Q: I enjoy Thanksgiving leftovers even more than the meal on the big day. How long are they safe to eat?
Benjamin Chapman, a professor of food safety at North Carolina State University, takes Thanksgiving — and leftovers — seriously. This year, he said, his family’s feast will include a 24-pound turkey raised by a local 4-H participant, along with the traditional sides.
Then, he added, they won’t cook again for days. “We’ll be like sloths, and everybody will just go heat something up in the microwave.”
Dr. Chapman studies food safety for a living, so he has thought carefully about how to make leftovers last. We asked him and other experts for their best tips on this, so everyone can continue to enjoy the spoils of their labor.
How long can leftovers be stored?
According to federal guidelines, most refrigerated leftovers — including cooked turkey; gravy; traditional sides like stuffing, mashed potatoes and green beans; and desserts like pumpkin pie — should be consumed within three to four days. So by the Monday after Thanksgiving, those foods should be gone or in the freezer.
Even so, there are exceptions. Fruit pies can be kept for one to two days at room temperature, or for a week in the refrigerator. Packaged breads and rolls are good for 14 to 18 days at room temperature, and homemade bread for up to five days. Homemade cranberry sauce can be kept in the refrigerator for seven to 10 days; the canned version will last one to two weeks.
Frozen leftovers are safe indefinitely, according to the guidelines, but they should be consumed within two to six months for the best taste and texture.
Sticking to these recommendations will reduce the risk of ending up with spoiled food, said Abby Snyder, an associate professor of microbial food safety at Cornell University.
But they aren’t hard and fast rules, she added. And your risk of getting food poisoning from leftovers has more to do with how they were handled before they made it into the fridge than how many days they’ve been there.
What are the best practices for leftovers?
Check that your refrigerator temperature is 40 degrees or colder, Dr. Chapman said. He sets his at 39 degrees — cold enough to keep food safe, but not so cold that it will freeze lettuce or milk.
It’s important to practice good food safety habits while preparing your meal, said Barbara Kowalcyk, director of the Institute for Food Safety and Nutrition Security at George Washington University. This will reduce your chances of becoming ill, and help your leftovers remain safe during the days after.
Wash your hands frequently before and during food preparation, keep raw meat separate from produce and other foods and cook your turkey to the appropriate temperature of 165 degrees.
Key to leftover safety: Don’t let perishable items sit at room temperature — or anywhere in the “danger zone” of 40 to 140 degrees — for more than two hours after they were cooked or prepared. “Bacteria really love room temperature,” Dr. Kowalcyk said, and quick refrigeration will stop the growth of most of them.
When Dr. Kowalcyk’s family is finished eating, they portion the leftovers into shallow containers — which help foods cool more quickly than if they were in deeper ones — and they refrigerate or freeze them right away. If possible, try to leave a little space around the containers in the fridge and the freezer so that cold air can circulate, Dr. Chapman said.
With safe cooking and quick cooling, Dr. Chapman is comfortable eating leftovers for up to seven days after the meal, though his family rarely lets them last that long.
Those who are pregnant, 65 or older or immunocompromised may want to be more cautious and follow the federal guidance to throw leftovers out after three to four days, he said. Unlike most bacteria, listeria can grow in the lower temperatures of the refrigerator, and it can make people in these vulnerable groups seriously ill. For them, it’s safest to use a food thermometer and reheat leftovers to 165 degrees, which kills listeria.
Can you tell if leftovers have gone bad?
You can’t tell if a food will make you sick just by looking at it, Dr. Snyder said. But if it has an off texture, taste or smell, it may have started to spoil or decline in quality — even if it won’t necessarily cause food poisoning.
Homemade bread, for example, can start to go stale after just a day, Dr. Kowalcyk said, so she slices her Thanksgiving loaf and freezes it immediately.
Mold on your pumpkin pie, or sliminess or a funny smell on your turkey, are signs of microbial growth. While this won’t necessarily mean that eating these leftovers will make you sick, they’re signals that it’s time to toss those foods, Dr. Snyder said.
Dr. Kowalcyk said that the “when in doubt throw it out” rule is the safest way to go with leftovers.
It’s just not worth the risk of food poisoning, which can cause vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain or worse if you’re vulnerable, she said. “Nobody wants that over the holiday.”
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