If you are like me you cook at home and are no stranger to leftovers. I love stretching my budget and food to another meal if I can get away with it. Leftovers are a great way to save money and time on cooking a new meal. Be sure to store your leftovers safely in order to stretch your food. Never save food if it has been sitting out at room temperature for more than two hours.
Food safety guidelines say you are at high risk of food-borne illness if it is out any longer. Another thing to remember is to reheat food only once. If you reheat more than once you are at risk for illnesses. If you have quite a bit of leftovers then just take out the amount you need to reheat and enjoy the other later.
That keeps you from wasting food that may not get consumed at that setting. Also, be sure to reheat your food at the proper temperature. Always reheat your food to a minimum temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
If you have soup, broth, or sauces make sure you boil them before eating again because if you keep the liquid at 150 degrees or higher for over a minute any active bacteria will be killed. If you boil it for 10 minutes you will kill the botulism toxin.
When you store your food in the freezer make sure it has not been out of the freezer for more than two days and that it has not been thawed out on the counter. Be sure the thawing was done in the fridge to be safe. To refreeze your food, make sure you only do that once and once you cook your raw food you will be able to safely store it in the freezer as well.
Also, don’t store food next to ice cube trays to keep from any contamination.If you store leftovers make sure you get rid of any that has been in the fridge for longer than three days. If you find you can’t eat what you have fixed within the three day period, store in the freezer or eat them for the next few days to save on food. The other thing to do is to fix smaller sized meals to consume them in one, or two, meals.
Be sure to label your food put into the refrigerator or freezer. This will keep any confusion to a minimum when reheating your leftovers. You can simply write the original date it was cooked on the outside of the container with an erasable marker to guarantee freshness. Leftovers are wonderful and can make life easier if we use proper safety measures.
There really is no reason to avoid having leftovers because it saves money, stretches out our food to enjoy again, and makes dinner easier on some nights. Some nights combine two or three leftover dishes on the table and have a leftover night. If you follow simple rules you will have success using leftovers.
