Leftovers and safety

[NotQuiteCockney]

I often have leftovers, but am never quite clear how long they'll keep. I'm good about food hygiene, get the food into the fridge quite quickly, etc etc, and if reheating, make sure things boil a bit (I know, they need to be at 70C). My fridge is always at 5C.

I believe vegan leftovers are ok for a week. But I'm not clear on meat. How long can, say, the following things keep?

• vegetarian stuff, like pasta with a cheesy white sauce
• roast chicken
• things with bacon etc in
• cakes (not generally kept refrigerated)

Opinions?

The pasta I would eat after 2 days, possibly 3. The cakes - I assume you mean sthg like a fruit cake or Victoria sponge, or scones? - keep until stale really - best eaten within a few days but not actually dangerous if eaten later. Don't know about meat, I'm veggie.

Fruity cakes (carrot, plum and apple, banana, courgette and lemon). They do go mouldy, rather than stale, ime. They're quite moist. I store them in airtight containers, but maybe should fridge them as well?

I would keep roast chicken for up to 2 days in the fridge, ditto something with bacon in it.

Cheese sauce only one day (mainly because it can separate rather than for H&S reasons)

oh that sort of cake I would put in the fridge, tbh - moit cakes taste nicer cold, anyway (IMHO) Then it should hold out up to a week (well, it wouldn't if I were around, but the less said about that the better )

It's rare that they last long enough to go wrong, but every so often they get a bit forgotten, and then I cut a slice, and ... ewww ... I like them better at room temperature, but maybe should rethink.

I've got a couple of 'old-fashioned' cake tins which I use (on the rare occasion I bake!) and tbh I find they do the job better than these airtight plastic containers.