Storing it in the fridge, IN the pan you cooked it in.

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jennifer75

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Is there harm in this? And is it safe to transfer a cold pan from fridge to an electric burner? I'm tempted many times to store large soups and dishes in the pan I cooked them in the fridge...but wonder about some things.
 
For us I have to make fairly large amounts of things like soups and beans, so I use good size pots and pans. I let them cool down before placing in th refrigerator so that I don't lower the temp in the refrigerator and take a chance of cause things to spoil.An hour of cooling usually does the trick. If soup or beans are overly hot I set the pot in an ice bath and stir it now and then as I clean up.
kadesma
 
Great. My pot was cool before I placed it inside. I had no idea you could effect the temp inside the fridge with a hot pan. Interesting, veddy interesting.
 
Hot cooked food should not be stored in tin lined copper, aluminum, cast iron or carbon steel cookware. The only exception to the steel cookware would be if it is enamel coated. Metals will leach into the food over time. There is some debate about the nickle in stainless steel leaching when food is cooked then stored in it, also. Glass or Pyrex casseroles are ok.

Yes, food should be cooled before storing in the refrigerator or freezer. Temperature moves from hot to cold ... the heat in the pot will move into the cooler environment and raise it's temperature, which means the refrigerator is going to have to work a lot more trying to bring the temp inside the box back down.

Taking a cold pot out of the refrigerator and putting it on a burner to heat it up will not harm the food per se, although it is more prone to scorch on the bottom than if it is brought up to room temp first - but can do a mischief to the pot sometimes. It can cause warping, it the pot has an encapsulated disk on the bottom they can sometimes pop off, enameled cookware can develop cracks or chipping in the enamel. It's better to let the pot come up to room temp or there about before giving it the heat.
 
I did this just about a week ago...My very unscientific experiment was as follows.....

Using remote sensor thermometers.....

My Refrigerator was stabilized at 38*F ....I put 4 quart jars of hot water (141*) on the middle shelf...Shut the door....The refrigerator settled back to 44* Two hours later the refrigerator was down to 42*....The water at 88* At this time I had to open the refrigerator....Bottom line... After 2 hours the water was at 88* (40*above of the safe zone) The refrigerator was 2* Above optimum temperature of 40*.....Conclusion...Do not put hot foods into your refrigerator...There could be/may have been/probably were other factors involved.....I wish I could have let the process play out to see how long it would have taken to get the water to 40* or less, and the refrigerator back to 38*....My guess another 2 hours best case scenario...So for 4 hours my "stock" was in the danger zone even though it was IN THE REFRIGERATOR...PLUS for 3 or 4 hours the other contents of the refrigerator were not at optimum temperatures. Not to mention the appliance was running constantly try to pull the temperture back to 38*
 
I have never tried this actually. This is perhaps because the utensils used to cook the food are bigger than what can be accommodated in the refrigerator. But as far as my understanding goes, there should not be any harm when you put the utensil in which you cooked the food into the refrigerator after hours of having cooked the food. Similarly, there should not be any issue heating the same utensil directly taken out from the refrigerator apart from time taken to heat the same.
 
I wouldn't, for reasons stated above. Another way to quickly cool is to drop some ice (either in a sealed bag, or those frozen blue ice things, sealed in a bag) into the pot.
Also, I have more storage options/containers for the fridge than cooking vessels.
 
Is there harm in this? And is it safe to transfer a cold pan from fridge to an electric burner? I'm tempted many times to store large soups and dishes in the pan I cooked them in the fridge...but wonder about some things.

Dont do it!
 
when its really cold in the winter, my garage doubles as a temp fridge!
if i make chiken parm or meatloaf i use pyrex and they have lids so after cooled i put it in the fridge.

note to self: need bigger fridge
 
If you need to cool down large amounts of something, put lots of ice a large lidded cooler and set the pot or containers down in side and close the lid. I think you could add some cold water too.
 
Cooling in the cooking vessel would seem to have the benefit of storing cooked food in a container that was sterilized by the cooking process. Initial cooling in the northern climes that I am fortunate enough to live in can be accomplished by setting covered outdoors or in an enclosed unheated porch. After refrigeration, large quantities can then be broken down and reheated for near term consumption as well as packaging for freezing and consumption in subsequent months.
 
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