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..

Personally, I will eat leftovers the next day, and if I have no plans to eat them the next day, then I'll freeze them.

Just remember as someone mentioned rice - it's not the reheating of rice that can cause problems, but the cooling down quickly before reheating - when you make rice any leftovers need to be cooled very quickly (I usually drain off in cold water if plain rice, or put dish standing in sink with plug in and fill with cold water until near top of dish if fried rice etc) and then refrigerate for 3 days max. Having said that my dear late friend always used to keep leftover rice on the hob and reheat - I would never eat it at hers because of this ... and the rice never made her or her kids poorly but would never recommend that - cool quickly and refrigerate and then you can reheat safely

I didn't think pasta was affected by the same toxin as rice and have been looking it up now, but can't find anything. Anyway, I tend to refrigerate food pretty quickly after cooking, freeze it if I know I won't be using it soon, and chuck it out after a few days in the fridge. We (touch wood) haven't got food poisoning here either. When I lived in Singapore my helper would leave cooked rice out all afternoon and then reheat it in fried rice. We were lucky and never got ill, but I wouldn't do that now.

I'm a big believer in the common sense method - have a look and a sniff - if it seems absolutely fine then eat it. I have never given my self food poisoning using this technique.

Strangely the only twice I have had food poisoning was from vegetarian food and not meat!

I've also heard that pasta/couscous etc is the same as rice but don't know where I heard it from, so I use the same system just in case

Think of ready meals. If you buy Spag Bol from M&S its got a few days shelf life and obviously it was cooked a few days before it hit the shelves. Your Friday to Monday is nothing.

Reheating thoroughly is the key.

Ready meals have shit loads of preserving crap in them though. Home cooked meals don't. That's why ready meal or commercially frozen stuff can be cooked from frozen but home frozen stuff can't.

I work on a 3 day rule.

I give most things 48 hours. Chicken in fridge gets 3 days. Reheat till piping hot. Only reheat once, only freeze and defrost once. Most things say on them suitable for home freezing. If they don't then they've probably already been frozen so don't. Don't reheat seafood or rice.

You can freeze cooked rice once it's been cooled down.

isthistoonosy it's because not all meat carries every bacteria. For example, if your batch of meat cane into contact with intestinal fluids or faecal matter in the slaughterhouse then it can pick up some strains that can make you very, very poorly. When you then leave that food out overnight those bugs multiply. You have been lucky but you may come into contact with e-coli or salmonella and then you'll know about it.

I am a vegetarian, so this isn't so dangerous for me; I just avoid keeping anything with raw eggs in it for too long. (But do eat fresh raw egg. Free-range eggs are pretty low risk)

I've eaten some lentils that were gone off after sniffing them and deciding that it's probably lactobacillus and harmless. As you see, I still live.

With plant products, the "if it tastes good, it is okay to eat" rule works fine.

Pasta and rice are not the same.
Rice can breed the toxin bacteria (bacillus cerius) and should not be reheated.
Pasta / cous cous all fine to reheat.

But fried rice (for Asian dishes) is best made from cold, previously cooked rice. I reheat rice regularly, but only if it has been frozen or refrigerated straight away. And not left in the fridge for longer than two days because of the bacteria. And only once for each portion of rice.

You can reheat rice. You just need to refrigerate or freeze it promptly after cooking so that the bacillus (bacilli) doesn't (don't) have time to multiply.

Pasta and other cereals along with rice can cause food poisoning. The trick is very rapid cooling and refrigerating or freezing.
thehygienedoctor.co.uk/2013/10/04/can-reheat-rice/

The information I've put up comes from a food hygiene course designed for food businesses and apply equally to the home. Supported by C&G. Never leave cooked/hot food out longer than 2 hours, cold 4. Anyone leaving food out overnight and feeding it to toddlers needs their head examining.

I wouldn't do longer than 48 hours in the fridge.