Help, DH left food out all night and saying its safe

[catfart]

Sorry posted this twice as I need a quick answer and it does fit in AIBU.

I am so angry this morrning, I slow cooked a beautiful whole shoulder of lamb yesterday, last night it came out of the oven at 8pm. I was planning on using it to batch freeze meals like shepards pies for my little boy and after the pregnancy. I was shattered (pregnant) and asked husband to put it in the fridge to cool after an hour so I could make the meals to go in the freezer today.

I come down this morning and to find its been left out all night, I put it in the fridge at 7am.

Can we eat this now? Can I use it for my freezer meals...

My husband thinks I am being ridiculous as I say that there is potential now that it could be unsafe, he says that all bugs are dead in it because I cooked it so long!!! I think slowly cooling like that and staying at room temperature is very bad.

Anyway, am I being OTT? We haven't got money to burn, this is a £22 shoulder that was to make a huge batch of lovely shepards pies for us and my son when the baby arrives and also ragu for pasta....I just feel gutted. Why didn't he do as I say?????????????

Solesource

What a nasty, uncalled for comment.

OP - I'd be hesitant too but I'm not very good with this sort of thing.

I hope it is useable.

Oh, I've done that too. Put a joint of meat in the fridge and managed to raise the temperature of everything to an unsafe level.

Don't know if this is helpful but in these situations I often stand the pan or tupperware or whatever in a sink of cold water (sometimes with a couple of cool box freezer packs) so it cools much faster and I can put it in fridge sooner (similarDHtoyouemoticon)

Solesource is usually the pickle in the salad. Not worth paying the sniping any attention really.

Yabu for using a shoulder of lamb for cottage pie etc. It should be your Sunday roast :)

Oh, thanks Woffling. I'll try to remember that.

it will be fine - I often leave food out overnight accidentally and still use it the next day. especially if it will be recooked. (not rice or chicken, but pretty much everything else - and I'm the child of a bacteriologist!)

I did a load of batch cooking prior to DD's arrival - we still haven't eaten it all and she is 3 months old! but it is so nice on a rough day just to get something out of the freezer rather than cooking from scratch! good luck with DC2 :)

God, I don't know how I've survived into adulthood! I didn't know mince was dodgy to leave out of the fridge - my mum always left a big pot of it on the side for us teenagers to eat when we came in late. And we often had it again the next day!

I honestly thought it was ok to leave stuff (covered) in a fairly cool kitchen - what did people do before fridges??

Just out of interest to see if it was just me being ott I've googled and the advice is not to risk it. Plenty of people say they do though, maybe it just depends on if you have a cast iron stomach. Must admit I don't normally get ill from food that makes dp ill, apart from that beef I did

[Blush] I do this all the time, especially in winter. Except with chicken dishes.

I would probably still use it

Princess, good idea putting putting the pan in cold water......will do that in future.

The meat was shredded and taken off the bone so would have cooled a bit quicker but you're right, it probably would have been to warm to go in the fridge in DH's defence.

Thanks all of you, I do appreciate your replies. Usually I'd have just frozen the meals, said I wasn't happy about it being left out and not thought much about it because it would be for DH and I, but because I'm pregnant and most of this lamb was for DS, it just really got to me this morning.

I am going to use it, will just make sure everything is heated really well through.

Cheekybarsteward, lol yes, it would be lovely for a roast but this will make a monumental amount of meals for the chest freezer. I did a Jamie Oliver recipe my DS loves with lots of leeks, rosemary, garlic, tomatoes, onions and carrots which makes a lovely base sauce. :)

Epic fail on my

Countess
the issue with mince is that it has a lot more surface area than a joint of meat, so the bacteria can multiply faster (if I remember rightly)

I have left mince out and used the next day, but reheated for ages to be sure the nasties were all nuked. And only in winter. But it is a bit of a risk.

YANBU chuck it, bacteria are alive and well in cooked food but at low numbers, standing at room temperature allows them to multiply, the longer it stands the higher the concentration of bacteria increasing the likelihood of their being enough to cause food poisoning. And poisoning can be more than a dicky tummy it can be life threatening. Freezing g merely puts the bacteria in status and heating through doesn't kill them. You also can't smell all bacteria especially in cooked meat.

You may be perfectly fine, you may get ill it's down to luck. If I had a grown family I might risk eating it today but can you really afford to take the risk of you and your son getting ill with a newborn in the house?

Personally I'd throw it, I've worked with food all my career btw so you can either call this overtraining paranoia or experience.

Woffling is wrong about me. Misrepresenting a poster and /or their statements does not make you the better person.

I think people have just been lucky tbh, I have not so fond memories of a friend who used stress like this in her uni course to harbour and grow bacteria. Reheating kills off most nasties but not all.

softlysoftly, that was what I thought.... :(

X post with softly

I do this all the time,as am vey forgetful.
I have a big cast iron casserole pot, and often leave stews/ spag bol etc on the cooker top over night, stick them in the fridge in the morning, then reheat well the next evening.
My flat is fairly cool though.
I think my family have developed weapons grade stomachs that zap any nasties, due to the "scrape the mould off and it'll be fine" attitude!
The thing you have to really watch is rice, which is often the culprit for food poisoning , but people assume its the meat.

Well, Solesource, no one said anyone was the better person - but your comment was awful in this context.

I'd think better of you if you apologised to the OP, otherwise it's a case of making a judgment on one post, and it's not a very nice one. I have no idea what you are normally like.

'Woffling is wrong about me. Misrepresenting a poster and /or their statements does not make you the better person.'

Maybe, it's just an observation based on the posts of yours that I've come across on different threads.

Stress should read stews in my prev post btw

anyway how is it possible to misrepresent a post that you have neither defended not tried to justify?

Google my posts do not take a liars word for it.

OP is getting a rough time here. She's right to be worried, anyone with a food safety certificate knows this meat has been sitting in the "danger zone" for hours.

That said, despite knowing this (I did it at college etc) I think in these domestic type circumstances common sense can prevail and reckon it will probably be okay if it smells and tastes okay. Get him to try it though!!!