To think that an unrefridgerated ham sandwich is not ok to eat after 30 hours?

[SmartyPlants]

DS (14) doing D of E expedition. Needs lunch for 2 days. The team are planning to eat left over pizza on the first day and a sandwich on the second day (after camping overnight).

DS with his Dad this weekend ahead of the D of E and has chosen a ham sandwich for the second day. I've suggested that ham out of the fridge for 30 hours won't be safe to eat, but ExH has said it was DSs choice. DS is 14 with SEN and no knowledge of food poisoning, so I suggested to ExH that there might be a better choice he could be guided towards. I've had no reply.

AIBU that this is not sensible? ExH seems to think I am overreacting.

I'm pretty lax on things like thus but no, I wouldn't eat that ham sandwich.

For a similar expedition DD took beef jerky, crackers, chocolate and cereal bars. Not the healthiest but safe to eat without being refrigerated.

Well, dh did leave a packet of deli ham in the footwell of my car for about 20 hours last week, then recovered it and made his lunch with it before trotting off to work. He's still alive, but the thought is grim.

No, it's not okay, but there should be lots of other options and they don't have to be a sandwich - tin of baked beans, bread rolls and processed cheese of some sort. After 2 days of DoE, I would think he's going to be starving - I know a sandwich wouldn't do it for me, let alone a growing teenager.

Ham has so many preservatives that it will be OK probably of its unopened ans he makes the sandwiches there. . He would be better though with a tin of hot dog sausages and buns they will have cookers with them and that's part of the fun.
Porrage pots for breakfast or bacon rolls

From my personal experience, no, it absolutely wasn't okay.

There are so many better options available!

Can he take a small tin of spam? Doesn’t taste that different than ham and is safe

It would probably be fine - it's so highly processed.

Good grief. I’m pretty relaxed about food safety but this is nonsense. Ham is definitely a source of food poisoning.

Please, leave a ham sandwich out for 30 hours then eat it and report back.

It is not fine nor safe to eat ham that has been out of the fridge for so long.

Definitely no! I wouldn’t even in winter but especially not in this weather.
You can get tons of tuna that are already flavoured. Would he eat one of those in a roll? (Obviously not opening the can til he was ready to eat it!).
or just more pastries for lunch?

I'm incredibly relaxed about this sort of thing and even I wouldn't eat that - especially in this weather

So the report back is that he has gone with a jam sandwich, which feels infinitely better than a ham one!

Thanks for all the suggestions - we can use them for the silver award (if he ever does it!). Lunch is always a nightmare meal for him so he would say no to a lot of the suggestions posted - beans eaten cold out of the tin sounds good to me but would be a no from him - but agree that he could just get by on protein/snack bars and make up for it when he gets home.

Oh no, poor you! That's precisely what I am worried about.

I tried to talk to my OH about it and he was like "well, what's the worst that would happen? He'll get D&V and then he'll be fine".

Well, D&V isn't very pleasant, particularly when it's completely avoidable! Why put him in the position in the first place where that is even a possibility!?

(Also it would be me who would have to take time off work with him being ill later in the week, but that's not the point)

oh good to hear!
good luck to him @SmartyPlants

Pleased he switched from the jam OP. DS just came back and had peanut butter toasted bagels. They were a big hit!

• from the ham to jam rather

Well one reply said that they bin ham sandwiches after 25 minutes...

Off topic but my DofE Gold was a rowing exped. A couple of lads brought bacon to cook for breakfast. To keep it cool they put it in a dry bag and towed the bag in the water behind the boat. As far as I know they're both still alive.

Off topic but my DofE Gold was a rowing exped. A couple of lads brought bacon to cook for breakfast. To keep it cool they put it in a dry bag and towed the bag in the water behind the boat. As far as I know they're both still alive
Genius!
Another off topic one! Food on DoE is one of the reasons my DD won't go beyond bronze. Insisting on carrying food for the whole trip is really hard if you eat a limited diet and can't have nuts either (although, as a person with a nut allergy, I completely understand why they are banned)

When I did it we just took an empty tupperware each, cooked extra pasta for dinner and then ate the leftovers for lunch the next day :)

Mine took a jam sandwich! Dried fruit and loads of protein bars for her lunch!

Also we froze it so it defrosted over the day as it was so hot

Lol so 9 hours out of the fridge not 30! Not sure you can compare really!!

No! Meats like ham are one of the conmonest sources of food poisoning.

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/foods-that-cause-food-poisoning

It was awful and i was properly ill for about a week. Definitely to be avoided if at all possible!

Thanks for this. I do wash all fruit and veg, including ones that are then peeled (like melon or mango). My OH thinks I'm completely crazy. I feel slightly better about my practices having read that!