at 5:42 PM on December 5, 2022 [8 favorites]
I would put every single one of those in the fridge, with the caveat that a refrigerated PB&J will get a little stale, but if you put it in plastic wrap it'll probably be ok.
posted by fingersandtoes at 5:59 PM on December 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by fingersandtoes at 5:59 PM on December 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
I would put every single one of those in the fridge,
Me too. I've had food poisoning a few times and am willing to take the trouble to wrap something up and put it in the fridge to try and avoid having that experience any more often than I have to.
Also, as mentioned, consider your climate both in the larger sense and specific to your house -- rules of thumb that work for someone who keeps their house chilly aren't going to work for someone who keeps the central heat on high.
At the end of the day, it's really just a risk tolerance question. All of the things you list have a very small chance of making you sick if left out, but once in a while you will "win" that lottery and be incredibly miserably sick. Some people shrug and figure it is a tiny chance so why worry, other people focus on the unpleasant part and are willing to do more to avoid it.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:21 PM on December 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
Me too. I've had food poisoning a few times and am willing to take the trouble to wrap something up and put it in the fridge to try and avoid having that experience any more often than I have to.
Also, as mentioned, consider your climate both in the larger sense and specific to your house -- rules of thumb that work for someone who keeps their house chilly aren't going to work for someone who keeps the central heat on high.
At the end of the day, it's really just a risk tolerance question. All of the things you list have a very small chance of making you sick if left out, but once in a while you will "win" that lottery and be incredibly miserably sick. Some people shrug and figure it is a tiny chance so why worry, other people focus on the unpleasant part and are willing to do more to avoid it.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:21 PM on December 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
For what it's worth, I grew up in a family that was pretty lax about refrigerating stuff (for example, we never refrigerated jams or jellies). And I've continued that practice into adulthood. To the best of my knowledge, I've only had food poisoning once, and that was after I ate in a dodgy restaurant in Eastern Europe.
posted by alex1965 at 6:24 PM on December 5, 2022
posted by alex1965 at 6:24 PM on December 5, 2022
I put all those things in the fridge. The jelly will keep for a long time on the counter, but it stays fresher in the fridge.
posted by gnutron at 7:33 PM on December 5, 2022
posted by gnutron at 7:33 PM on December 5, 2022
Response by poster: As far as what I'm looking for: general rules to live by, not actually item-by-item lists.
posted by The corpse in the library at 8:18 PM on December 5, 2022
posted by The corpse in the library at 8:18 PM on December 5, 2022
If it’s “wet” (not primarily oily) it should probably go into the fridge. Wet includes things like soft cheeses, jams, juice, soup, beans, raw meats, lettuces. Oily would include hard cheeses cured/dried meats, peanut butter, regular butter.
For fruits and veg if you want it to stop ripening, put it in the fridge. If you want it to ripen (avocado, peach, etc) keep it out of the fridge. (Also applies to fermented items I believe)
If in doubt, pretty much anything can be stored in the fridge with no ill affect (other than banana which will brown, but I think don’t actually ripen any faster.)
If you’re holding on to it for more than 2 days, why not just throw it in the fridge? When deciding how to store soemthing I consider “what’s the downside to throwing this out/how much will it cost to replace m/ can I afford to be sick tomorrow?”
posted by raccoon409 at 9:00 PM on December 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
For fruits and veg if you want it to stop ripening, put it in the fridge. If you want it to ripen (avocado, peach, etc) keep it out of the fridge. (Also applies to fermented items I believe)
If in doubt, pretty much anything can be stored in the fridge with no ill affect (other than banana which will brown, but I think don’t actually ripen any faster.)
If you’re holding on to it for more than 2 days, why not just throw it in the fridge? When deciding how to store soemthing I consider “what’s the downside to throwing this out/how much will it cost to replace m/ can I afford to be sick tomorrow?”
posted by raccoon409 at 9:00 PM on December 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
Aside microbes, fats eventually go rancid, and warmth speeds the reaction. Oxygen is the contributing factor, which is why butter bells are a thing.
This seems to matter most for pastry, and particularly pastry made with butter. Decent airtight containers help.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 12:01 AM on December 6, 2022
This seems to matter most for pastry, and particularly pastry made with butter. Decent airtight containers help.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 12:01 AM on December 6, 2022
My general rule is that anything that is refrigerated in a shop goes in the fridge.
Any leftover cooked food goes in the fridge, although I would eat cold pizza the morning after. I would not keep it to eat later in the week though.
Anything baked can live on the counter but will keep several days longer if refrigerated. It will also become tasteless and may have horrible texture when it comes out of the fridge. So one may have to allow time for it to come up to room temp or to reheat/toast or whatever to make it nicer.
Condiments should probably go in the fridge once opened. Considering that most are high in sugar, vinegar and salt though, all of which have been used to preserve things long before refrigeration became a thing, a lot of them can be ok at room temperature long after opening. It depends how long you take to use them. So yes, they bottle says refrigerate once opened but also...we're talking weeks, not days, before most of them would spoil. Especially if you only use clean cutlery to get things out of the jar.
I live alone. While I like jam I use it infrequently, maybe once a month. So I like to have a jar to hand but it lives in the fridge because it takes me a year to use up that jar. If you get through a jar in 2 weeks, you're probably fine keeping it unrefrigerated, as long as it is fully cooked.
posted by koahiatamadl at 4:05 AM on December 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Any leftover cooked food goes in the fridge, although I would eat cold pizza the morning after. I would not keep it to eat later in the week though.
Anything baked can live on the counter but will keep several days longer if refrigerated. It will also become tasteless and may have horrible texture when it comes out of the fridge. So one may have to allow time for it to come up to room temp or to reheat/toast or whatever to make it nicer.
Condiments should probably go in the fridge once opened. Considering that most are high in sugar, vinegar and salt though, all of which have been used to preserve things long before refrigeration became a thing, a lot of them can be ok at room temperature long after opening. It depends how long you take to use them. So yes, they bottle says refrigerate once opened but also...we're talking weeks, not days, before most of them would spoil. Especially if you only use clean cutlery to get things out of the jar.
I live alone. While I like jam I use it infrequently, maybe once a month. So I like to have a jar to hand but it lives in the fridge because it takes me a year to use up that jar. If you get through a jar in 2 weeks, you're probably fine keeping it unrefrigerated, as long as it is fully cooked.
posted by koahiatamadl at 4:05 AM on December 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
As far as what I'm looking for: general rules to live by, not actually item-by-item lists.
I use the general rule of "what bad thing would happen to this if left out?"
If it is just that it gets stale or desiccated, like with cookies or a baguette, then leaving it out is fine.
But if leaving it in a room-temperature setting can lead to mold, spoiling, rotting, or other nastiness, then it goes in the fridge. Most dinner leftovers would fall into this category, since unless your house is really cold, leaving them out will eventually create spoilage. Jam/jelly, in my experience, also falls in this category since I've had it grow fuzz surprisingly quickly in the cupboard sometimes.
Cheap pizza is in a weird in-between category. Everything involved -- cheese, meat, sauce, etc -- are things that would typically spoil and should be refrigerated. But cheap pizza seems to be made with such durable industrial ingredients that it has some level of preservation. I still refrigerate it out of principle, but have also in the past eaten a lot of pizza that was left out.
Things like apple pie have so much sugar and acid that they seem to be fine with shorter stays on the counter -- I personally will leave it overnight but not more days than that. Spoilage is delayed but not for a really long time.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:43 AM on December 6, 2022 [2 favorites]
I use the general rule of "what bad thing would happen to this if left out?"
If it is just that it gets stale or desiccated, like with cookies or a baguette, then leaving it out is fine.
But if leaving it in a room-temperature setting can lead to mold, spoiling, rotting, or other nastiness, then it goes in the fridge. Most dinner leftovers would fall into this category, since unless your house is really cold, leaving them out will eventually create spoilage. Jam/jelly, in my experience, also falls in this category since I've had it grow fuzz surprisingly quickly in the cupboard sometimes.
Cheap pizza is in a weird in-between category. Everything involved -- cheese, meat, sauce, etc -- are things that would typically spoil and should be refrigerated. But cheap pizza seems to be made with such durable industrial ingredients that it has some level of preservation. I still refrigerate it out of principle, but have also in the past eaten a lot of pizza that was left out.
Things like apple pie have so much sugar and acid that they seem to be fine with shorter stays on the counter -- I personally will leave it overnight but not more days than that. Spoilage is delayed but not for a really long time.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:43 AM on December 6, 2022 [2 favorites]
Another aspect of leaving food out on the counter, overnight -- of course, not in your kitchen, but vermin will be attracted. Do you want ants and roaches, even mice? Then leave your food out. Otherwise, into the hygienic security of the fridge.
posted by Rash at 9:02 AM on December 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Rash at 9:02 AM on December 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Custardy things made with eggs should go in the fridge
posted by brujita at 12:04 PM on December 6, 2022
posted by brujita at 12:04 PM on December 6, 2022
Obviously there is a difference between fresh foods and foods with different levels of preservative ingredients, and there is a difference between your intentions for length of storage. And of course, the effect refrigeration has on some fresh foods. I agree that apple pie is best out of the fridge, but if I was going to take more than a couple days to consume it, I would still put it in the fridge.
I use a kind of internal calculus thusly: for long-term items, just about everything in the fridge; for short term storage, anything meat-, egg- or fresh dairy-related always in the fridge. Beyond this, I consider the composition of the food item in terms of wetness, sugar/salt/acid/fat content x climate conditions (winter vs summer, dry vs humid) x expected time to consumption.
I would not hesitate to leave out pizza that I was going to eat in the next 24 hours, but any longer, would store in the fridge (wetness of pizza toppings being an important factor). Butter I generally leave out covered on the counter in small quantities to have it handy at spreadable temp. But again, knowing it will easily be consumed within a week.
When I lived in the UK and the American midwest, I could be very laissez-faire and storing things like cheese, jams, condiments, butter, baked goods, and produce on the counter was a common practice; when I lived in warmer/humider climates, experience taught me that everything spoils a lot faster; an apple pie would start to get moldy within a couple of days, the cheese would sweat, etc. So I think the "rules" as it were, are highly dependent on local, seasonal conditions.
posted by amusebuche at 2:14 PM on December 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
I use a kind of internal calculus thusly: for long-term items, just about everything in the fridge; for short term storage, anything meat-, egg- or fresh dairy-related always in the fridge. Beyond this, I consider the composition of the food item in terms of wetness, sugar/salt/acid/fat content x climate conditions (winter vs summer, dry vs humid) x expected time to consumption.
I would not hesitate to leave out pizza that I was going to eat in the next 24 hours, but any longer, would store in the fridge (wetness of pizza toppings being an important factor). Butter I generally leave out covered on the counter in small quantities to have it handy at spreadable temp. But again, knowing it will easily be consumed within a week.
When I lived in the UK and the American midwest, I could be very laissez-faire and storing things like cheese, jams, condiments, butter, baked goods, and produce on the counter was a common practice; when I lived in warmer/humider climates, experience taught me that everything spoils a lot faster; an apple pie would start to get moldy within a couple of days, the cheese would sweat, etc. So I think the "rules" as it were, are highly dependent on local, seasonal conditions.
posted by amusebuche at 2:14 PM on December 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Does not solve for everything, but if looking at things from a different perspective might help, this can solve for some things:
Congratulations! You are now an uninvited microorganism. Try to find a home in The corpse in the library's kitchen. Where's the best place for you to be fruitful and multiply?
posted by aniola at 2:36 PM on December 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Congratulations! You are now an uninvited microorganism. Try to find a home in The corpse in the library's kitchen. Where's the best place for you to be fruitful and multiply?
posted by aniola at 2:36 PM on December 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Some people are weird. Pepperoni pizza will (and does) last for days completely fine out of the fridge.
I don't think it's really possible to make hard and fast rules about this, it's mostly just common sense.
posted by turkeyphant at 5:40 PM on December 6, 2022
I don't think it's really possible to make hard and fast rules about this, it's mostly just common sense.
posted by turkeyphant at 5:40 PM on December 6, 2022
StillTasty will tell you the hard-and-fast version of the rules.
posted by aniola at 6:38 PM on December 6, 2022
posted by aniola at 6:38 PM on December 6, 2022
I don't recommend it from a health & safety standpoint, but I love pizza left out overnight. It just hits different.
In our house, leftover baked goods generally go unrefrigerated -- cinnamon rolls, quick breads, donuts, cookies. My wife's homemade cakes stay in the fridge, but that's mainly so the frosting holds its shape.
posted by slogger at 8:28 AM on December 7, 2022
In our house, leftover baked goods generally go unrefrigerated -- cinnamon rolls, quick breads, donuts, cookies. My wife's homemade cakes stay in the fridge, but that's mainly so the frosting holds its shape.
posted by slogger at 8:28 AM on December 7, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by rikschell at 4:56 PM on December 5, 2022 [2 favorites]