How long to cool food before refrigerating?

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redkitty

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I have been wondering this lately as the boy and I think differently. The boy tends to leave cooked food out for a long time before refrigerating. I often wonder how long is too long...

Let's say I've cooked a bunch of vegetables (tonight was a batch of ratatouille) how long does it need to cool before sticking in the fridge? And is it the same for meat/chicken/eggs etc?

Thank you! :)
 
I usually let the extra sit on the counter until after dinner. Then when we're cleaning up the food is cool enough to pack into bags or containers.
 
They should be left somewhere cool and refrigerated as soon as they are cool enough not to upset the fridge's temperature. As GB says, this should be within 2 hours.
 
For general leftovers, there's not a huge quantity of super hot food to upset the refrigerator temperature. Pack it up and put it in the fridge as soon as it is convenient. Right after dinner as Jeekins suggested.

If you are making a large batch of stock, then it should be cooled before refrigerating. However, cool it with cold water and or ice in plastic bags or bottles. Leaving it out for hours to cool at room temperature will cause it to sour or worse.

I believe the rule to cool it off before refrigerating was the conventional wisdom when refrigeration was not up to modern standards, or maybe even related to ice boxes where hot food would cause the blok of ice to melt too quickly.
 
With some foods I spread out to cool. With others, like soups and stews, I fill a ziploc with ice and stick right in the middle. Katie E. keeps some plastic soda bottles in her freezer (leave about 3" of head room) to place right in the center of her pots. It's the middle of foods that you have to be careful of. An occasional stir while the food is naturally cooling also helps. If a food is still warm when I put it in the fridge I will poke a few holes in the foil or plastic wrap to release the heat.
 
I asked this a while back and was told right away. I have to agree with that lately.
Sometimes I will let something sit out, put it out of sight and smelling distance of my dogs, get to watching a movie, go online, go to bed..... SHOOT! Here it is the next day and there's my leftovers sitting in the microwave "cooling down".
Yep. Right away for me now. ;)
 
I almost did that last night pacanis. I made risotto for dinner. While we were eating I had the remaining cooling on the counter out of sight. I am not sure how long it had been sitting out (2 or 3 hours) before I happened to walk over there and see it. I lucked out this time around.
 
Food that needs to be refrigerated should not sit out for longer than 2 hours.

Hi GB:

Not sure I can totally agree with you here.

2 hours in the danger zone is correct for foods to be cooked immediately. Thinner foods will cook rapidly and thicker foods (roasts, fowl) will cook on the outside where the bacteria would normally be found quickly too, so additional time to reach 145 degrees is not really much of an issue.

Leftovers are another story. The first chance to contaminate leftovers is when you are serving the meal. If you wait 2 hours to place in the refrigerator, then it may take at least an hour or two to reach the 40 degree mark meaning you have been in the danger zone for 3-4 hours or more.

Very few food suffer from being put in the refrigerator too soon. As others have pointed out, making a habit of doing this upon completion of the meal minimizes later regret when you find the left over baby backs in the microwave the next morning.
 
Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply. :)

The boy and I agreed to start putting leftovers in the fridge after dinner. He won't let them sit out for a couple hours any more. This being a big deal for him since he is still (5 months later) suffering from the effects of reactive arthritis brought on by food poisoning!
 
Our health book reads that after leaving a holding temp of 135 (that's now down from 140) that the temp should reach 70 within 2 hours, and 41 within 4 hours. Large amounts do have to be broken down into smaller quantities for this to happen. Hope this helps!
 
I let it sit in stages. After dinner, pretty much immediately, I transfer the leftovers into the container(s) as this removes the food from the metal that retains heat in the food longer than a cold container (usually of plastic). Then I let that sit for a while with the lid(s) off for say 30-60 mins. (And I leave in a prominent position so that I can't forget it!) When I put it in the fridge, I put the container(s) on a tea towel or cork board to stop the heat transferring along my glass shelves and possibly heating something else in the fridge.
 
I usually wait untill just before bed time, because that is when I have the free time to package it, but some things, like spaghetti suace or chili, I have left out overnight and refrigerated in the morning. Of course, my house remains pretty cool inside 24/7/365. If I lived in the Arizona desert without air conditioning, I'd probably stick it into the fridge imediately after dinner.
 
I usually wait untill just before bed time, because that is when I have the free time to package it, but some things, like spaghetti suace or chili, I have left out overnight and refrigerated in the morning. Of course, my house remains pretty cool inside 24/7/365. If I lived in the Arizona desert without air conditioning, I'd probably stick it into the fridge imediately after dinner. "Today could be the last day of the rest of your life"



Yeah, it really could with food handling practices like that:ROFLMAO:
 

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