to be fuming that after we had all eaten our beef stew lunch MiL announced she's made it on Thursday morning.

[AAAvegetable]

Thanks MiL, what I really need tonight is a bout of food poisoning to hit all of us together.

How rude. I would never serve guests meat that I prepared four days previously.

yes, I think you are being overly anxious

Oh, please come back OP (if not on a wind up). I really want to hear why you were fuming

Well you wont get salmonella from beef ..... or will you evil cackle

AAA
Seriuosly though, have you ever eaten ready meals? When do you think they are made?

[hbiscuit]

parfait

Can I go random tangent on this one?

Does your butcher kill daily on the premises? - not 'picking' on you alpine but I doubt few butchers do have an abaatoir out back these days, unless rural.

Usually cooked food is advised to be eaten by the third day, a full 3 days from Thurs am takes us to Sunday morning when, I presume, she would have brought it to the boil & left it to simmer for a long time.

No problem as far as I can see- chicken or pork might be a bit riskier but not beef.

Oh, she's back. I doubt it would have even made it to the fridge in our house before it would have been eaten up

Wow some of you are rude. Of course I made no fuss in front of MiL and of course I thanked her profusely for lunch (having made the desert myself as I always do to help out).

You're supposed to let stews sit for a day or so before eating them. They taste much better that way: all the flavours marinade. I've just made a casserole for my father, which we'll eat on Wednesday night. I have done this intentionally, to let it develop its flavour.

Sounds like it would be fine to me why would it not be?

Good housekeeping says beef steak/roast keeps in the fridge 4-5 days. Also if it has been cooked then re-fridgerated I think it would be a couple more.

Don't worry about it. Drink some ginger tea and take a packed lunch next time!

Troisgarcons, I was taking the piss, perhaps I should've spelled it out further.

Op it's not being 'relaxed' about food - you will not get food poisoning if it has been heated up til it's piping hot. I am not relaxed about food - I follow the correct guide lines. Your MIL did nothing wrong. You won't get salmonella from beef anyway.

i think Alpine was joking there. !!!

OP, so you're passive-aggressive with your mil too. Interesting.

And it wasn't simmered for ages. It was microwaved until just about hot enough, something I tried to be relaxed about because I didn't want to be precious and at that point I didn't know it was days old (though maybe made last night).

YABU why on earth are you "fuming"?

YABU. I regularly eat stew several days after I've cooked it. It's fine. I think we've lost our common sense where food safety is concerned.

I made stew on Thursday. It's reheating in the slow cooker atm. Smells lovely.

Please don't worry about food poisoning. I'm v funny about food and sell by dates and reheating but beef stew reheated 3 days later is not a problem.

think yab v precious tbh

Yanbu imo. My mil does this and I think its rank. Possibly yes a stew would be ok but mil does it with roast dinners. Cooks the beef/lamb whatever on a thur/fri and then chucks it back in the oven on a sunday to reheat and serve up to us. I do point out to dh how funny it is that we all regularly seem to have upset stomachs on sunday nights/mondays.

OK, I concious I am now looking defensive, but just to clarify that I know you can't get salmonella from beef. I mentioned the salmonella to explain why I am generally anxious about food preparation.