What's the use of putting perishable food in the refrigerator if you're just going to let it perish? Even the best of us have turned the far corners of our refrigerators into food graveyards by losing track of food or ignoring its expiration date. While leftovers have a finite shelf life as it is, even refrigeration only delays the inevitable. With help from the Food and Drug Administration's food-contaminant guidelines and FoodKeeper app, here are 18 more items you should keep an eye on once you've placed them in the fridge. For additional items check out www.eatbydate.com .
Hot Dogs - Time: 1 week open, 2 weeks unopened Around summer, the mostly used pack of hot dogs is ubiquitous. If you've kept it out at room temperature for a few hours during a barbecue, that life expectancy should be far less. Keep a cooler by the grill and freeze what you don't use for 1 to 2 months.
Lunch Meats - Time: 3 to 5 days open, 2 weeks unopened The more pedantic eaters will point out that cured or smoked meats will last much longer, but typically fresh deli meats and packaged lunch meats have a week at most, according to the FDA. However, they can be frozen for 1 to 2 months.
Bacon - Time: 7 days We applaud the Department of Agriculture for its in-depth rundown on bacon and for going into just about every possible bacon-storage scenario. Bacon in the package will last a week in the fridge and up to a month in the freezer, but leftover cooked bacon has about 4 to 5 days and can be frozen for a month.
Sausage - Time: 1 to 2 days raw, 7 days smoked Much like the hot dog, the half-used pack of sausages makes regular appearances during the summer. Given its meager life expectancy in the fridge, however, the FDA suggests keeping in the freezer (where it can remain for 1 to 2 months) until it is eventually used.
Fresh Steak - Time: 3 to 5 days Steak has remarkable staying power if you have to put off a steak night for a while. If you see it on sale, meanwhile, pick up a bunch of it: Whatever you don't use immediately can freeze for 6 to 12 months.
Roasts - Time: 3 to 5 days There is a reason why Depression-era grandparents always bought a roast when they could get a deal on one. It keeps for the better part of a week and can freeze for 4 to 12 months.
Fresh Chicken or Turkey - Time: 1 to 2 days Don't make fun of the people at the supermarket who save receipts and collect their bonus turkeys each year. They may only last a day or two in the fridge, but they can freeze for a year whole or 9 to 12 months in parts. Just remember to toss the giblets, which will only freeze for 3 to 4 months.
Cooked Meat Dishes - Time: 3 to 4 days Once again, this is just the FDA offering a rule of thumb. If you've cooked more of any meat product than you can eat, either make sure the remaining portion is something you can eat in less than a week or freeze the rest for up to 2 to 3 months.
Gravy and Meat Broth - Time: 1 to 2 days Just a reminder to all of you holiday chefs that leftover gravy or broth really shouldn't make it to the next holiday. If there's too much to finish within the next day or so, freezing it will buy you only 2 to 3 months of peak flavor and consistency.
Fried Chicken - Time: 3 to 5 days 102 It's possible to reheat fried chicken to its former glory, so don't think twice about leaving it in the fridge for a few days. In fact, the FDA says you can freeze it for 4 months if you feel like cooking up a batch in advance.
Chicken Nuggets - Time: 3 to 5 days Most chicken dishes will keep in the fridge for this amount of time, according to the FDA. However, anyone who's bought a bag of pre-cooked frozen nuggets knows that they have no problem keeping in the fridge for 1 to 3 months.
Plain Cooked Chicken Pieces - Time: 3 to 4 days The lack of breading cuts roughly a day's worth of fridge life off of chicken, according to the FDA, but you can still freeze it for 4 months. Cooked
Chicken Pieces in Broth or Sauce - Time: 3 to 4 days The broth and sauce won't get your leftovers into next week, but they'll help them freeze for up to 6 months.
Cooked Fish - Time: 3 to 4 days Fish isn't something the FDA wants you to take chances with, so stick with that 3 to 4 day window. However, if there's too much left over for you to handle, even cooked fish can freeze for 4 to 6 months.
Smoked Fish - Time: 14 days Did that smoked salmon, sturgeon, sable, and lox platter from Barney Greengrass not go over as well at the company meeting as you thought it would? Forget it: You can pack it up and put it in your fridge for 2 weeks. Smoked fish was made to keep, and it'll last up to a year if you freeze it, says the FDA.
Fresh Shrimp, Scallops, Crawfish, Squid - Time: 1 to 2 days Now we're getting into the fish and seafood that you don't want to have sitting around for too long. Any of the above probably should be finished up by lunch the next day (hey, it won't stink up the office like microwaved fish), but you could freeze larger quantities for 4 to 6 months.
Lean Fish - Time: 1 to 2 days
Pike, snapper, cod, porgy ... they aren't as fatty as salmon, trout, or herring, but they have their own endearing qualities. Chief among them is the ability to keep after freezing for 6 to 8 months.
Fatty Fish - Time: 1 to 2 days; freeze for 2 to 3 months The upside is that these are the delicious fish filled with the good fats and oils that health professionals love.
The downside? They'll only maintain flavor after freezing for about 2 to 3 months, so try not to leave too many leftovers.
Source: https://blog.cheapism.com/dangerous-foods/#slide=19 | June 2021 ++]
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