Cooking beef stew...

[Carty76]

In my exhausted fuzz I have just prepared and out in the oven a beef stew. I have just realised that the recipe states it needs to cook for 3.5 hours. By the time it's cooked and cooled it'll be God knows what time. After a rather difficult day with my sick baby I seriously need sleep!!

My question is would I be safe to let it cool in the oven overnight ready to freeze tomorrow morning?

I've done it; bunged a lid on, left it to cool and it was actually not quite cold in the morning. Just thoroughly reheat when eating.

That's exactly what I thought might happen! I was just going to leave it in the oven with foil on...

P.S. The beef stew is for my baby that's why I just want to be totally sure

I certainly fed mine reheated stew. Not till he was older though as he wouldn't touch it until he was older - maybe 8-10 months?

Not - take it out of the oven and put it in a cool room to cool down. Cooling slowly can be lethal. My oven takes about 4 hours to fully cool down with the door shut, when it's empty. Having a hot stew in there would make it take longer.

If it's for your baby, then portion it while still hot and it should cool a lot more quickly.

If baby is likely to wake in the night and you can put the stew in the fridge then, then fine. Otherwise take it out now and cook tomorrow.

When its cooked put it somewhere safe outside overnight to cool? Check night temps first - here it's going to be 1-5 degrees and fridge temp is 4 degrees.