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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

regarding food hygiene

54 replies

fishcake84 · 16/12/2015 17:15

Two weeks ago I made a big spag bol. We ate half that night and I left the rest out to cool in a tupperware with the aim of putting it in the freezer. Got embroiled in the telly and forgot all about it. In the morning I couldn't see it on the counter and realised DH must have put it away. Good stuff.

We ate it two days ago. Now and only now does DH tell me he forgot about it being left out to cool too, and found it on the counter at 8am the next morning when he went downstairs. Then he stuck it in he freezer. So it had been out at room temperature for about 13 hours before being frozen.

We suffered no ill effects of eating it the other day and he is now crowing about how I am over anal about food hygiene and should chill out about stuff like that as nothing bad happened, where my stance is more 'we're bloody lucky not to have food poisoning'.

So who is BU? I totally think he is!

OP posts:

M48294Y · 16/12/2015 20:51

None of you were ill so is this just a point scoring exercise?

RatherBeRiding · 16/12/2015 20:52

You are lucky you didn't get food poisoning.

Really? Not to mention all those previous generations without fridges too I suppose? Makes you wonder how the human race has survived.

You are highly unlikely to get food poisoning from cooked spag bol left out at winter overnight room temperature and then properly reheated.

Raw chicken and contaminated cream on the other hand can be pretty nasty

JapaneseSlipper · 16/12/2015 21:02

Wow, I wouldn't think twice about this. It's fine.

I know this argument holds little water with those who are concerned about hygeine/food poisoning etc, but it makes me sad to think about all the food that's wasted because people think "better to be safe than sorry". All that food has a cost - not just monetary but environmental. Animals died to provide that meat, workers produced that food, fertilisers were used to grow those crops etc. Horrible how much of it is thrown away needlessly.

frikadela01 · 16/12/2015 21:03

As others have said as long as you heat it up till its piping hot you'll be fine (reaching a temperature of 80 degrees) You're actually More at risk from ready to eat foods such as cold meats, cheeses and what not since they aren't going to cooked to kill the bacteria (I did my food hygiene for work last week)

chocomochi · 16/12/2015 21:19

Don't think it's a point scoring exercise. It really is a waste of food to throw it away just because there isn't room in the fridge. And just saying we haven't become ill from it is stating a fact from experience.

Original poster

fishcake84 · 16/12/2015 21:24

Well, I have held up my hands to DH and apologised for my grumpy response! I genuinely thought (or perhaps was led to believe by my mother) that food to be frozen should be cooled quickly to room temp then straight in the freezer or horrible, diarrhoea-ridden death would ensue.

Perhaps I do need to chill out a bit about food hygiene! Except where chicken is concerned

Thanks all for the responses, very enlightening.

OP posts:

ivykaty44 · 16/12/2015 21:32

Cross contamination of cooking utensils is a far more likely cause of food poisoning

Castrovalva · 16/12/2015 21:34

I do this all the time, and I consider myself pretty anal about food hygiene.

If you are not in a warm open plan house, the kitchen cools down and food will be ok.

I worked in a hotel not too long ago and stew and meat was stored in a cool room, an unheated but not refrigerated room and had been stored in this way for years. They never failed any inspection to my knowledge.

CremeEggThief · 16/12/2015 21:36

I don't eat meat, but even in summer, I quite often eat leftovers from the day before that has been left on the hob or in the oven for 24 hours. This time of the year, I'd chance it for 48 hours.

Oysterbabe · 16/12/2015 21:40

I do this all the time, never worried about it and never had food poisoning as a result.

ouryve · 16/12/2015 21:46

I don't think my kitchen's been much below about 19C, so far, this autumn. Hardly fridge cold.

You got away with it, but I wouldn't risk it on a regular basis.

Before people had fridges, they didn't go to the supermarket and buy all their fresh food for the week, so comparing then with now doesn't really work.

As for the suggestion about being worried about food poisoning leading to food wastage, it's still wasted if it's thrown up and all the resulting extra laundry if the kids get caught out is hardly environmentally neutral.

Curiouserandcuriouser30 · 16/12/2015 21:51

I am pretty food hygiene aware some might say anal but this wouldn't bother me. Something like a soup, a stew, a chilli, you can cook through for several minutes until it is really piping hot throughout, and then it's fine to eat.

Chicken, cold meats, rice etc. are another story!

JapaneseSlipper · 16/12/2015 22:02

"As for the suggestion about being worried about food poisoning leading to food wastage, it's still wasted if it's thrown up and all the resulting extra laundry if the kids get caught out is hardly environmentally neutral."

Only if people actually got sick.

Gangie · 16/12/2015 22:09

Omg I'm always leaving things our, or just left in microwave. I am never I'll...ever!!!

I had roast chicken last Thursday, Friday I made curry with leftovers, leftovers of curry were left in microwave over night then put in fridge next day. Cooked rice Sunday morning then put both on fridge.....brought it to work & had it fir lunch Monday! I'm still alive!!!

That was a bit long winded, sorry but I'm on Xmas hols and wine has been had

StealthPolarBear · 16/12/2015 22:16

How do you cool stuff quickly?
I'd be tempted to put stuff in my car!

StealthPolarBear · 16/12/2015 22:18

Plus don't people cook a turkey for 16 hours or whatever, putting it in the night before?
Ok eventually it's red hot but not for the first few hours.
and why are slow cookers ok?

Trooperslane · 16/12/2015 22:19

I do it all the time

Slattern. Never ill though.

hefzi · 16/12/2015 22:26

I always leave stuff over night from dinner, to make sure it's fully cool before refrigerating/freezing. I have also never, ever had food poisoning. I am a real bad ass as I also cook and eat food after the use by dates and everything...

Katarzyna79 · 16/12/2015 22:30

Sleepy was it the 60s? My father was 1 hell of a miser then. In the 80s We had such a tiny fridge freezer, pale blue in colour very retro, it was half the size of a regular fridge freezer most homes have now. The freezer was just one drawer, the rest of it was a fridge. It was so small i don't know how mum fitted in 6 bottles of milk lol. In winter to save space for other food, she would put the bottles in the snow in the garden ahh the good ole days :)

OP I don't think theres anything wrong with what your partner did, ive done it myself, with Bolognese mix, forgotten about it. if it was summer id bin it, because my kitchen gets full south facing sun, its like an oven before i wake up. Otherwise chill OP its no big deal.

Same advice is given about cooked rice i think its bs. Rice is my staple diet. We always have some left over. Prior to microwave my mum would put itin a colander and reheat it over some water in a pan, good as new. Now we scatter with a bit of water and reheat covered in microwave good as new. I just leave the rice in the rice cooker or saucepan over night, if you put boiled rice in the fridge can go rock hard.

In the summer its trickier especially if your entire kitchen is roasting, the rice will smell off. so cooking less is better than extra because most likely it will be binned.

FreeWorker1 · 16/12/2015 22:31

Food safety standards in professional settings require food to be chilled quickly below 4 degree centigrade to stop bacterial growth.

However, if you put the food it in a tupperware container when it was still very hot (above 65 degree centigrade) and then immediately put an airtight lid on the bacteria would not be able to fall in the food anything that was in it would be dead. As long as you heated it to boiling when you ate what was in the container you will be fine.

Hence you would be perfectly safe. That is how tinned food is kept safe for years.

However, if you left food open to the air in warm weather that long you would be risking food poisoning as bacteria would fall in the food and then gradually grow.

The most dangerous food is chilled food which someone has touched with a dirty knife, utensil, plate or hand and then left in the warm air. That is why cold buffet lunches are lethal breeding grounds for bacteria at Christmas.

gandalf456 · 16/12/2015 22:33

I wouldn't have eaten it but I am anal and proud

LaurieMarlow · 16/12/2015 22:35

People in this country are ridiculous about food hygiene. I wouldn't think twice about doing this - normal in my world.

I have had bad food poisoning twice in my life and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. First time was oysters in a fancy restaurant. Second time from a kebab van in Moscow not my smartest move

Never made myself ill. I'm careful with fish and chicken, relaxed about the rest.

Katarzyna79 · 16/12/2015 22:36

curry keeps well in the saucepan theres no need to ever put it in the fridge unless its the height of summer. Even then if you reheat the curry pot everyday without fail it doesn't go off. if you don't reheat the pot on the stove the next day chances are winter or summer it will go off, that's what my mother's taught me and not been wrong so far.

in summer in this house i usually pack my curries in fridge because i have no cooler area like a pantry or utility room i really miss that feature :(. my mum always had a pantry for her pots that served her well.

p.s do items need to be cooled before putting in the fridge? I have cooked indian vegetarian side dishes, not cooled just put straight into tupaware into fridge, cooled in there. I don't freeze it just eat it over a few days. no ill effects.

FreeWorker1 · 16/12/2015 22:50

I want a blast chiller - they are absolutely epic machines. I used one once.

No chance of food poisoning with one of those.

Its the only reason I watch Masterchef to see if they use a blastchiller.

OrangeFluff · 16/12/2015 23:45

At work (I'm a chef) we have a blast chiller to cool everything down to below 5 degrees as quick as possible. I would not have used something left out overnight.

At home, no problem to eat it as long as it was heated properly until piping hot throughout.

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