Spagbol - food poisioning...

[FearandLoathinginLasVegas]

Can I give my kids the Spagbol I made on Friday, for tea tonight? or will I give them food poisoning?

I never ever understand the basics of culinary things.. how long you keep things for, when they go off, use by dates, when you can freeze things..

[PerspicaciaTick]

It's only three days, so long as it has been stored properly in the fridge and you reheat it until it is boiling hot all the way through then it should be fine.

Spag bol sauce is perfect for freezing.

[montezumasrevenge]

Yep, it'll be fine. I'd use a bolognese for up to 5 days after cooking. Make sure you get it as hot as possible when reheating.

As a rule I freeze bolognese on the day of cooking, only if the meat hasn't been frozen before. Then defrost for 24 hours in the fridge before reheating.

[BarbarianMum]

Fine. Just heat it through really , really well.

[MovingOnUpMovingOnOut]

What she said ^^

If you kept it on the floor next to the cat's bowl and uncovered with raw meat dripping into it then don't eat it.

Don't freeze stuff that's already been frozen.

[FearandLoathinginLasVegas]

lol. moving
Thank you all.
I just don't know these things.. where do you learn them? did you all have Delia Smith mothers - or is there some information booklet somewhere that I never got given?

[TheDisreputableDog]

If you have defrosted meat and then cooked it (like for bolognese) it is safe to freeze the cooked dish.
freezing tips

[BarbarianMum]

Girl guides. I hated every minute but I did learn a lot of useful stuff about cooking, cleaning and laundry. Also a fair bit about camping, lighting fires and knots.

[MovingOnUpMovingOnOut]

The fearsome teacher in Home Economics.

[MovingOnUpMovingOnOut]

This guidance is useful and straightforward: www.nhs.uk/Livewell/homehygiene/Pages/how-to-store-food-and-leftovers-safely.aspx

I don't think it covers how to organise food safely in a fridge but it's basically keep raw meat separate and place at the bottom of the fridge so it can't contaminate other food. Keep things covered up and check the contents of your fridge regularly.

[Ontopofthesunset]

As long as you've cooked something really thoroughly after defrosting it you will be fine. It's fine to freeze meals made from previously frozen raw meat if you've cooked it all in between. Actually, for most foods, as long as you cook them really thoroughly you are likely to kill most pathogens. If the food is really off it won't taste very nice but you'll probably survive. One exception is cooked rice if it's been left at room temperature for too long as the bacterium that can breed in that isn't destroyed by heat.

[BarryTheKestrel]

It will be fine as long as you've stored it in the fridge or freezer. I'd use it from the fridge for up to 5 days and from the freezer months down the line!

I literally had no clue when I first started living alone. A lot of trial and error and Googling things has really helped. 10 years later I think I'm a good, economical, healthy cook.... Well I have a small budget, no one complains and I haven't poisoned anyone yet!

Google is your friend!

[Serialweightwatcher]

I've always gone by if you refrigerate cooked food as soon as it has cooled, as long as it's not been on the worktop for hours on end, it should last in the fridge for 3 days - I don't often keep it longer but sometimes with meat dishes like bolognese or chilli I have been know to use them after 4 days. I wouldn't keep cooked chicken more than 3 - boiled eggs last in shells for a week in fridge

[NotCitrus]

There's a section in Delia and similar cookbooks with that kind of info. My parents had a fab book kept in the loo called Bachelor Buttons - everything a student or newly-divorced man needed to know about running a household in the late 80s!

Though I learnt from my mother who grew up without a fridge, so work on the principle of leaving bol with a lid on and then boiling the crap out of it daily for a good 15 minutes...

Rice is one where I ensure it's in the fridge as soon as cool and then eaten within 3 days, and fried to death.

[Mindtrope]

Actually, for most foods, as long as you cook them really thoroughly you are likely to kill most pathogens.

Yes but you may still get ill.

Are you suggesting that if you cook a piece of meat that has been sitting in a warm room for months it will be fine to eat if you cook it long enough?

[Oldraver]

I decant my stuff into plastic pots and put in the beer fridge straight away. You shouldn't do this with a normal fridge as it can raise the temp...I figure the beer is ok if its warmed a degree or two

[Ontopofthesunset]

No, but I don't think anyone would be that daft. It would probably have rotted away by then anyway. If you kill the pathogens, you won't get ill. That's how autoclaves work. The food might not taste very nice if you boil the hell out of it but it will be safe.

[Olympiathequeen]

I suggest you do an online food hygiene course for £15 (city and guilds) to give you a good idea of safe food prep and storage. If your spagbol contains pasta and was hot and left out in the kitchen for more than 2 hours then it needs chucking, regardless if it has been stored in the fridge since then. Hot pasta and rice can grow bacteria which produce a toxin. The bacteria is killed by thorough reheating but the toxin isn't, and could give you food poisoning.

So it's not as simple as thorough reheating. Hot food grows bugs if left out longer than 2 hours.

[DoWop2]

I was just about to say what Olympia did but she said it better!

[TheFallenMadonna]

Toxins produced by bacteria can make you ill and they may be heat stable, so boiling does not mean no risk. Chilling obviously decreases the rate at which roxins are produced, so I would have booked qualms about eating something kept in the fridge for 5 days.

[TheFallenMadonna]

X post!

[Itwillbefine]

No home Ec at my school. Have a 3 day rule for most things, give them a sniff sometimes to decide and what they look like. Have yet to get food poisoning from my own cooking, or give my children it.

[isthistoonosy]

With dates the main difference is 'use by' - may make you sick after this date
and best before - won't taste as nice after this date

Personally I use milk, yogurt etc especially low fat versions a few days past the use by date provided it smells / looks ok. Meats we just go by how it looks and smells never look at dates but OH grew up hunting and farming so I leave that judgement to him.

[MuseumOfCurry]

I would definitely eat it. Beef has a relatively long fridge life.

[isthistoonosy]

Well according to Olympias post we should be getting food poisoning every day. We leave left overs out every night and ping for lunch, toddlers and adults alike. Why aren't some people affected as much as other I wonder.

[Itwillbefine]

You've been lucky?