How to safely use leftover food? – Dietetics – Articles |

Full fridge time

St. Andrew’s Day is approaching, followed by Christmas and carnivals, which are associated with feasts at the table. We are left after them with full platters of uneaten meats and desserts. The largest organization of food and nutrition specialists in the world, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, drew attention to this problem by presenting the principles of proper storage of food leftovers after the celebrations. We often wonder how long to keep cheesecake, roasted meat or cooked vegetables left over from the party. It turns out that it is enough to follow a few rules to use food leftovers without any health damage.

How to Store

  1. Store the leftovers in an airtight, shallow container (preferably no more than 2 cm deep).
  2. Food should not be frozen within two hours of cooking it. 

    Freezing is one of the best methods of storing food. You can easily extend the freshness of meat, stew, dumplings and even soup.

  3. The temperature in the refrigerator should be below 4,4 degrees Celsius, and the freezer temperature below -18 degrees Celsius
  4. The meat to be refrigerated should be separated from any bone and stored separately with the filling and sauce.
Before putting into a common container, freeze the dumplings separately on a board. Then, after transferring to the target place, they will not stick together.

At what time to use?

  1. Cooked meat should be consumed within three to four days. 
  2. Stuffings and sauces must be eaten within one to two days.
  3. We should use up the leftover stewed and cooked vegetables within three to four days.
  4. The cream cake must be eaten within two to three days, while the cheesecake may be left for up to a week.
  5. Regardless of how many days have passed, if we have any doubts, throw away any food leftovers accumulated in the refrigerator.
Other dishes can also be ‘reworked’ when the family starts complaining that they are eating the same food all the time. We can easily compose a salad from roasted meat, a casserole from a fish, and a cooked change – Silesian dumplings.

How to heat up?

We also need to properly prepare the remaining dishes. The agency says that it is enough if we heat the leftovers to the temperature of 74 degrees C and bring the liquid products to a boil. We should also remember not to freeze the defrosted product again. This promotes the multiplication of harmful bacteria. After defrosting, the food must be reheated and eaten as quickly as possible.

The title photo is from: tuchodi / Foter / CC BY

Picture 1 of the text comes from: joyosity / Foter / CC BY

Photo 2 is from: PersonalCreations.com / Foter / CC BY

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