To think this food will be perfectly safe to eat?

[TheWayItAllWouldGo]

Doing some pre cooking for lunches for me and DH to take to work this week.

Monday's lunch is leftovers from today's dinner. On Tuesday we are having pasta bolognese. I already had beef mince that was cooked and in the freezer from another day, so I took it out this morning and it has now defrosted (it's back in the fridge)

When the pasta had completely cooled, I split it into two containers and added the mince and all the other ingredients, and popped them into the fridge for us to grab before work on Tuesday.

DH is claiming that the mince will be unsafe to eat because it was cooked a different day to the rest of the ingredients . He also said its "risky" eating meat 2 days after it has defrosted and it should be eaten either tonight or tomorrow at the latest.

I told him the mince was defrosted and I waited until the pasta was completely cooled before mixing the two, and it will be perfectly fine to eat 2 days later as its been kept in the fridge. He doesn't believe me and says I will give us both food poisoning

Is he lacking in brain cells or have I been using unsafe cooking practices for the last 15 years?

@OdeToBarney It's fine if you cool it very quickly, refrigerate it straight away and then either eat cold straight from the fridge or reheat till scalding and eat straight away. As with most things, it's the hanging around at room temperature for hours whilst cooling, or reheating more than once, or not properly hot, etc that's the problem. And because cooked pasta is particularly moist its even more important to get it right.

Why? Why is it iffy?

Yep, I had assumed the OP had cooled the pasta in the fridge, but re-reading I agree with you it’s more likely she cooled it on the kitchen counter at room temperature which is a real food poisoning risk as bacteria just love love love to feast on the starchy coating of cooked pasta. So that’s a good call out as to another poor food hygiene practice.

It boggles the mind that so many posters think certain food practices are perfectly fine when they’ve been made illegal in restaurant kitchens for donkeys years precisely because they are unsafe and a public health risk.

You can't put warm food into the fridge though, it makes the other food in the fridge rise in temperature, putting it in the 'danger zone.' How else are you meant to cool food if you don't leave it on the side? Once it was cooled on the side it went straight into the fridge. What's wrong with that?

Genuine question.

I can hand on heart say I have never once thawed anything in the fridge.

Kitchen top
Bowl of water
In front of the wood burner
Outside on the garden table in the summer but never once in the fridge.

Family of 6 never once been ill.

You can put warm food in the fridge, you just can’t put boiling/steaming hot food in the fridge. So, yes you can cool food a bit, but you don’t need to wait for it to reach room temperature. The impact on a 3C fridge of 22C food going in vs 15C food is negligible. It’s only when you’re binging In 60C or higher (properly hot food) that it’s enough to warm up your fridge enough to affect the food already in there. And when it comes to pasta, most people rinse it in cold water to cool it down from steaming hot before putting into containers to go into the fridge.

Starting to get worries about op now...

Oh @TheWayItAllWouldGo I remember her well.

Her pasta was to die for...

(I may regret this post)

Hahaha, fear not I am alive and well. And the bolognese was delicious.

Phew! Very glad to hear it :)

It will be fine. Reheat until hot, not warm.
Glad none of you live in my house, if looks and smells fine eat it. No one has ever had food poisoning or even dodgy guts from my very flexible food hygiene standards