Minced beef left out over night

[TotoAnnihiliation]

This is my first AIBU, I'm tentatively asking if I am being AIBU.

Last night DH cooked minced beef to go in a burrito. He put the leftovers in a tub in the microwave.

This afternoon, I came across the tub in the microwave as the outside of the tub felt a bit warm and I as I'm too busy to be poisoned, I threw the contents away.

DH is annoyed with me as apparently the microwave will have kept the minced meat safe to eat with it being slightly insulated. He said it would be fine as in the Victorian era people would have left food on the side or in a pot over the fire and it would have been fine. I have pointed out that this is not the same thing as what he has done.

AIBU?

I'm so laid back about food stuff like that, I'd of eaten it no problem.

I’d have eaten it. My kitchen is usually very cold but if it wasn’t, I’d just cook it hard. I have an extremely strong constitution and never get sick, probably because I’ve always set my body frequent little tests.

I would have eaten it after reheating it properly. Too much food gets wasted these days. Fair enough if it had been in there a week!

@eeek88

I’d have eaten it. My kitchen is usually very cold but if it wasn’t, I’d just cook it hard. I have an extremely strong constitution and never get sick, probably because I’ve always set my body frequent little tests.

What frequent little tests do you set your body? That sounds strange but intriguing.

I'd have heated it and eaten it. I've got IBS anyway, had more gippy tummies from eating roasted vegetables than a bit of overheated mince. Have only had food poisoning once thankfully and it wasn't my own cooking that did it.

Another vote for bin and I don't find the Victorians argument particularly compelling either 😂

Victorian life expectancy was on the low side. Queen Victoria was the exception. Even her husbsnd only made it to his forties. Also, incontrovertibly the Victorians did not store mince overnight in microwaves.

@VladmirsPoutine

If you are also the type to not wash chicken & other meat products then yabu.

Current advice is NOT to wash chicken to stop bacteria being splashed around the kitchen.

I am terrified of being sick so I always throw things out and don't care if it's wasteful. Would you rather waste a bit of food or end up puking? It's a no brainer.

Whether you think it’s dodgy or not, you should have left your DH to decide what he wants to do with it. I’d be annoyed.

I would have thrown it too. Minced meat is a great growth medium!

I think people are missing that this wasn’t just left out on the side overnight (which I would probably eat unless it was the height of summer), it was left in the sealed microwave for almost 24 hours! I’m assuming it was hot when it went in the microwave too. That’s a long time for minced beef to be sat there, warm, in an insulated space and I would definitely not eat that.

The lack of food hygiene knowledge in some people is shocking. It's basic stuff, if it's been out for two hours refrigerate it.

Depends where you live surely. It hasn't been above 5c here for a week, anything left out in my kitchen overnight is just as cold as refrigerated items.

As long as it was heated very well to kill any bugs it's fine... It was cooked!

@sanityisamyth I think it's very gross not to. I always do.

VladmirsPoutine I’m so curious about this, what do you think you are washing off the meat when you do this? I don’t understand what could possibly be removed by a rinse under the tap that wouldn’t be removed by cooking anyway?

Food hygiene recommendations (in the UK at least) definitely say NOT to wash because you’re more likely to get sick from splashing the raw chicken around your kitchen, but I have a few friends who are absolutely fastidious about washing meat and wouldn’t dream of cooking unwashed meat. I know recommendations can vary in different counties though, e.g. my friends from Caribbean countries are particularly keen on doing this so it must also just depend what you are brought up doing!

I probably wouldn't have thrown it away. I sometimes leave stuff out overnight on the counter.

However HIBU to think the microwave is "slightly insulated" FFS. My husband also refers to the microwave as a magical germ banisher and temperature keeper it's not insulated! Where does that even come from? I eventually came to the conclusion that it's nothing to do with temperature and it's probably more of a dog-safe cage. DH grew up with dogs, I didn't.

I don't know why but I find it so much more disgusting to leave food overnight in the microwave than I do to leave it on the counter/hob in the pan it was cooked in. I recognise this is illogical.

I'd have eaten it but our heating goes off overnight so room temp low anyway

I’ve been washing chicken for 30 years, nothing has ever happened to me.

@FirewomanSam You're right. It's definitely a cultural thing too. I can't imagine not washing meat/chicken etc.

@mainsfed

I’ve been washing chicken for 30 years, nothing has ever happened to me.

I've never done it. Nothing has happened to me

Rangoon

Victorian life expectancy was on the low side. Queen Victoria was the exception. Even her husbsnd only made it to his forties. Also, incontrovertibly the Victorians did not store mince overnight in microwaves.“

Didn’t he die from typhoid though, not overnight mince?

The Victorians incontrovertibly did stored their mince overnight in largely unheated houses, not by putting them warm into something that will keep the warmth in, for a whole day.

Are you saying it was warm when you found it, all those hours later? If so, how?perhaps I’ve misunderstood.

I have done this before, usually on the side in a tub with lid...meant to put in fridge before bed and forgot. Our house is pretty cold over night, so I I,ve found it in morning ive popped it in fridge later and it’s fine.

If there was something that meant it kept heating up or stayed Luke warm for ages, I would bin it.

I've left things covered on the hob overnight, it's colder than the fridge when there's a northerly. But something still tepid after a day in the microwave? Not worth the risk.

How can it possibly have been “warm”. Do you mean “at room temperature”?