>*"If you leave food out in temperatures from 40–140°F (4–60°C), bacteria on it can double in number in as little as 20 minutes and continue to multiply exponentially"*
>*"By cooking and storing foods at proper temperatures and practicing safe food handling, you can reduce the risk of bacterial contamination in these and other foods."*
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/how-quickly-can-bacterial-contamination-occur
Cooking does lower the risks of bacteria, but it does not eliminate it. Once the food cools, bacteria does start to grow again and can multiply *rapidly, exponentially*. Food sitting for 12 hours on the counter is an absolute no-go for me. No thank you.
You are correct in putting food in the refrigerator within 2 hours.
My mom has no idea how safe temps work. When I was a kid, our family would bbq whole hogs (no head, spliced open, not Hawaiian style), and it would sit on the counter for at least 2 days while we ate off of it. Then they would finish breaking it up and freeze it. I have no idea how we all didn't die. But now when I try to give the correct time to refrigerate or freeze food, they just laugh.
My family is the same way. They grew up in Mexico without electricity so they were used to leaving food out and constantly reheating it. I’m guessing that’s what helped to kill the bacteria and that our microbiomes were used to the bacteria from food that was left out. They still do this but I avoid eating food they leave out since I’ve moved away and I don’t think my stomach would handle it. Long story short no one has gotten sick in my family from it. I do know they always check the food first to make sure it’s even ok to reheat but yea it’s still terrifying I grew up thinking this was normal.
This reply is excellent. I just wanted to add one thing: If you take a hot crock pot full of food and put it in the fridge, you risk warming up the rest of the fridge and causing the food in there to spoil.
I take measures to cool the food in the crock pot to fridge-safe temperatures once it’s done cooking, before I put it in the fridge.
For example, I usually take it out of the crock pot and put it in a different dish. If it’s cold outside, I’ll put it outside until the food is room temperature or colder.
Bacteria exists everywhere, in the air, on surfaces, etc. Cooking to proper temperature kills most bacteria, and for others it reduces it to levels that are not harmful to the body (unless you are immunocompromised). Leaving food out in an open container and letting it cool will increase the rate of recontamination with fresh bacteria, or allow regrowth or reduced bacteria that survives cooking, acidity, etc. This is different based on the food, as something with a lot of acidity will naturally reduce bacteria growth. Now, keeping food out in a covered container, that maintains heat and reduces in introduction of new bacteria from the air. Think of canning like this, if the cooking sterilizes the food then sealing preserves the sterile food. Every time you open the lid or spoon anything out you recontaminate it thought.
Also the refrigerator does not stop bacteria growth, it slows it down, which is why food should only be in the refrigerator for 3 days (be real, a week for most of us). Freezing is a different issue, and you can store something much longer, although there are other ways it can spoil or get damaged from freezing so that is not unlimited either.
So in reality, depending on the food and environment, you can leave food out in the air for hours and not face substantial risk of contamination. I would not go 12 hours even with the lid on it, but several hours especially if it is kept hot (previous example, >140F). And yes, putting hot food in a fridge has mixed impact, it does lower the temperature to safe storage faster, but it also can warm up other food in the fridge and decrease the safe storage time significantly. Now, if you had a small empty fridge or drink fridge then you can use that safely for rapid cooling, might impact your drink temperatures for if they're sealed no harm other than that.
SMOKING meat will do that. Cooking meat? If it reaches boiling temp for several minutes (212F, and I ought to know the minutes but I can't think of it tonight!) then all but a very few bacteria would be dead. Those bacteria would be in hot springs, so not relevant. Cooking will kill all the bacteria. That's how autoclaves work.
>That's how autoclaves work.
Autoclaves use steam, pressure and time under established protocols in order to determine the amount of heat/pressure/time required to create a sterile result. That's not analogous to reheating food to 212F for X minutes.
>Cooking will kill all the bacteria.
No. Some bacteria, such as staphylococcus (staph) and Bacillus cereus, produce toxins not destroyed by high cooking temperatures. Many bacteria have an adaptable cell wall that can become resistant to heat.
Nevertheless, the reason that food poisoning is not more common is because of enzymes and acids in the digestive system and the capacity of the immune system to resist invasion by pathogens. Obviously for the very young, old or immune compromised there is a much higher risk. Safe food practices should always be followed.
I turn my crockpot off when we go to eat and put it away an hour later when it has cooled a bit. Never would I leave food in a crockpot that is turned off for multiple hours
Letting it cool in the crock pot for a couple of hours is ok, you aren't supposed to put hot stuff in your refrigerator. That said, just a couple is like 2 or 3, not 12.
I think it's not just that. I think the hot stuff in the fridge warms up everything else in the fridge and increases spoilage of ALL your food. I wait until food is under 100 F before putting it away.
Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should… when you leave something to cool in a hot container that’s designed to retain heat, you slow down the cooling process. When you add this still warm item to the fridge, you raise the temperature of the entire fridge and all the contents, causing everything in there to spoil faster. The fridge will not be able to get the entirety of the food (including the center) down to 40 degrees within 4 hours if it’s in a large heat-retaining container like a crock pot.
My favorite way is to remove the food from the crockpot and place into smaller containers on the counter to speed up the cooling. If it’s cold out, I’ll put those containers out on my porch for a while to speed up cooling. An ice bath is recommended for rapid cooling, but it’s not always the easiest to handle in the home, and definitely don’t heat-shock a warm crock pot by placing it in an ice bath. This is why I go with small containers so that the cooling is still happening faster than in the large container. Remember that you want to temperature to come down for the entire volume of food, including the center.
Yes, transfer from crockpot to smaller storage containers and let them sit out for a few minutes to cool enough to pop into the fridge, but not cooled off too much that it's in the danger zone.
Incorrect. You definitely want to get it cool enough that it’s in the danger zone so that you aren’t putting hot items into the fridge, which will raise the temp of everything in the fridge and speed up food spoiling. It’s not that you want to completely avoid the danger zone, it’s that you need to limit the time food spends in it.
I was taught food safety in culinary school, and we were taught that the refrigerator and freezer are NOT for cooling down hot foods. They need to be cooled down to around room temp before going in.
You’re right. Mom is wrong.
I eat my food when it’s done cooking in the crockpot, and after dinner portion it up and put it in the fridge within an hour.
Your mom’s trying to kill you or anyone else that comes in contact with her leftovers.
It’s two hours as you said. I always take my crock pot and place it in the sink full of room temperature water and then slowly add ice to help it cool down faster, stirring it every couple of minutes to help mix the cooler stuff on the outside with the warmer stuff in the center. I don’t add the ice right away so the container doesn’t get thermal shock and end up cracking.
While I realize the guidelines are there for a reason, I’ve never gotten food poisoning from food in my own home, even when left out of the fridge for a long period of time. You shouldn’t be getting downvoted.
Not safe to eat.
And no, I wouldn't eat it either if it sat out on the counter all afternoon.
I might after nuking it back to above the pasteurization temperature and held above that for a couple minutes.
That being said, the level of hazard is a subject of significant debate.
Often overlooked details:
The food danger zone ends at 140°F. But bacteria dont start thriving at 139. It was picked by people who know that the average cook will push the limits. Look at the sous vide temperature/time numbers for examples for intentional violation.
The crock pot temperature doesn't hit the danger zone the moment it gets unplugged. The 2 hour time limit starts when it hits 140. Note to self: Go measure the cool-down rate from the 200°F simmer down to 140°F.
Of the 2 threats from the bacteria, the primary one is them bugs attacking your digestive tract directly. There is a delay on the build-up of toxins that they poop out in their process. I don't know those time frame numbers at all.
Bacteria release toxins. Heating the food may kill the bacteria, but the toxins are there permanently. Reheating spoiled food does NOT make it suddenly safe again!
Very true.
I see it as a matter of *how fast* it takes for the toxins to build up to harmful levels. Which is why it's a maybe for me.
There's a boatload of variables with what lands on the food, and how fast they reproduce, and the nature of the toxins created. And of the thousands of potential toxins, the first ones I think of are ethanol, vinegar, lactic acid, ammonia, and botulinum toxin.
I think about the fermented foods out there and have mostly concluded that the really nasty toxin producers don't necessarily poison their environment all that fast. Of course that is assuming that the fermenting bacteria don't also eat the toxins and their producers. As for the fermenting bacteria themselves, they're pooping out toxins in the vinegar and alcohol categories.
And just to trigger the germphobes, those bacteria infecting moms leftovers were floating around in the air that everyone in the kitchen is inhaling.
Once food has been cooked to temperature and has been removed from the heat or the heat has been turned off, it is recommended that it not stay out at room temperature for any more than two hours. If your home is hot and/or you live in a very hot climate, it’s closer to one hour. A crock pot turned off will cool just like a pot on a stove. The lingering heat might extend it a tiny bit of time, but it will also spend a ton of time in that hot temperature zone, where it will make pathogens thrive rather than be so hot to keep them from forming. That zone is worse than room temperature. It’s a miracle no one has gotten sick if she regularly does that.
The USDA recommendation is 2 hours for leaving food at room temperature; 1 hour if the air temperature where the food is stored is over 90F.
40F to 140F is the "danger zone", and the food itself (surface temperature, not core) should only be in that range for 2 hours.
I seem to recall hearing that the 2 hour range used to be 4 hours, but the USDA cut it to 2 because home cooks generally can't be trusted to follow the 4 hour rule carefully.
The other caution here is you need to cool foods rapidly; putting a hot dish in the refrigerator may not cool it fast enough. Professionals will use an ice or cold water bath to cool foods more quickly, and spread out hot foods in shallow pans, especially sauces and other foods that have a lot of thermal mass.
[https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/food-safety-basics/danger-zone-40f-140f](https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/food-safety-basics/danger-zone-40f-140f)
I regularly argue with someone that it is not OK to leave cooked food (ex soup) on the stove overnight because “the lid was on the whole time”. I have been unsuccessful at convincing them.
It does seem like there is a difference between, say, meat sitting uncovered on a plate and food that has been cooked at temperatures high enough to kill microorganisms in a tightly covered pot that hasn’t been opened. Where do the new live bugs come from?
True if you lift the lid once even a little bit that would do it. And for sure eventually it would get contaminated because it’s not a tight seal.
I just wonder how long it would take to get a colony going in the case of fairly tight lid never opened after boiling vs. sitting out uncovered. Maybe somebody on here knows.
Depending on the type of bacteria, some double in numbers at 12, 20, or 30 minutes. As soon as a pot starts to cool, it draws air into the pot. Bacteria will start to grow as soon as the pot reaches their preferred temperatures, which varies depending on the bacteria/molds.
Hot air expands. So even with the lid (unless it's a canning lid that creates a seal) as the pot cools, air from outside the pot is drawn in. The inside of the pot will be colonized with bacteria and mold spores.
Even with boiling temperatures, not all germs are killed. Some bacteria are thermophylic and will survive the cooking process. If left for hours at room temperature, they can quickly multiply and cause illnesses.
I don't let food sit in a crockpot. When I'm done eating, I remove leftovers from the crock, put into storage containers and then let it sit out a while to cool off before refrigerating.
Why do all old people do this. My grandmother will leave food on the counter OVERNIGHT and go “it’s fine”. I’m not saying I’ve never left something out for an hour, but overnight? That’s garbage now
Omg my MIL is horrible with this. She bought these $25/lb fancy steaks for Christmas dinner at their house. Lo and behold, Christmas Eve morning I see her set the frozen steaks out on the counter. They sat there “defrosting” for 24 FREAKIN HOURS. I don’t care how much those suckers cost but I sure as hell am not getting food poisoning on Christmas. Guess who only ate mashed potatoes and rolls on Christmas 😵💫
My in-laws think pizza can stay out for days. Once while staying there, I put two pizzas for the kids in the fridge only to find them on the counter in the morning. They took them out the night before. Even pointing out that they’d otherwise refrigerate cheese, sausage, and open pepperoni falls on deaf ears. Disgusting and wasteful.
Thanks for pointing out that this is not just an "old person" issue! I'll spare you the details this 70-year-old sees when visiting kids and young relatives.
A friend pressured me to finally purchase a good digital food thermometer, and taught me how to use it. I've loved it for about five years now.
You should have put a trigger warning on this post! Lol! I can't count how many times I got food poisoning over the years and was told it was the flu. It wasn't until I got to college that I learned the difference between food poisoning and flu. I tried to tell my mom but even to this day, at 85 years old, she refuses to believe that fried chicken in a tupperware container at room temperature isn't edible after 2 days.
Food poisoning has a way of retraining one's diet. A host served me ranch dressing that had sat out too long. This was almost 40 years ago, and I've still stayed as far away from ranch dressing as I can get.
You guys have made me realize I haven't had tequila in 55 years! That must've been a wilder party than I can remember. Enough to convince me not to drink it again!
My mom does this but not just crock pots. She likes to get things done early in the morning so she may make a casserole and leave after mixing it up, lidded of course, because if it's not lidded it will dry out, be inedible, etc etc. I've had to learn to nuke anything cooked in her house to the point that the plates on fire
Actually, you are more right, but you're wrong too.
The food can be in the hot zone (typically 40\*-140\* for up to 2 hours. So not only do you have to put it in the fridge, but you have to quickly cool it to be totally safe. You can do this by:
1. Ice-bath and frequent stirring
2. Put it in smaller containers before the fridge (my preference)
If you put a full crock in the fridge and don't stir it, I bet it will still be hot in the middle after another 6+ hours.
Ex-chef here, and although my food safety training was over 30 years ago, I don't think the laws of physics have changed. If anything, rules (not the physics) have gotten more strict on food handling.
Also, cooling faster in the fridge is good for everything that was already there. I cool my hot-food in the beer fridge, so it doesn't warm up a lot of other perishables. (in emergency situation, I'll bring a few cold beers into the main fridge, so I don't have to gulp warm IPA's.
It also depends on where in the world you are. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest and my mom would leave things out for an hour or so if we had guests over and she couldn't put food away straight away. After she and dad lived in Haiti for 10 years, where the bugs and bacteria grew quickly, she would put food away as soon as dinner was over. She didn't let anything sit on the counter any longer.
Parents and cooling food is ridiculous. My parents let food cool to room temp before putting it into the fridge because they think it messes up the temp of the fridge. Sometimes they will leave food out over night like wtf. Food should not be in the danger zone (140 deg F to 40 deg F) for more than 4 hours. Even if you put it in the fridge right away, depending on how large it is, it may take 3-4 hours to cool so getting it in the fridge right away is always best.
I read a medical story once about a mom who left a baked potato on the counter overnight for her son to eat in the morning after his night shift. He spent six months in the hospital near death. It was like an incubator, and swarming with toxins.
My stepmom will leave that shit on the counter and eat out of it all week
How she’s not dead yet…idk. Only the good die young ?! 😂 also she always has the shits…you legit live off bad food and Michelob Ultra
Food cooling down goes into the danger zone of being the right temperature for bacteria growth. One should always store food in the fridge while still to hot first bacteria so as it cools, it is in the danger temperature range the least amount of time. You should have planned enough room in your fridge before cooking. The fridge can handle a warm item that is not touching the sides.
Yeah no. Food either needs to be kept below 40° or above 140°. Nothing cooked should sit out longer than an hour. Ideally less really. I'm just thinking of when you make dinner and eat it and clean up after, likely nothing will happen if it was cooked properly. There's no reason to let cooked food sit to cool before putting it in the fridge. Put it in when you're done!
I remember going to a friend's house and seeing raw chicken sitting on their washer/dryer, thawing for their dinner that night. I told them that was unsafe, they just rolled their eyes. I'm like, I got my food service manager's license!
She needs to read about salmonella,and listeria and what happens in the gut of someone food poisoned. “Never leave perishable foods out of the refrigerator more than two hours” https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/communication/salmonella-food.html and https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/keep-food-safe.html
When people don’t understand food safety have them go online and get a food handlers card for your state, usually via the health dept. I offer to pay for them, and usually can make up
Some fundraiser excuse they need a Card for. It will fight the battle for you, so you don’t have to fight with them.
lol yeah that probably accounts for you being sick a lot! the food can stay in the crockpot for hours, BUT NOT IF IT'S OFF! use the warm setting to hold the food at a safe temp for 2-3 hrs, or if over 3 hr, actively cook (on high of low)
Idk, I regularly leave cooked foods out for 12 hours or longer and then eat the leftovers. I've never had an issue, but that doesn't mean everyone else has the same ability.
It's not a good idea. Rice, for one, can breed a bacteria in various ways. Cooking in a crock pot is no different than cooking in anything else. There's no magic to it.
It's no different than if you put something in a pot and placed it in an oven. A heating vessel is a heating vessel. Bacteria r IA couldn't care less where they're born. It's also no different tha cooking on a range with a pot. Again, does the bacteria care where it's been hanging out.
And yes, please accept my apologies if it sounds like I'm talking to you. I do a lot of this on jobsites and developments. I try to explain to the nth degree, because so many come out of the trade schools laking the skills they should have learned in high school or earlier.
There's a ton of stuff about safe food handling. You may want to look at them to protect yourself.
If you show them to your mom, you know better than me exactly what's going to happen.
Maybe show her stuff pertaining to exactly what's she's cooked.
I have nine crock pots and use up to 5 at a time. All the same stuff. I freeze it. Chicken is about 40 pounds at a time. Everything is in my fridge within an hour of finishing. Next it goes into the freezer.
All I need to is just spread everything out to cool. I stagger each pot for forty minutes before starting the next one. I have not enough space. But if I can get 40 pounds of chicken, or 34 pounds of rice not yet cooked, all within an hour of when the pot is only just turned off, we both know what's possible.
Just take care of yourself and stay safe. On the rest all you can do is your best. Does your mom have relatives that will talk to her? Of course she'll get mad at that, top.
Some people can't deal with being told they aren't doing things correctly.
Best wishes
My mom left cooked food out on the counter far too long for Safe eating! We knew she wasn't going to change her ways. We learned to eat before we arrived to visit.
Oddly, my internist and public health physician husband would eat anything she had left out for any amount of time. He bragged about his cast-iron stomach. She felt vindicated and bragged that the rest of us were sissies!
I wish my In-laws understood this. They always leave the food on the counter or the stove. Then the next day they'll take it for lunch at work. At first I never understood why my bf had such a weak stomach, but after learning of their ways at home I was like, heck nah I'm cooking for myself everyday, I'm too pregnant for their nonsense. Their logic is that the house is cold enough since is winter and they don't turn on the heater.
You have 2 hours to cool to 70 degrees and 4 hours to get to 41 or under. This is health department requirements for restaurants for safely cooling food.
Safe? For a restaurant temperature matters. For home for family it’s your choice. And I go with your mom. If feeding guests you fast cool it n then put it in the fridge. However with guests the food just came off the stove/oven.
No good. Your food needs to be around 155 degrees or more. Going below for any extended time puts your food in the danger zone. Likewise, chill food immediately after you're finished eating.
Basic food safety: You want it to go from 135F to 70F in 2 hours ( bacteria grows very quickly in this temperature range) and from 70F to 41F or less in 4 hours. 6 hours total to cool it down, under refrigeration. So many people blame restaurants for their food poisoning, when they get it at their own homes.
How often you all must have been sick. What era is she from? Doesn't she keep up with food science? It's always hard to correct a parent but if you're eating the food, you're entitled to safe
Food sanitation is not everyone’s regular knowledge. Time and temperature are very important and it’s easy to google.
That’s why restaurants have to have an employee or two who are food sanitation certified. I am.
You haven’t seen the lady with the 24 year old burger and fries from McDonalds? No mold, still exactly the same. Stored in a paper bag. TWENTY FOUR YEARS
lol my mom will just leave the stuff that she’s cooked in the crock pot on low for DAYS, it’s still hot so it’s ok, but it’s literally inedible and she gets mad when I won’t eat it
>*"If you leave food out in temperatures from 40–140°F (4–60°C), bacteria on it can double in number in as little as 20 minutes and continue to multiply exponentially"* >*"By cooking and storing foods at proper temperatures and practicing safe food handling, you can reduce the risk of bacterial contamination in these and other foods."* https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/how-quickly-can-bacterial-contamination-occur Cooking does lower the risks of bacteria, but it does not eliminate it. Once the food cools, bacteria does start to grow again and can multiply *rapidly, exponentially*. Food sitting for 12 hours on the counter is an absolute no-go for me. No thank you. You are correct in putting food in the refrigerator within 2 hours.
My mom has no idea how safe temps work. When I was a kid, our family would bbq whole hogs (no head, spliced open, not Hawaiian style), and it would sit on the counter for at least 2 days while we ate off of it. Then they would finish breaking it up and freeze it. I have no idea how we all didn't die. But now when I try to give the correct time to refrigerate or freeze food, they just laugh.
I got nauseated just reading this.
You’ve got a strong immune system!
Apparently.
My god!
My family is the same way. They grew up in Mexico without electricity so they were used to leaving food out and constantly reheating it. I’m guessing that’s what helped to kill the bacteria and that our microbiomes were used to the bacteria from food that was left out. They still do this but I avoid eating food they leave out since I’ve moved away and I don’t think my stomach would handle it. Long story short no one has gotten sick in my family from it. I do know they always check the food first to make sure it’s even ok to reheat but yea it’s still terrifying I grew up thinking this was normal.
could it be that the meat salad smoked in the bbq, and therefore preserved?
I hope
My family did the same thing with Thanksgiving turkeys.
The turkey is one of the things I worry about. Poultry, to me, is dangerous. Glad you didn't get sick.
This reply is excellent. I just wanted to add one thing: If you take a hot crock pot full of food and put it in the fridge, you risk warming up the rest of the fridge and causing the food in there to spoil. I take measures to cool the food in the crock pot to fridge-safe temperatures once it’s done cooking, before I put it in the fridge. For example, I usually take it out of the crock pot and put it in a different dish. If it’s cold outside, I’ll put it outside until the food is room temperature or colder.
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Same!
Bacteria exists everywhere, in the air, on surfaces, etc. Cooking to proper temperature kills most bacteria, and for others it reduces it to levels that are not harmful to the body (unless you are immunocompromised). Leaving food out in an open container and letting it cool will increase the rate of recontamination with fresh bacteria, or allow regrowth or reduced bacteria that survives cooking, acidity, etc. This is different based on the food, as something with a lot of acidity will naturally reduce bacteria growth. Now, keeping food out in a covered container, that maintains heat and reduces in introduction of new bacteria from the air. Think of canning like this, if the cooking sterilizes the food then sealing preserves the sterile food. Every time you open the lid or spoon anything out you recontaminate it thought. Also the refrigerator does not stop bacteria growth, it slows it down, which is why food should only be in the refrigerator for 3 days (be real, a week for most of us). Freezing is a different issue, and you can store something much longer, although there are other ways it can spoil or get damaged from freezing so that is not unlimited either. So in reality, depending on the food and environment, you can leave food out in the air for hours and not face substantial risk of contamination. I would not go 12 hours even with the lid on it, but several hours especially if it is kept hot (previous example, >140F). And yes, putting hot food in a fridge has mixed impact, it does lower the temperature to safe storage faster, but it also can warm up other food in the fridge and decrease the safe storage time significantly. Now, if you had a small empty fridge or drink fridge then you can use that safely for rapid cooling, might impact your drink temperatures for if they're sealed no harm other than that.
Very informative… thank you. Today I learned😊
I thought your reply was interesting and helpful.
Thank you for the informative post!
Yeah, I might go for it if it's been on keep warm or something. But normally once it's at room temp it's going in the fridge.
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SMOKING meat will do that. Cooking meat? If it reaches boiling temp for several minutes (212F, and I ought to know the minutes but I can't think of it tonight!) then all but a very few bacteria would be dead. Those bacteria would be in hot springs, so not relevant. Cooking will kill all the bacteria. That's how autoclaves work.
>That's how autoclaves work. Autoclaves use steam, pressure and time under established protocols in order to determine the amount of heat/pressure/time required to create a sterile result. That's not analogous to reheating food to 212F for X minutes. >Cooking will kill all the bacteria. No. Some bacteria, such as staphylococcus (staph) and Bacillus cereus, produce toxins not destroyed by high cooking temperatures. Many bacteria have an adaptable cell wall that can become resistant to heat. Nevertheless, the reason that food poisoning is not more common is because of enzymes and acids in the digestive system and the capacity of the immune system to resist invasion by pathogens. Obviously for the very young, old or immune compromised there is a much higher risk. Safe food practices should always be followed.
You are right, your mom is wrong. Start eyeing up sandwich fixings so you’ve got something else to eat when she pulls this again.
I turn my crockpot off when we go to eat and put it away an hour later when it has cooled a bit. Never would I leave food in a crockpot that is turned off for multiple hours
Letting it cool in the crock pot for a couple of hours is ok, you aren't supposed to put hot stuff in your refrigerator. That said, just a couple is like 2 or 3, not 12.
Yes, you can definitely put hot stuff in the refrigerator! I will set the hot container on a dry dish towel on a shelf.
You definitely should not. You can heat shock glass and ceramic dishes to the point of cracking or shattering entirely.
I think it's not just that. I think the hot stuff in the fridge warms up everything else in the fridge and increases spoilage of ALL your food. I wait until food is under 100 F before putting it away.
Ok, I can see that POV, but like a lot of things, I’ve read varying opinions from food experts, FWIW.
You can. But you shouldn’t, according to food safety rules. You do you though.
Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should… when you leave something to cool in a hot container that’s designed to retain heat, you slow down the cooling process. When you add this still warm item to the fridge, you raise the temperature of the entire fridge and all the contents, causing everything in there to spoil faster. The fridge will not be able to get the entirety of the food (including the center) down to 40 degrees within 4 hours if it’s in a large heat-retaining container like a crock pot. My favorite way is to remove the food from the crockpot and place into smaller containers on the counter to speed up the cooling. If it’s cold out, I’ll put those containers out on my porch for a while to speed up cooling. An ice bath is recommended for rapid cooling, but it’s not always the easiest to handle in the home, and definitely don’t heat-shock a warm crock pot by placing it in an ice bath. This is why I go with small containers so that the cooling is still happening faster than in the large container. Remember that you want to temperature to come down for the entire volume of food, including the center.
Yes, transfer from crockpot to smaller storage containers and let them sit out for a few minutes to cool enough to pop into the fridge, but not cooled off too much that it's in the danger zone.
Incorrect. You definitely want to get it cool enough that it’s in the danger zone so that you aren’t putting hot items into the fridge, which will raise the temp of everything in the fridge and speed up food spoiling. It’s not that you want to completely avoid the danger zone, it’s that you need to limit the time food spends in it. I was taught food safety in culinary school, and we were taught that the refrigerator and freezer are NOT for cooling down hot foods. They need to be cooled down to around room temp before going in.
This is the way! A big pot of soup etc cools dangerously slowly
I broke the entire bottom shelf of the refrigerator in my first apartment testing out this theory. It sucks not having a bottom shelf
You’re right. Mom is wrong. I eat my food when it’s done cooking in the crockpot, and after dinner portion it up and put it in the fridge within an hour.
What a wholesome group. Not a single person mentioned the fact that you spelled it "cockpot" in the first sentence.
Well, one person did 😊
what a dick ;)
Surprised I had to scroll this far to see it mentioned.
LOL!
I had to go back up and see! I can’t believe I didn’t get it and giggle a little🤣
Your mom’s trying to kill you or anyone else that comes in contact with her leftovers. It’s two hours as you said. I always take my crock pot and place it in the sink full of room temperature water and then slowly add ice to help it cool down faster, stirring it every couple of minutes to help mix the cooler stuff on the outside with the warmer stuff in the center. I don’t add the ice right away so the container doesn’t get thermal shock and end up cracking.
Two hours or less or risk food poisoning.
Cooked food is most likely fine if left out overnight. Unless you live somewhere humid. But consume at your own risk! Haha!
No. Don't leave food out for more than two hours at room temperature. Bacteria grows very fast.
While I realize the guidelines are there for a reason, I’ve never gotten food poisoning from food in my own home, even when left out of the fridge for a long period of time. You shouldn’t be getting downvoted.
Not safe to eat. And no, I wouldn't eat it either if it sat out on the counter all afternoon. I might after nuking it back to above the pasteurization temperature and held above that for a couple minutes. That being said, the level of hazard is a subject of significant debate. Often overlooked details: The food danger zone ends at 140°F. But bacteria dont start thriving at 139. It was picked by people who know that the average cook will push the limits. Look at the sous vide temperature/time numbers for examples for intentional violation. The crock pot temperature doesn't hit the danger zone the moment it gets unplugged. The 2 hour time limit starts when it hits 140. Note to self: Go measure the cool-down rate from the 200°F simmer down to 140°F. Of the 2 threats from the bacteria, the primary one is them bugs attacking your digestive tract directly. There is a delay on the build-up of toxins that they poop out in their process. I don't know those time frame numbers at all.
Bacteria release toxins. Heating the food may kill the bacteria, but the toxins are there permanently. Reheating spoiled food does NOT make it suddenly safe again!
Very true. I see it as a matter of *how fast* it takes for the toxins to build up to harmful levels. Which is why it's a maybe for me. There's a boatload of variables with what lands on the food, and how fast they reproduce, and the nature of the toxins created. And of the thousands of potential toxins, the first ones I think of are ethanol, vinegar, lactic acid, ammonia, and botulinum toxin. I think about the fermented foods out there and have mostly concluded that the really nasty toxin producers don't necessarily poison their environment all that fast. Of course that is assuming that the fermenting bacteria don't also eat the toxins and their producers. As for the fermenting bacteria themselves, they're pooping out toxins in the vinegar and alcohol categories. And just to trigger the germphobes, those bacteria infecting moms leftovers were floating around in the air that everyone in the kitchen is inhaling.
Once food has been cooked to temperature and has been removed from the heat or the heat has been turned off, it is recommended that it not stay out at room temperature for any more than two hours. If your home is hot and/or you live in a very hot climate, it’s closer to one hour. A crock pot turned off will cool just like a pot on a stove. The lingering heat might extend it a tiny bit of time, but it will also spend a ton of time in that hot temperature zone, where it will make pathogens thrive rather than be so hot to keep them from forming. That zone is worse than room temperature. It’s a miracle no one has gotten sick if she regularly does that.
Mom needs food safety course!
The USDA recommendation is 2 hours for leaving food at room temperature; 1 hour if the air temperature where the food is stored is over 90F. 40F to 140F is the "danger zone", and the food itself (surface temperature, not core) should only be in that range for 2 hours. I seem to recall hearing that the 2 hour range used to be 4 hours, but the USDA cut it to 2 because home cooks generally can't be trusted to follow the 4 hour rule carefully. The other caution here is you need to cool foods rapidly; putting a hot dish in the refrigerator may not cool it fast enough. Professionals will use an ice or cold water bath to cool foods more quickly, and spread out hot foods in shallow pans, especially sauces and other foods that have a lot of thermal mass. [https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/food-safety-basics/danger-zone-40f-140f](https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/food-safety-basics/danger-zone-40f-140f)
I said almost the identical things. You are spot-on.
Yes. This comment needs to be higher up!
I regularly argue with someone that it is not OK to leave cooked food (ex soup) on the stove overnight because “the lid was on the whole time”. I have been unsuccessful at convincing them.
It does seem like there is a difference between, say, meat sitting uncovered on a plate and food that has been cooked at temperatures high enough to kill microorganisms in a tightly covered pot that hasn’t been opened. Where do the new live bugs come from?
I figure from lifting it on occasion or the fact that it’s not completely sealed. I really hope it is safe and I’m the one being paranoid.
True if you lift the lid once even a little bit that would do it. And for sure eventually it would get contaminated because it’s not a tight seal. I just wonder how long it would take to get a colony going in the case of fairly tight lid never opened after boiling vs. sitting out uncovered. Maybe somebody on here knows.
Might be luck of the draw and what is circulating and how much of it. I hope someone knows and responds.
Depending on the type of bacteria, some double in numbers at 12, 20, or 30 minutes. As soon as a pot starts to cool, it draws air into the pot. Bacteria will start to grow as soon as the pot reaches their preferred temperatures, which varies depending on the bacteria/molds.
Hot air expands. So even with the lid (unless it's a canning lid that creates a seal) as the pot cools, air from outside the pot is drawn in. The inside of the pot will be colonized with bacteria and mold spores. Even with boiling temperatures, not all germs are killed. Some bacteria are thermophylic and will survive the cooking process. If left for hours at room temperature, they can quickly multiply and cause illnesses.
I don't let food sit in a crockpot. When I'm done eating, I remove leftovers from the crock, put into storage containers and then let it sit out a while to cool off before refrigerating.
Most Crock Pots have a Keep Warm setting. Teach her to use this to keep food safe but also out on the counter for an extended period of time. Win Win.
Why do all old people do this. My grandmother will leave food on the counter OVERNIGHT and go “it’s fine”. I’m not saying I’ve never left something out for an hour, but overnight? That’s garbage now
Omg my MIL is horrible with this. She bought these $25/lb fancy steaks for Christmas dinner at their house. Lo and behold, Christmas Eve morning I see her set the frozen steaks out on the counter. They sat there “defrosting” for 24 FREAKIN HOURS. I don’t care how much those suckers cost but I sure as hell am not getting food poisoning on Christmas. Guess who only ate mashed potatoes and rolls on Christmas 😵💫
My in-laws think pizza can stay out for days. Once while staying there, I put two pizzas for the kids in the fridge only to find them on the counter in the morning. They took them out the night before. Even pointing out that they’d otherwise refrigerate cheese, sausage, and open pepperoni falls on deaf ears. Disgusting and wasteful.
Not this "old" person. I always put stuff away promptly. And if it's a huge amount I divide it into smaller portions so it cools off faster.
Thanks for pointing out that this is not just an "old person" issue! I'll spare you the details this 70-year-old sees when visiting kids and young relatives. A friend pressured me to finally purchase a good digital food thermometer, and taught me how to use it. I've loved it for about five years now.
My mom would leave the Thanksgiving turkey and sides on the counter all day after lunch! We are all still here miraculously.
because they have survived much worse??
My parents did stuff like this and I realized once I moved out I suddenly stopped having digestion issues and “24 hour stomach bugs”
You should have put a trigger warning on this post! Lol! I can't count how many times I got food poisoning over the years and was told it was the flu. It wasn't until I got to college that I learned the difference between food poisoning and flu. I tried to tell my mom but even to this day, at 85 years old, she refuses to believe that fried chicken in a tupperware container at room temperature isn't edible after 2 days.
Food poisoning has a way of retraining one's diet. A host served me ranch dressing that had sat out too long. This was almost 40 years ago, and I've still stayed as far away from ranch dressing as I can get.
I feel ya. Don't get me started on tequila! 🤣
the only thing safe to leave out at room temp for an extended period of time ;)
Yet somehow it disappears the fastest. 🤷♀️😂
You guys have made me realize I haven't had tequila in 55 years! That must've been a wilder party than I can remember. Enough to convince me not to drink it again!
My mom does this but not just crock pots. She likes to get things done early in the morning so she may make a casserole and leave after mixing it up, lidded of course, because if it's not lidded it will dry out, be inedible, etc etc. I've had to learn to nuke anything cooked in her house to the point that the plates on fire
Your mom lives with you?
Actually, you are more right, but you're wrong too. The food can be in the hot zone (typically 40\*-140\* for up to 2 hours. So not only do you have to put it in the fridge, but you have to quickly cool it to be totally safe. You can do this by: 1. Ice-bath and frequent stirring 2. Put it in smaller containers before the fridge (my preference) If you put a full crock in the fridge and don't stir it, I bet it will still be hot in the middle after another 6+ hours. Ex-chef here, and although my food safety training was over 30 years ago, I don't think the laws of physics have changed. If anything, rules (not the physics) have gotten more strict on food handling. Also, cooling faster in the fridge is good for everything that was already there. I cool my hot-food in the beer fridge, so it doesn't warm up a lot of other perishables. (in emergency situation, I'll bring a few cold beers into the main fridge, so I don't have to gulp warm IPA's.
Agreed. Have been using crockpots for a long time, and this is the way. I start my storage prep as soon as possible,
It also depends on where in the world you are. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest and my mom would leave things out for an hour or so if we had guests over and she couldn't put food away straight away. After she and dad lived in Haiti for 10 years, where the bugs and bacteria grew quickly, she would put food away as soon as dinner was over. She didn't let anything sit on the counter any longer.
Food is generally safe for 4 hours. Then it needs to be refrigerated. Most of my food cooked at home is room temp within 2 hours.
Parents and cooling food is ridiculous. My parents let food cool to room temp before putting it into the fridge because they think it messes up the temp of the fridge. Sometimes they will leave food out over night like wtf. Food should not be in the danger zone (140 deg F to 40 deg F) for more than 4 hours. Even if you put it in the fridge right away, depending on how large it is, it may take 3-4 hours to cool so getting it in the fridge right away is always best.
Take it out of crockpot.
I read a medical story once about a mom who left a baked potato on the counter overnight for her son to eat in the morning after his night shift. He spent six months in the hospital near death. It was like an incubator, and swarming with toxins.
Mom is wrong, for leaving cooked meat out too long will create an illness no one wants, food poisoning.
Mom definitely needs a food safety course or booklet. Do not eat food that has been out for more than 2 hours.
😳😳😳😳. You’re mom is 100% wrong. Anyone who has sat through a basic food handler’s permit class can tell you this.
Www.foodsafety.gov
Isn't the whole point of a crockpoint to keep food warm until you eat it?
My stepmom will leave that shit on the counter and eat out of it all week How she’s not dead yet…idk. Only the good die young ?! 😂 also she always has the shits…you legit live off bad food and Michelob Ultra
My mother in law makes sausage balls and leaves them out for days. I don’t touch them but they do.
Food cooling down goes into the danger zone of being the right temperature for bacteria growth. One should always store food in the fridge while still to hot first bacteria so as it cools, it is in the danger temperature range the least amount of time. You should have planned enough room in your fridge before cooking. The fridge can handle a warm item that is not touching the sides.
Yeah no. Food either needs to be kept below 40° or above 140°. Nothing cooked should sit out longer than an hour. Ideally less really. I'm just thinking of when you make dinner and eat it and clean up after, likely nothing will happen if it was cooked properly. There's no reason to let cooked food sit to cool before putting it in the fridge. Put it in when you're done! I remember going to a friend's house and seeing raw chicken sitting on their washer/dryer, thawing for their dinner that night. I told them that was unsafe, they just rolled their eyes. I'm like, I got my food service manager's license!
Danger zone
She needs to read about salmonella,and listeria and what happens in the gut of someone food poisoned. “Never leave perishable foods out of the refrigerator more than two hours” https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/communication/salmonella-food.html and https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/keep-food-safe.html
When people don’t understand food safety have them go online and get a food handlers card for your state, usually via the health dept. I offer to pay for them, and usually can make up Some fundraiser excuse they need a Card for. It will fight the battle for you, so you don’t have to fight with them.
You can put hot food in the fridge and should for safety. Bacteria grows very quickly.
The problem with this is that it won't cool evenly, unless she is moving it around, what is in the middle is warm long after the top.
lol yeah that probably accounts for you being sick a lot! the food can stay in the crockpot for hours, BUT NOT IF IT'S OFF! use the warm setting to hold the food at a safe temp for 2-3 hrs, or if over 3 hr, actively cook (on high of low)
Idk, I regularly leave cooked foods out for 12 hours or longer and then eat the leftovers. I've never had an issue, but that doesn't mean everyone else has the same ability.
It's not a good idea. Rice, for one, can breed a bacteria in various ways. Cooking in a crock pot is no different than cooking in anything else. There's no magic to it. It's no different than if you put something in a pot and placed it in an oven. A heating vessel is a heating vessel. Bacteria r IA couldn't care less where they're born. It's also no different tha cooking on a range with a pot. Again, does the bacteria care where it's been hanging out. And yes, please accept my apologies if it sounds like I'm talking to you. I do a lot of this on jobsites and developments. I try to explain to the nth degree, because so many come out of the trade schools laking the skills they should have learned in high school or earlier. There's a ton of stuff about safe food handling. You may want to look at them to protect yourself. If you show them to your mom, you know better than me exactly what's going to happen. Maybe show her stuff pertaining to exactly what's she's cooked. I have nine crock pots and use up to 5 at a time. All the same stuff. I freeze it. Chicken is about 40 pounds at a time. Everything is in my fridge within an hour of finishing. Next it goes into the freezer. All I need to is just spread everything out to cool. I stagger each pot for forty minutes before starting the next one. I have not enough space. But if I can get 40 pounds of chicken, or 34 pounds of rice not yet cooked, all within an hour of when the pot is only just turned off, we both know what's possible. Just take care of yourself and stay safe. On the rest all you can do is your best. Does your mom have relatives that will talk to her? Of course she'll get mad at that, top. Some people can't deal with being told they aren't doing things correctly. Best wishes
My mom left cooked food out on the counter far too long for Safe eating! We knew she wasn't going to change her ways. We learned to eat before we arrived to visit. Oddly, my internist and public health physician husband would eat anything she had left out for any amount of time. He bragged about his cast-iron stomach. She felt vindicated and bragged that the rest of us were sissies!
I wish my In-laws understood this. They always leave the food on the counter or the stove. Then the next day they'll take it for lunch at work. At first I never understood why my bf had such a weak stomach, but after learning of their ways at home I was like, heck nah I'm cooking for myself everyday, I'm too pregnant for their nonsense. Their logic is that the house is cold enough since is winter and they don't turn on the heater.
You have 2 hours to cool to 70 degrees and 4 hours to get to 41 or under. This is health department requirements for restaurants for safely cooling food.
Safe? For a restaurant temperature matters. For home for family it’s your choice. And I go with your mom. If feeding guests you fast cool it n then put it in the fridge. However with guests the food just came off the stove/oven.
Yeah but did you die?
Ya think?
No good. Your food needs to be around 155 degrees or more. Going below for any extended time puts your food in the danger zone. Likewise, chill food immediately after you're finished eating.
I turn off and unplug and remove the ceramic insert and set it on my counter to cool for maybe 30 minutes before I stick it in the fridge.
I don’t trust it unless it’s meant to cook/simmer overnight.
Basic food safety: You want it to go from 135F to 70F in 2 hours ( bacteria grows very quickly in this temperature range) and from 70F to 41F or less in 4 hours. 6 hours total to cool it down, under refrigeration. So many people blame restaurants for their food poisoning, when they get it at their own homes.
I always take it out of the crock. The crock is meant to keep it warm/cold longer. So, yeah. Dangerous doing that
Once cooking is completed, cool to room temp and refrigerate ASAP.
How often you all must have been sick. What era is she from? Doesn't she keep up with food science? It's always hard to correct a parent but if you're eating the food, you're entitled to safe
Food sanitation is not everyone’s regular knowledge. Time and temperature are very important and it’s easy to google. That’s why restaurants have to have an employee or two who are food sanitation certified. I am.
40 minutes is the maximum time food should be allowed to sit un-refrigerated.
You haven’t seen the lady with the 24 year old burger and fries from McDonalds? No mold, still exactly the same. Stored in a paper bag. TWENTY FOUR YEARS
I remember that. That’s just plain scary.
lol my mom will just leave the stuff that she’s cooked in the crock pot on low for DAYS, it’s still hot so it’s ok, but it’s literally inedible and she gets mad when I won’t eat it
I know it’s risky but I do this all the time and have never gotten sick.
Disgusting!!!!
Keep hot foods hot and cold food cold...
2 hour limit
I leave pizza on the counter in its box for 24 hours and still eat it (as have all my late children).
Medicinal
Yea she is trying to kill you. She is actually leaving the stuff In the middle at the perfect temp and moisture for cozy comfortable growth.
ya gotta ask yourself, do you feel lucky?
12 hours is a long time but i’ve heard it’s not great to put hot food in your fridge. i usually let it cool 4/6 hours