Spent three days in the hospital from bad samosas from an Indian restaurant, after having gone into sepsis. It was the first time I think I really, truly realized that food poisoning isn’t always just puking a few times. It can absolutely be deadly.
Also, fuck you, Namaste.
Yeah, the boyfriend and his parents may have steal (edit: steel) stomachs and are used to a certain level of bacteria exposure. People that aren’t can become very ill.
I used to work with a guy and we hung out once and grilled up a bunch of meats. We ate and stuck the leftovers in the oven and I went home and I called it a day. Well I came back the next day at least 20-24 hours later and they were still there. Apparently he does it all the time but I wasn’t about to touch any of it
If I leave something out on accident I'll still eat it. Save for something that is served medium rare or perhaps seafood. But I don't do it on purpose because that will get you eventually.
My boyfriend does this as well! His parents are also to blame for this habit. They visited us last year, and left a roast to defrost for 3 days in their car and 1 day on our counter before cooking it. Needless to say, it wasn’t refrigerated after being cooked, and his family all grazed on said roast for a couple days while it sat on the stove. I feel you.
My solution: I told my bf that putting food away that both of us will eat again is neither an unreasonable or risky request to ask of him, but *not* packing and refrigerating leftovers is an unreasonable and risky request to ask of me. If I won’t be eating the leftovers, he’s welcome to keep them out. That’s worked for us, and hopefully he’s willing to listen and meet you in the middle. If he isn’t, that’s another problem. Good luck!
In Canadian winter my mom put food in the car trunk when the fridge got full, we called it the second freezer and ate turkey sandwiches for a week after Christmas. I think we have genetically strong stomachs. Most of my life I had no idea anybody could get sick from food that looked and smelled normal.
That's different. Canadian winters reach all the way to -40C in most places, which is colder than residential freezers so leaving food in that temp isn't an issue.
The issue comes when the temp fluctuates too much when the food is there, or when its simply too warm to keep any food in i.e. above 2 C.
My mom grew up with something called an "icebox" which was literally a box, and they kept a chunk of some local glacier in the barn to supply fresh ice for it, so she had experience with that sort of thing. My uncle went to school in a horse-drawn wagon schoolbus that had a charcoal stove on the floor to keep the children warm. Unlike the Amish, they all embraced electricity and seatbelts and vaccines they got the chance, but they did not view the modern conveniences as essential the way my generation does!
Food stored in the trunk during Canadian winter should be fine. It's probably colder outside than in the freezer, so it's fine for storage as long as the food's well covered.
Trust me, I couldn’t understand either. They rationalized it by telling me it started out frozen, and it was winter outside. Yes - but you’ve been driving with the heat on inside the car, right?! Anyway, only one person got sick. He said it was worth it, and the roast was delicious. Lol
Omg you saying this just brought back the memory of my best friend's mother defrosting their chicken on the hood of their family van in the 100+degree summer heat in the southwest. I always avoided eating things there as much as possible 🤮
She did it so much that it disintegrated the finish off the hood of the van.
>left a roast to defrost for 3 days in their car and 1 day on our counter before cooking it. Needless to say, it wasn’t refrigerated after being cooked, and his family all grazed on said roast for a couple days while it sat on the stove
Nightmare fodder
My roommates family does this and it drives me nuts. I just eat the beans when they are freshly cooked and refuse to have any when they are “refried” the next day. Like no thanks. It’s like science means nothing.
Cultural or not, it especially isn’t safe for OP, who’s stomach isn’t used to it.
I’ve lived abroad with host families twice. My second family did what the boyfriend did. I was sick for a month straight.
OK but unless the boyfriend grew up in a country that doesn’t have refrigerators I’m pretty sure this is not acceptable there either right? Like it would violate food safety standards and be like me to give people food poisoning in other places too, wouldn’t it?
Different cultural practices create different gut microbiomes, so food safety isn’t necessarily standard across the globe. Methods of preserving food differ all over, and gut bacteria adapt.
You actually believe the rest of the world that doesn’t have food safety standard everyone just has chronic food poisoning?
Ever wonder why locals can drink their tap water but you can’t?
The worst food poisoning of my life came from leftover Chinese that was left out all night. You ever have a point to where you poop only blood? You ever have it happen and then it won’t stop?
I was ready to call an ambulance. I finally got myself to the ER myself but it was the scariest moment for me.
Take that for what you will, but it was a painful lesson you both don’t have to go through. Just put the damn food away and stop asking for his opinion on the matter since it’s obviously trash.
I have. And it was my life everyday for over two years. It was awful.
But then again, I have a chronic autoimmune disease called ulcerative colitis. It's a form of IBD (Crohn's disease is also IBD.) This was an issue that had close attention from my doctor, many types of treatment, and left me very anemic for a long time. With the help of immunosuppressants I am now in remission and no longer deal with pooping blood all the time....
This is also why my doctor is INSISTENT that I do not get food poisoning because a bad case of it could kick my disease into a flare again. A case of severe food poisoning like you had could mess me up so badly long term. I feel bad because I waste a lot of food that people otherwise might eat but I just can't risk it. I also like to travel internationally and am twice as careful there--sadly no fun street vendor food for me since I can't guarantee the food was prepared with adequate safety standards.
Idk what the point of this comment is except to maybe...commiserate with your experience and add another opinion in favor of just how dangerous poor food safety practices can be.
Yes apparently people die from eating pasta, rice, or beans left out too long. Was in the news not too long ago about a college kid who died similarly.
Absolutely everything goes in the fridge. We just go pantry locks because one of my cats just likes to bite down on food repeatedly but not eat it (sociopath...).
AHahaha. We had a cat that did that. He would press his head into the sealed bag until he broke the bag. Get his mouth on the bread. And proceed to monch several big bites of bread.
Got a gremlin who will bite any plastic for fun. She never eats or tries to bite the food, just the packaging. I'd be more angry, but my orange boy 🍊 has literally ripped into a new bag of flour I left on the counter for a few hours so he could eat it. Raw flour.
The nail in the coffin for leaving anything thats not a fruit or vegetable out was shortly after we adopted our orange boy a couple years ago, heard a ruckus in the kitchen at night and found a package of bagels on the ground with only a quarter bagel in it. A whole half of the bagel was gone and half of the other missing.
They're. Monsters.
I can tell my roommates cat sticks its head into water cups over night by all the cat hair on the cup lip.
Not really sure why there's cat hair on the toilet bowl.
you cat doesnt even have to want to eat it
keep it on the counter, and they'll eventually end up on the floor with several trails of paw prints onto your best rug and blankets
Yup! After a party, I once forgot to put away the remains of a charcuterie board and left it on the counter. The next day, I found an olive on the floor with little feline tooth marks in it.
Leave it out until it cools off maybe, then refrigerate. It takes zero effort to prevent food poisoning and harmful bacteria. Lol
(To clarify, leaving it out until it fully cools perhaps not, but usually by the time everyone has finished eating, it is probably time to put it away anyways and it has already cooled off enough except of course with large batches in a restaraunt setting)
Leaving something until it fully cools down can take hours depending on what it is. Foods cannot stay in the danger zone for longer than 4 hours. An ice bath usually does it (soak pot in an ice water bath in the sink), or there’s also these cold paddle things you can get to stir your large batches of soups and stews to cool down much quicker
I like to set the oven timer for an hour so I don’t forget the hot food I left to cool enough to put in the fridge. Otherwise my lazy butt sees the food on the stove in the morning and am mad at the waste as I throw it away.
Foods too $$$$ to throw away these days.
Yes this is a food safety tip I learned while getting my ServSafe certification years ago, if you put hot things in the fridge they can potentially warm it up enough to be in the danger zone, plus it makes the fridge work harder. Supposed to let it cool till it's just slightly warm.
That's what I thought this was about as well until I read further.
If it's a relatively small item it won't be too much of an issue. Ofc if you put a huge pot of soup in, yikes.
I mainly don't do it because I'm afraid it'll damage the shelves or the box I put the food in
4 hours is just a strict rule set by public health for commercial food establishments. Realistically it can go a an hour or two longer than that and it’s fine. At home there’s really no need to cool things in an ice bath or ice paddle. However, overnight is pretty extreme.
When I worked at restaurant there was a large cooled area where we brought precooked food to cool off in. Obviously better than sticking it in the fridge right away
"Cannot" is a big claim. It absolutely can and you'll be fine 95% of the time. My family, like OP's BF's, always left cooked food out overnight and I don't think we were sick more often than normal. Is it the best thing to do? No. Will you die immediately? Also no.
It cannot as in that’s when bad stuff happens, whether it happens all the time is irrelevant. People drive without seatbelts all the time too, and it’s perfectly fine until they fly through the windshield
Good analogy. The reality is that food poisoning is rare even when proper care isn’t taken, yet if a restaurant is putting out 300 plates a day and isn’t taking proper precautions, they’ll definitely make someone sick sooner rather than later.
I also grew up in a house with horrific hygiene standards in the kitchen. Doesn’t seem like people get sick more than normal, but I don’t really eat any food prepared at my mothers house anymore
Or if you're really rich and fancy a blast chiller with probe! But yeah take it off heat for a biiit and then cover with saran with holes punched in the top
Thanks for sending me down a rabbit hole on cold paddles! I wish there were 1 liter ones for home use. If I make a big batch of soup, once it’s not boiling hot I’ll either sit the pot directly on some ice packs (if it’s not a huge amount) or spread it out in some big baking dishes on ice packs until it’s cool enough to freeze
I’ve never heard of a cold paddle. If it’s that much food, I usually put it into a bunch of smaller containers instead of one big dish. Cools faster and easier to reheat
I live with my MIL, she also does this.. but she’ll cook for ‘dinner’ at lunch time, leave it out reheat at 6-7ish then leave it out the whole next day to ‘revamp’ for dinner the second night, then when no one eats it she’ll put it in the fridge only to pull it out in 4 days for another ‘revamp’.
I’m 33 weeks pregnant man, and I’d never eat her cooking just in case.
I get sketched out even just putting my food in the fridge with her cooking
Jesus, is she trying to turn that wedding reception into a funeral? I mean, I play pretty fast and loose myself for my own cooking — because the risk simply isn't that great over relatively short durations — but *forty-eight hours* at room temp? That's obscenely dangerous.
He might be fine now but there's no telling his gut will be able to handle it the same 10 years from now.
If he tries to use the "heat will kill off bacteria anyway" argument, please let him know about bacteria waste products that absolutely won't be affected by heat and can cause horrible food poisoning.
Here is a related story that was all over the internet a few years ago:
https://www.delish.com/food-news/a26079888/college-student-room-temperature-pasta-death/
[To further support this, things like rice at room temperature is a big no-no](https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/food-and-diet/can-reheating-rice-cause-food-poisoning/)
Those are the kind of comments here that make me think that a lot of people in this sub are hypochondriacs. You can smell spoiled rice easily. Considering that SEA is a tropical region and it's still common practice to leave food unrefrigerated for hours, maybe the studies often cited here are considering the most vulnerable people’s safety (babies, immunocompromised, etc.).
That or Asians just developed an immunity lmao.
We know that people living in an area can develop a tolerance for bacterial contamination in water, I don't see why it couldn't be the same for bacterial growth that causes food poisoning.
Anecdotally, I fully believe this. My wife is Asian, and I’m from North America, but we live in Asia.
We joke about her iron stomach all the time, because her family grew up leaving stuff like soup out on the stove for a day or two. They would simply remove the skin that formed on the top, boil the soup again, and eat it whenever they felt like it.
We’ve eaten the same meals (not the soup, I refuse to touch that) that have made me violently ill, and she is seemingly unaffected. I’m reasonably certain that food poisoning just gave up on her years ago.
Maybe the ingredients help a lot as well. Vinegar and soy sauce are staples here. And a lot of recipes were developed having to consider that people don't have refrigeration and leftovers should be eaten the next meal.
But still... Rice is just there in the pot all day and it's still usually ok for dinner. If newly cooked rice for dinner has leftovers, that would be fried rice for breakfast. Adobo tastes better the next day.
i don’t know if the vinegar and soy sauce actually make a huge difference, because south asia hasn’t had widespread refrigeration either and we leave our food out all the time too, and we don’t use vinegar or soy sauce at all
I’ve had rice that didn’t get cooled properly. Pot was too big to fit in the fridge and the perpetrator didn’t want to bother repacking it. It would have been fine if he was the only one to start projectile vomiting shortly after eating the leftovers, but I had some too.
Now I’m off to remind dad of the time he poisoned me cause he was being a lazy turd.
Seriously. My boyfriend is Asian and he (and his family as well) have a little basket they put their sticky rice in that sits on the counter all day for them to just eat whenever. They've never been sick.
*beep boop*!
the linked website is: https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/food-and-diet/can-reheating-rice-cause-food-poisoning/
Title: **Can reheating rice cause food poisoning?**
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Your boyfriend isn’t smart about food safety, in fact he’s being dangerous about it. Show him this link, maybe that will help. If it doesn’t, it might be time to rethink things. https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/food-safety-basics/danger-zone-40f-140f
Literally just forwarded this + all of the comments on this post to him, if me insisting wasn’t enough to change his mind, maybe some shame will do the trick
Most of the time a mild case "food poisoning" presents itself as diarrhea and other general discomfort with your stomach/ digestive system. If it's fairly common for him (and/or you), this is likely why and it can be prevented.
Either way, as so many other people have mentioned - this practice is generally not a good idea and its important to properly store food outside of the temperature danger zone.
Also it doesn't hit everybody equally. If OP is ever pregnant or if they ever serve an elderly relative, the risk from consuming the exact same bacteria may be much higher.
Look up ChubbyEmu on YouTube. He has lots of videos where he explains in a lot of detail what happens when you eat sketchy leftovers. He goes into all the medical details down to a cellular level, and most of his videos are true stories.
He only has one video where the food poisoning was the result of improper cooking or spoilage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ujTYLV2Qo4
All the other ones were caused by parasites, by unknown genetic disorders, or by contamination due to improper handling in the supply chain. Chubbyemu has an annoying habit of trying to use those other stories as a reason to emphasize personal responsibility of the victims when they were really the victims of freak accidents. None of the other cases would have been prevented by cooking the food to a higher temperature or throwing it out earlier/ refrigerating sooner.
Government guidelines/regulations around food safety are not how you convince someone like OP's boyfriend that what they're doing is wrong. This is because people like him have violated those guidelines every day their entire lives and never experienced any negative repercussions (or they've gotten food poisoning so few times that there either appears to be no real risk or they simply haven't connected the dots).
The reality is, those guidelines are designed to reduce the risk as close to 0 as possible because this is necessary for commercial kitchens due to liability issues. The risk skyrockets in those settings because the same kitchen is serving hundreds, or thousands, of meals every day and is liable for every single case of food poisoning they cause. If they only have 3 people get sick out of 1000 customers, that can be enough to cause serious problems for them, especially if it's an ongoing pattern and their customers connect the dots and file complaints. If you get sick 3 out of 1000 meals with sloppy food safety practices as an individual, you're probably not going to change those practices and instead will think there's "no harm" in leaving stuff out longer than the guidelines.
Once the only person liable is the individual who prepared their own food, it becomes clear the safety guidelines can be a bit "overprotective". That doesn't mean the guidelines are wrong, it just means people can easily discover they don't get sick from ignoring those guidelines.
I don't know anyone who regularly reheats leftovers or casseroles to 165F to sterilize them again. Does anyone actually not eat cold casseroles out of the fridge for lunch? WTF is up with that?
They're just covering their bases. With rice it's more important that pasta, pizza, chicken nuggets, etc. That said I still eat stir fry rice dishes from the fridge if it's just 12h later or so (dinner -> lunch).
My roommate does that all the time. I understand letting it cool before you refrigerate it but overnight and uncovered.... eeeeee it makes me uncomfortable
My mother in law does this. She's older and it's "just the way it is" just like your bf
Funny thing is that she has always had stomach issues.
Guess what rice left out overnight can cause?
I grew up like this at times, but that's because we didn't have room in the fridge, or we didn't have the means to store food. But if you have a fridge, why would you risk leaving it out?
>“that’s what his parents always do”.
My mother did things in the kitchen that I would never do. It sounds like what he's doing is a disaster waiting to happen. Have a serious talk with him about this.
I mean, you don't want to get sick from what he's doing. Give him an ultimatum if you have too.
My friend also walked barefoot through the city all through her childhood. She never once got injured. Does that mean it's safe? HELL NO. However, it should be stated that you don't want to put piping hot food in the fridge, because then it can warm up everything else. But usually by the time you're finished eating, it is cool enough.
Yeah I was gonna say, I really don't see how it is possible to walk barefoot in a city for like a decade (assuming that's what "through her childhood" means) and not get injured even once
Why not just put it away in the fridge yourself? He can’t legit stop you, and if you fight over the fact that’s what’s happening then deuces lol…
So it’s “ok” to be left out because it’s what his parents did. Use the same logic back.
What’s the middle ground then? Regardless of the fact that it’s pretty unsafe to leave certain things out that long aside from it most likely not being extremely dangerous there’s always that possibility that something can happen.
If you're eating at next day lunch, definitely need to be put in the fridge once it attains normal temperature. Unless you're living in an area which is quite cold.
My mom did that. Cook chili, leave it out covered over night. Mayo? After it was opened it went back into a cupboard instead of a fridge, as if it were peanut butter.
I did get some nasty food poisoning from her doing that but it didn’t stop her. I suspect that after I moved out that she must have gotten sick because in her later years she didn’t do that stuff anymore.
My in-laws do this too. Drives me insane. They also will leave raw meat out (that came from the fridge, not the freezer) from 6 am to 6pm on the counter before they cook it. Chicken, steaks, ground beef, you name it. They think I’m absurd for refusing to eat food after they’ve done that and I get admonished for being “over dramatic”. I’ve had food poisoning before, not fun.
Why have a fridge if you're not gonna use it. It's lazy and stupid and could be dangerous.
My in-laws do this sometimes with soups and stews if they don't have space in the fridge but then I don't eat the leftovers.
If the soup is brought up to a simmer/ boil and then covered with a tight fitting lid it is moderately safe as the bacteria in the soup are killed off and as the soup cools a slight vacuum forms and new bacteria can't get in. It's similar to canning. The food won't last indefinitely but it can last a few days this way and can be pretty safe. Is it safer to cool it quickly and store it in the fridge yes, but a lot of people in older generations didn't have the same luxuries we have now e.g large refrigerator.
My family did that to in the grand scheme of things You’ll probably be fine but it’s not hard to just put it in the fridge idk why he’s being lazy about it.
After staying in some SE Asian countries and eating cooked fish (among other things) left on the counter >24 hours: I’ve really started to question how sensitive we really are to some bacteria. I tend to get sick from things fairly easy, weak stomach, but I’ve never been sick of there apart from some bad sushi in Tokyo, and I’ve eaten 100’s of dishes left on my mother-in-law’s counter all night/day.
Not defending your bf’s choices: put it in the fridge bc why not, but also throwing it out there that I think there’s some over-caution around this stuff in the west.
My in-laws are Filipino/Japanese and they always leave food out. I've never gotten sick, I understand it's not right but I've never had a issue. I've also visited the extended family in the Philippines and they always leave food out and again, knock on wood, never had a issue.
I'll admit to having done it here occasionally but I try not to make a point of it.
My in-laws are also Filipino and they leave everything out for so long. Even groceries stay out half a day or more (milk, meats, everything).
Cooked food almost never ever make its way into the fridge (not that it could ever fit since whatever they buy they let rot for months in there whilst piling in new food in front).
I've gotten sick so many times that I'm at a point where I don't eat anything they cook anymore. My stomach isn't built for this sort of treatment. They are fine though, for the most part.
Look, I hope this works out for you and I don’t want to be rude, but…
Honestly, if you have told him about why this is bad and he won’t change, break up with him. This is a simple, verifiable, food safety issue. He will get himself and/or others horribly, potentially life-threateningly, sick at some point. Do you see him as the father of your children?? What other risks is he going to take because he can’t correct something this basic!
When food reaches 41° F, bacteria starts to grow. This happens within 4 hours or less, depending on the amount of liquid in the dish. You can end up in the hospital. Either chill the food or heat it above 135°, although 160° is optimal. I'm a Servsafe certified chef, btw.
>When food reaches 41° F, bacteria starts to grow.
No. There is no brick wall. Bacteria grows below 40F and above 140F. When you look at the curves of population growth as a function of temperature, 40F and 140F are reasonable temps to define a "danger zone."
Bacteria doesn't spontaneously start growing though. I think a more accurate statement is when food reaches 41 f bacteria can start to grow. Being a chef and cooking at home are two completely different cooking standards.
A more accurate statement is that bacteria are growing even in the fridge but at a much reduced rate. At >40F it's at a rapid enough rate that food can become unsafe in hours. Whereas below 40F it's safe for days in the fridge.
I'm in the minority here, and I honestly think a lot of food safety fears are very American, and I didn't grow up in America, although I've lived here half my life now, so there's that. I do leave food out sometimes and nothing has ever gone wrong. I also use my eyes and nose and if it smelled bad or looked bad I would not go back and eat it. But I would be lying if I said I always put away the food immediately, this is also a product of growing up. This only applies to myself since I live alone and not food for other people and I don't do it with dairy.
Now, I'm not saying this is great practice but I also think some food safety things that restaurants and so forth do are things many home cooks are lax about and are just fine and the regulations around food safety are often in the context of liability in commercial operations and not necessarily a Bible for home cooks. Which is why it often doesn't lead to instant death or food poisoning if a home cook isn't following the set standards, because I think a lot of room is built in and it's done so restaurants are at a much higher standard than probably what's really necessary, for good reason.
Again, I am not advocating you throw out your food safety practices or concerns but just wanted to say it's sometimes cultural and also that in general a lot of food safety fears often feel like a very American brand of worry that I rarely see others obsess over. Just like a lot of Americans are squeamish about some practices like asking people a thousand questions about food safety when they hear of cultures that eat raw meat, or leave eggs and butter out on the counter etc. This often horrifies Americans, and this isn't the norm here because of how we do stuff, but it's also putting an American lens on different situations particularly when the folks who have been doing it have fared fine. I wouldn't die on this hill or break up with someone over this, I would either put it away myself or just ask him again and stateyour fears.
Perfect example! This exactly. Different countries have different food prep / marketing practices and therefore storage requirements.
It’s ridiculous to think because one country stores eggs at room temp all eggs everywhere be stored that way, just ain’t true.
What is the point of leaving the food out overnight and risk throwing it out (if it smells bad) if you just can put it in the fridge? If it's by mistake I also wouldn't throw it out (my parents' food safety standards are as low as I would have imagined so I am pretty sure I have a 'very strong stomach'), but I always wondered what is the problem to spend 2 minutes to put it in the fridge to make it safe and preserve the taste
My parents have also always left out food overnight my entire life, and the rice stayed in the rice cooker for a couple days before making it to the fridge and I never had issues. However, I have since learned about food safety and do ask they try and put stuff away when I'm home. I've never gotten food poisoning though so doubt they will change their ways any time soon.
I leave food out overnight all the time in a covered Dutch oven that i cover while still boiling hot. So long as the food is sufficiently seasoned and you don’t poke dirty fingers into it or leave it uncovered after it’s cooked to a dangerous temp zone, there’s very little chance anything is going to spoil. You can also use your eyes and nose to tell.
Government Food safety guidelines are just needlessly stringent.
European here. I also think it's completely normal and I'm surprised with comments in this thread. I don't judge whether Americans are right or wrong, I actually haven't really thought about this issue - it's just how it is done here.
I’m not American, we live in a warm and humid area. I see what you’re saying and I agree to an extend, or course I wouldn’t throw it out either, and I’m the first to admit that I’ve never gotten any bad food poisoning from it (yet), but why risk it when it’s so easy to just put it in the fridge and be on the safe side? I think food poisoning is one of those things where you don’t take it seriously until it finally happens and you feel like shit and regret everything lol
TLDR at bottom.
Biochemist here. The secret is the amount of bacteria that fall onto the food once it's been cooked (sterilized). Also, how wet the food is (think soup vs bread) will have a huge impact on how dangerous it is to not refrigerate it (because bacteria multiply faster in wet food), and this is why bread and some other foods do not have to be refrigerated.
Long story short, if the food gets covered (lid on the pan, plastic container, etc) while it's still hot enough to kill "most" bacteria, it'll take a looong time for them to multiply enough to get someone sick.
Going further, if after the food is covered it stays above the temperature and time as seen in this [table](https://microbenotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Different-Types-of-Thermal-Processing-Methods.jpg), it's considered "sterile" (pasteurized) and it's the exact reason why canned food can last years out of the fridge. So for example if you cook your rice, turn the heat off and put the lid on it and it's not touched, 5 days later I would just do a smell test before eating it, guilt-free.
Last detail: there's ***always*** bacteria in our food. 1 or 10 or 100, etc.... even if you boil it. However, they need to multiply enough (many hours) to reach a number that will be larger than what our stomach acid can kill, in order to make us sick. So if your food has been cooked and covered after removed from the heat, it's probably fine the next day.
TLDR: If the food gets covered (lid on the pan, plastic container, etc) while it's still hot enough to kill "most" bacteria, it'll take a looong time for them to multiply enough to get someone sick.
Edit: added "the next day" and TLDR.
Does he ever get food poisoning? Or does he have an iron stomach? Gosh. Put the food you want to eat away for yourself or put it away for him too. If he doesn’t want his portion put in the fridge then leave his out.
It's not just gross - it's stupid! My suggestion to you is to put YOUR lunch in the fridge and let him risk food poisoning every day. Maybe once he gets sick, he'll change his mind.
So my boyfriend will eat leftovers off my plate if I don’t throw them away, after they’ve sat out all night. His body can handle food being out that long. I can’t and I will get sick. Leaving meat and fish out all night is asking for food poisoning. Learning about food safety is important and my bf has gotten a lot better about putting leftovers away. I have also gotten better at throwing away my leftovers 🤣
The funny thing is his parents probably had the same lax approach, so his gut bacteria is far more used to dealing with potential threats than yours is. I'm not suggesting we all start leaving our leftovers out at room temp for days, I just think it's interesting to reflect that he's actually *better off* due to this, as he's less likely to get sick from suspect food.
Kind of like how parents are encouraged to let their kids play out in the dirt, as it strengthens the immune system.
I agree with this. I’m the same way. I can eat something the next day that I forgot to put away the night before. I never get sick. In fact, I can only think of one or two times I’ve ever gotten food poisoning and it was when I was a teenager. I’m usually good about putting leftovers away but I’m human and I forget sometimes. Either way, I have a strong stomach too. 🤷🏽♀️
Americans will tell you that this is straight up gross and that about one million Americans die every year because of unrefrigerated food.
The Turkish person in me will say, chill for a second and put only your portion in the refrigerator. You know that you can just take a plate of whatever you guys made and put it into the fridge?
I mean the "correct" answer is what the americans here are saying. My eastern european answer is: Our fridge is always too full so food stays out all the time. My family is alive and none of my ancestors died from food poisoning
People usually think food poisoning happens within a few hours or the next day, but often it takes a week or more before it causes stomach upset or diarrhea and then people don't connect it to what they ate a week ago. It also depends on the ambient temperature - food will last longer in cooler climates. But people usually don't die of food poisoning unless it's really severe - they just get dehydrated and don't feel great.
My parents did this my whole life and I never got sick.
It wasn't until I got my food handler's permit and worked in food service that I learned about how to properly store food. I refrigerate everything now but I think because I grew up being exposed to bacteria like that is probably why I don't get sick from it. It's probably the same with your boyfriend
My wife’s family is Ecuadorian and they ALL do this. I think it’s a cultural thing. But my wife and I joke that that’s why at least 6 different family members of hers have had appendicitis.
It seems like an easy enough compromise for him to refrigerate food so that you're happy. People REALLY over state the likelihood of food spoiling. It doesn't immediately become inedible or dangerous. I take raw steaks in the Backcountry and will eat them after three days of no refrigeration. For thousands of years people did not have refrigeration. Food that has spoiled will almost always smell or taste bad.
I think they develop some sort of immunity to their own idiocy.
My husband has been eating pizza left out over night for 20 years + with zero consequence.
My bf does this too! He has this bizarre theory that if you put a lid on the pot while it’s still hot and let it cool that it like vacuum seals itself and everything is fine. Needless to say I portion out my leftovers separately and put them in the fridge 🤣
I think the over reactions here are a little ridiculous. There are a few things you mentioned like seafood and chicken that are unwise to leave out overnight. Seafood for sure, don't eat that the next day if it was out.
But a lot of other things, the health and safety rules we get drummed into us are often the absolute safest route and designed for commercial food.
Like, can you leave a covered pot of soup out? Yeah, it's going to be fine. Is it safer to refrigerate it? Of course, but unless you contaminate it or it's super hot at night, it's going to be fine. The entire human race would have died of food poisoning if we couldn't leave food out before the fridge was invented.
Basically, it’s fine until it’s not. You can probably get away with this most of the time without much trouble, but you’re more likely to get food poisoning if you’re leaving food out. It’s unlikely to kill healthy adults, you’ll just have a bad time. I stopped doing this after being sick for a week from meatballs which I did reheat thoroughly.
Rented out a room to some Argentinian and Mexican students who would do this. First time I saw them leave food out I asked if they were worried about getting sick. They both insisted it was fine and that everyone did this, yet I've never lived with anyone who spent as much time in the bathroom as they did who weren't sick...
Please tell your boyfriend that I once got a terrible bacterial infection that can be caused by unsafe food. I was hospitalized, in quarantine (way before Covid) for 4 days, had three weeks of major medication to take. I ended up in the hospital because my boyfriend thought I was acting very strangely—I had diarrhea so bad it dehydrated me to the point where the ER nurse found me delirious and babbling nonsense. Do NOT mess around with food safety.
When I went to the Philippines people only refrigerated food that wasn’t prepared. As soon as it was cooked it was left out covered with a lid. Sometimes 2 day old food was eaten again. This wasn’t just one family this was every house I went to. Family, friends of family, extended friends and family. We’re talking pork, chicken, and fish.
All it takes is getting bad food poisoning once to make a person change the way they handle food drastically. I seriously think I almost died when I got it lol. If I had been elderly or a child I don’t think I would have survived it. I don’t mess around with food safety now.
Well, yes and no. I went to culinary school, learned about food safety, holding temperatures and time so I understand the concern, but what we’re typically dealing with in restaurants is different from the environment at home; there’s more potential for heat, humidity, and cross contamination in an industrial kitchen.
His parents raised him and he’s repeating the behavior, this is sometimes cultural as some cultures grew without refrigeration or the U.S. FDA regulations and standards. If he or his family haven’t ruined their food quality or faced serious consequences for their storage, then they’re okay- if it’s gross for you, that’s okay too.
If you are truly concerned about the food you eat, take responsibility for it, and package it into the fridge yourself. Maybe compromise on the foods (such as fish/seafood) that have a higher risk in developing foodborne illnesses by educating them. Otherwise, if it’s not your cooking, maybe it’s not your say, because you don’t have to eat it.
it's gross . Depending on where you live w pests and such it's gross. You are correct leaving food out for extended period can trigger food poisoning or other health concerns. Even something like a frozen turkey is supposed to be thawed out in the fridge over time to prevent bacteria.
Good lord... If it was up to like 6 hours I'd say meh, whatever. Or certain foods that don't spoil quickly, like pizza left out overnight, I wouldn't bat an eye. But chicken, fish, milk/cream left out for 15 hours?? Hell no.
Bacterial growth is a function of many factors, but if you're comparing the same food item kept on the counter vs the fridge, you can go by just temperature and time. I don't know the exact math so this is just a guess, but the amount of bacterial growth at room temp for 15 hours might be equivalent to refrigerating for the better part of a week. So if you wouldn't eat week old refrigerated fish, you shouldn't eat fish left out all night.
And at the end of the day, c'mon. You gotta scoop the food into containers to pack lunches anyway. Tell him to stop being lazy and do it at night instead of the morning.
What I've learned living with roommates from all kinds of backgrounds: if you've grown up doing this, you can do it. You have a gut biome (that you got from your mother in the womb and soon after birth) that can handle any bacteria growth in the pot overnight.
If you have not, then you really shouldn't. You may get away with it a few times, but you're playing the numbers and will get sick one day.
The phrase I use is "your stomach can do things mine can't do."
So, maybe a compromise is that you put your portion in Tupperware and fridge it and he can be responsible for washing the pot the next day.
From a chef. STOP PLEASE FOR FUCKING SAKE UNLESS YOU WANT TO GET SICK AND DIE.
Food shouldn't be left out for more than 2 hours at room temperature. Food safety rules are there for a reason. BECAUSE SOMEONE SOMEWHERE DIED.
Rant over. Please stay healthy and happy.
If you have a big pot of say chili for example, it should be put into smaller containers. Ideally then put into an ice bath uncovered then put in the fridge. I just let it cool to room temperature at home then put it in the fridge.
My husband is Filipino and his family will eat food that is left out for DAYS. They’ve never gotten sick but there’s absolutely no way I’m going to risk it. 2 hours left out is about my limit and then info the fridge it goes.
My exs family does this. His mom will make guac and just leave it out. When its brown the next day she just mixes it up. I've seen so many food items treated this way even MEAT! Luckily it did not rub off on him. He understands food safety.
My boyfriend did this years ago with tortellini and ended up with terrible food poisoning. Also we're from a very small town and the goddamn hospital misplaced him and I couldn't find him for a while.
How safe it is depends on context, I wouldn't freak out about it happening once in a while with foods that aren't especially risky and get adequately reheated before being eaten again, but doing it frequently regardless of context is simply irresponsible. Putting food in the fridge isn't hard.
My wife did that until I ate her leftovers and got food poisoning. She felt bad
I almost died from food poisoning, in my 20s. I do NOT fuck around with food safety.
Spent three days in the hospital from bad samosas from an Indian restaurant, after having gone into sepsis. It was the first time I think I really, truly realized that food poisoning isn’t always just puking a few times. It can absolutely be deadly. Also, fuck you, Namaste.
In which city was this Namaste restaurant located?
St. Louis
Yeah, the boyfriend and his parents may have steal (edit: steel) stomachs and are used to a certain level of bacteria exposure. People that aren’t can become very ill.
I used to work with a guy and we hung out once and grilled up a bunch of meats. We ate and stuck the leftovers in the oven and I went home and I called it a day. Well I came back the next day at least 20-24 hours later and they were still there. Apparently he does it all the time but I wasn’t about to touch any of it
That is one way to take one for the team
If I leave something out on accident I'll still eat it. Save for something that is served medium rare or perhaps seafood. But I don't do it on purpose because that will get you eventually.
My boyfriend does this as well! His parents are also to blame for this habit. They visited us last year, and left a roast to defrost for 3 days in their car and 1 day on our counter before cooking it. Needless to say, it wasn’t refrigerated after being cooked, and his family all grazed on said roast for a couple days while it sat on the stove. I feel you. My solution: I told my bf that putting food away that both of us will eat again is neither an unreasonable or risky request to ask of him, but *not* packing and refrigerating leftovers is an unreasonable and risky request to ask of me. If I won’t be eating the leftovers, he’s welcome to keep them out. That’s worked for us, and hopefully he’s willing to listen and meet you in the middle. If he isn’t, that’s another problem. Good luck!
In the car? 💀 💀 That isn't even defrosted it's fermented at that point.
Yep, it was frozen solid on Day 1, and barely cool by Day 3 when they arrived. After Day 4 on the counter, it was room temp for sure lol.
must not have been summer
It was winter. But they were driving those 3 days, so the heat had to be on in the car to some degree
In Canadian winter my mom put food in the car trunk when the fridge got full, we called it the second freezer and ate turkey sandwiches for a week after Christmas. I think we have genetically strong stomachs. Most of my life I had no idea anybody could get sick from food that looked and smelled normal.
That's different. Canadian winters reach all the way to -40C in most places, which is colder than residential freezers so leaving food in that temp isn't an issue. The issue comes when the temp fluctuates too much when the food is there, or when its simply too warm to keep any food in i.e. above 2 C.
One winter I kept an ice cream cake on our back deck for three months and it stayed frozen solid until mid April.
The Amish freezer/refrigerator is one of the few bonuses of winter
My mom grew up with something called an "icebox" which was literally a box, and they kept a chunk of some local glacier in the barn to supply fresh ice for it, so she had experience with that sort of thing. My uncle went to school in a horse-drawn wagon schoolbus that had a charcoal stove on the floor to keep the children warm. Unlike the Amish, they all embraced electricity and seatbelts and vaccines they got the chance, but they did not view the modern conveniences as essential the way my generation does!
Food stored in the trunk during Canadian winter should be fine. It's probably colder outside than in the freezer, so it's fine for storage as long as the food's well covered.
3 days? I just can't understand. A 30 lb turkey takes a day in the kitchen on the counter? Sounds disfuckingusting.
Trust me, I couldn’t understand either. They rationalized it by telling me it started out frozen, and it was winter outside. Yes - but you’ve been driving with the heat on inside the car, right?! Anyway, only one person got sick. He said it was worth it, and the roast was delicious. Lol
I… would not have eaten that roast
Your solution is exactly what we do too. I've had food poisoning from chicken left in a warm room a whole day and I also will not risk that again!
Omg you saying this just brought back the memory of my best friend's mother defrosting their chicken on the hood of their family van in the 100+degree summer heat in the southwest. I always avoided eating things there as much as possible 🤮 She did it so much that it disintegrated the finish off the hood of the van.
>left a roast to defrost for 3 days in their car and 1 day on our counter before cooking it. Needless to say, it wasn’t refrigerated after being cooked, and his family all grazed on said roast for a couple days while it sat on the stove Nightmare fodder
Beans left out overnight can really mess you up.
My roommates family does this and it drives me nuts. I just eat the beans when they are freshly cooked and refuse to have any when they are “refried” the next day. Like no thanks. It’s like science means nothing.
Amazingly, rice left out can be incredibly dangerous.
Your boyfriend is using the pull out method equivalent for food safety. The long term odds are not on his side.
Culturally, what the boyfriend is doing is not uncommon in many countries, and his behaviour may be an artifact from what he learned and grew up with.
Cultural or not, it especially isn’t safe for OP, who’s stomach isn’t used to it. I’ve lived abroad with host families twice. My second family did what the boyfriend did. I was sick for a month straight.
Leaving food out overnight or pulling out for birth control?
The normal thing in those cultures is to put it back over the fire the next day
That doesn’t solve the issue that the bacteria produce toxins that will make you sick even if you re-kill the germs.
OK but unless the boyfriend grew up in a country that doesn’t have refrigerators I’m pretty sure this is not acceptable there either right? Like it would violate food safety standards and be like me to give people food poisoning in other places too, wouldn’t it?
Different cultural practices create different gut microbiomes, so food safety isn’t necessarily standard across the globe. Methods of preserving food differ all over, and gut bacteria adapt.
Yeah you'd think lol
You actually believe the rest of the world that doesn’t have food safety standard everyone just has chronic food poisoning? Ever wonder why locals can drink their tap water but you can’t?
The worst food poisoning of my life came from leftover Chinese that was left out all night. You ever have a point to where you poop only blood? You ever have it happen and then it won’t stop? I was ready to call an ambulance. I finally got myself to the ER myself but it was the scariest moment for me. Take that for what you will, but it was a painful lesson you both don’t have to go through. Just put the damn food away and stop asking for his opinion on the matter since it’s obviously trash.
I have. And it was my life everyday for over two years. It was awful. But then again, I have a chronic autoimmune disease called ulcerative colitis. It's a form of IBD (Crohn's disease is also IBD.) This was an issue that had close attention from my doctor, many types of treatment, and left me very anemic for a long time. With the help of immunosuppressants I am now in remission and no longer deal with pooping blood all the time.... This is also why my doctor is INSISTENT that I do not get food poisoning because a bad case of it could kick my disease into a flare again. A case of severe food poisoning like you had could mess me up so badly long term. I feel bad because I waste a lot of food that people otherwise might eat but I just can't risk it. I also like to travel internationally and am twice as careful there--sadly no fun street vendor food for me since I can't guarantee the food was prepared with adequate safety standards. Idk what the point of this comment is except to maybe...commiserate with your experience and add another opinion in favor of just how dangerous poor food safety practices can be.
Yes apparently people die from eating pasta, rice, or beans left out too long. Was in the news not too long ago about a college kid who died similarly.
Get a cat. You'll never leave food out again.
Absolutely everything goes in the fridge. We just go pantry locks because one of my cats just likes to bite down on food repeatedly but not eat it (sociopath...).
Ahh yes. The dreaded BREAD MONCHER.
AHahaha. We had a cat that did that. He would press his head into the sealed bag until he broke the bag. Get his mouth on the bread. And proceed to monch several big bites of bread.
Got a gremlin who will bite any plastic for fun. She never eats or tries to bite the food, just the packaging. I'd be more angry, but my orange boy 🍊 has literally ripped into a new bag of flour I left on the counter for a few hours so he could eat it. Raw flour. The nail in the coffin for leaving anything thats not a fruit or vegetable out was shortly after we adopted our orange boy a couple years ago, heard a ruckus in the kitchen at night and found a package of bagels on the ground with only a quarter bagel in it. A whole half of the bagel was gone and half of the other missing. They're. Monsters.
We can't even keep bread out. or chips. or breakfast cereal. They eat everything. And they start as soon as you leave the room.
My cat associated plastic packaging with food so she ripped open a bag of fertilizer in my garage. Maniac.
Mine rip open the bags of cat litter. They're very smart.
I can tell my roommates cat sticks its head into water cups over night by all the cat hair on the cup lip. Not really sure why there's cat hair on the toilet bowl.
My cat wouldn't touch any of that, not even if you put it on the floor in her dish.
My cats wouldn't touch it either, if it was on the floor in their dish. On the counter, on the other hand...
Aslong as you tell em they can't have it they'll insist on wanting it
Mine would pull it to the floor... then not touch it.
you cat doesnt even have to want to eat it keep it on the counter, and they'll eventually end up on the floor with several trails of paw prints onto your best rug and blankets
Yup! After a party, I once forgot to put away the remains of a charcuterie board and left it on the counter. The next day, I found an olive on the floor with little feline tooth marks in it.
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“has never jumped on the counters” *that you know of* 😸
>Same, my cat is completely uninterested in human food. Mine too, especially if spices, condiments or herbs were used
I agree. We have cute food stealers. And today was Buffalo Bills Sunday. Cat safety Level 3 was in place, aka do not leave wing bones out.
Quite. I have a cat and a whippet who are both worktop raiders, it’s second nature now to put every single thing away 😺
Best solution here 😂
Leave it out until it cools off maybe, then refrigerate. It takes zero effort to prevent food poisoning and harmful bacteria. Lol (To clarify, leaving it out until it fully cools perhaps not, but usually by the time everyone has finished eating, it is probably time to put it away anyways and it has already cooled off enough except of course with large batches in a restaraunt setting)
Leaving something until it fully cools down can take hours depending on what it is. Foods cannot stay in the danger zone for longer than 4 hours. An ice bath usually does it (soak pot in an ice water bath in the sink), or there’s also these cold paddle things you can get to stir your large batches of soups and stews to cool down much quicker
It doesnt need to fully cool.. just not putting things in the fridge that are piping hot is what I am saying.
I like to set the oven timer for an hour so I don’t forget the hot food I left to cool enough to put in the fridge. Otherwise my lazy butt sees the food on the stove in the morning and am mad at the waste as I throw it away. Foods too $$$$ to throw away these days.
Yes this is a food safety tip I learned while getting my ServSafe certification years ago, if you put hot things in the fridge they can potentially warm it up enough to be in the danger zone, plus it makes the fridge work harder. Supposed to let it cool till it's just slightly warm. That's what I thought this was about as well until I read further.
If it's a relatively small item it won't be too much of an issue. Ofc if you put a huge pot of soup in, yikes. I mainly don't do it because I'm afraid it'll damage the shelves or the box I put the food in
4 hours is just a strict rule set by public health for commercial food establishments. Realistically it can go a an hour or two longer than that and it’s fine. At home there’s really no need to cool things in an ice bath or ice paddle. However, overnight is pretty extreme.
Realistically it can usually go a lot longer. 4 hours is just the always safe rule.
When I worked at restaurant there was a large cooled area where we brought precooked food to cool off in. Obviously better than sticking it in the fridge right away
"Cannot" is a big claim. It absolutely can and you'll be fine 95% of the time. My family, like OP's BF's, always left cooked food out overnight and I don't think we were sick more often than normal. Is it the best thing to do? No. Will you die immediately? Also no.
It cannot as in that’s when bad stuff happens, whether it happens all the time is irrelevant. People drive without seatbelts all the time too, and it’s perfectly fine until they fly through the windshield
Good analogy. The reality is that food poisoning is rare even when proper care isn’t taken, yet if a restaurant is putting out 300 plates a day and isn’t taking proper precautions, they’ll definitely make someone sick sooner rather than later. I also grew up in a house with horrific hygiene standards in the kitchen. Doesn’t seem like people get sick more than normal, but I don’t really eat any food prepared at my mothers house anymore
Or if you're really rich and fancy a blast chiller with probe! But yeah take it off heat for a biiit and then cover with saran with holes punched in the top
Thanks for sending me down a rabbit hole on cold paddles! I wish there were 1 liter ones for home use. If I make a big batch of soup, once it’s not boiling hot I’ll either sit the pot directly on some ice packs (if it’s not a huge amount) or spread it out in some big baking dishes on ice packs until it’s cool enough to freeze
I’ve never heard of a cold paddle. If it’s that much food, I usually put it into a bunch of smaller containers instead of one big dish. Cools faster and easier to reheat
I live with my MIL, she also does this.. but she’ll cook for ‘dinner’ at lunch time, leave it out reheat at 6-7ish then leave it out the whole next day to ‘revamp’ for dinner the second night, then when no one eats it she’ll put it in the fridge only to pull it out in 4 days for another ‘revamp’. I’m 33 weeks pregnant man, and I’d never eat her cooking just in case. I get sketched out even just putting my food in the fridge with her cooking
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And this is why I have potluck trust issues. It only takes on food safety moron to ruin your trust of everyone dishes.
OoooooooooOoooooooo This is very bad. Did she hate these people?
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I'm sorry but that's really disgusting, and there's no excuse for it.
There’s an entire Facebook group called This Is Why I Don’t Do Potlucks It’s horrifying.
Jesus, is she trying to turn that wedding reception into a funeral? I mean, I play pretty fast and loose myself for my own cooking — because the risk simply isn't that great over relatively short durations — but *forty-eight hours* at room temp? That's obscenely dangerous.
He might be fine now but there's no telling his gut will be able to handle it the same 10 years from now. If he tries to use the "heat will kill off bacteria anyway" argument, please let him know about bacteria waste products that absolutely won't be affected by heat and can cause horrible food poisoning.
Here is a related story that was all over the internet a few years ago: https://www.delish.com/food-news/a26079888/college-student-room-temperature-pasta-death/
That sounds like a story the Chubby Emu covered. Clicks on link Chubby Emu video right on the top of the page
[To further support this, things like rice at room temperature is a big no-no](https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/food-and-diet/can-reheating-rice-cause-food-poisoning/)
I know the science says it’s bad; but in SEA (where I am right now) this is the norm and I’ve never heard of anyone getting sick from it
yeah lol this is the norm in south asia too
Those are the kind of comments here that make me think that a lot of people in this sub are hypochondriacs. You can smell spoiled rice easily. Considering that SEA is a tropical region and it's still common practice to leave food unrefrigerated for hours, maybe the studies often cited here are considering the most vulnerable people’s safety (babies, immunocompromised, etc.). That or Asians just developed an immunity lmao.
We know that people living in an area can develop a tolerance for bacterial contamination in water, I don't see why it couldn't be the same for bacterial growth that causes food poisoning.
Anecdotally, I fully believe this. My wife is Asian, and I’m from North America, but we live in Asia. We joke about her iron stomach all the time, because her family grew up leaving stuff like soup out on the stove for a day or two. They would simply remove the skin that formed on the top, boil the soup again, and eat it whenever they felt like it. We’ve eaten the same meals (not the soup, I refuse to touch that) that have made me violently ill, and she is seemingly unaffected. I’m reasonably certain that food poisoning just gave up on her years ago.
Maybe the ingredients help a lot as well. Vinegar and soy sauce are staples here. And a lot of recipes were developed having to consider that people don't have refrigeration and leftovers should be eaten the next meal. But still... Rice is just there in the pot all day and it's still usually ok for dinner. If newly cooked rice for dinner has leftovers, that would be fried rice for breakfast. Adobo tastes better the next day.
i don’t know if the vinegar and soy sauce actually make a huge difference, because south asia hasn’t had widespread refrigeration either and we leave our food out all the time too, and we don’t use vinegar or soy sauce at all
Am east Asian. Got horrible food poisoning from plain rice that my Vietnamese roommate didn't tell me she left out overnight.
I’ve had rice that didn’t get cooled properly. Pot was too big to fit in the fridge and the perpetrator didn’t want to bother repacking it. It would have been fine if he was the only one to start projectile vomiting shortly after eating the leftovers, but I had some too. Now I’m off to remind dad of the time he poisoned me cause he was being a lazy turd.
Tell that to the whole of Asia
Seriously. My boyfriend is Asian and he (and his family as well) have a little basket they put their sticky rice in that sits on the counter all day for them to just eat whenever. They've never been sick.
And the majority of Asians who don't live in Asia.
*beep boop*! the linked website is: https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/food-and-diet/can-reheating-rice-cause-food-poisoning/ Title: **Can reheating rice cause food poisoning?** Page is safe to access (Google Safe Browsing) ***** ###### I am a friendly bot. I show the URL and name of linked pages and check them so that mobile users know what they click on!
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Yup. That’s what they all say until it doesn’t work.
Your boyfriend isn’t smart about food safety, in fact he’s being dangerous about it. Show him this link, maybe that will help. If it doesn’t, it might be time to rethink things. https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/food-safety-basics/danger-zone-40f-140f
Literally just forwarded this + all of the comments on this post to him, if me insisting wasn’t enough to change his mind, maybe some shame will do the trick
Most of the time a mild case "food poisoning" presents itself as diarrhea and other general discomfort with your stomach/ digestive system. If it's fairly common for him (and/or you), this is likely why and it can be prevented. Either way, as so many other people have mentioned - this practice is generally not a good idea and its important to properly store food outside of the temperature danger zone.
Also it doesn't hit everybody equally. If OP is ever pregnant or if they ever serve an elderly relative, the risk from consuming the exact same bacteria may be much higher.
Look up ChubbyEmu on YouTube. He has lots of videos where he explains in a lot of detail what happens when you eat sketchy leftovers. He goes into all the medical details down to a cellular level, and most of his videos are true stories.
Just a FYI, as a doctor, there’s a lot of dramatization and oversimplification in some of his videos.
He only has one video where the food poisoning was the result of improper cooking or spoilage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ujTYLV2Qo4 All the other ones were caused by parasites, by unknown genetic disorders, or by contamination due to improper handling in the supply chain. Chubbyemu has an annoying habit of trying to use those other stories as a reason to emphasize personal responsibility of the victims when they were really the victims of freak accidents. None of the other cases would have been prevented by cooking the food to a higher temperature or throwing it out earlier/ refrigerating sooner.
Government guidelines/regulations around food safety are not how you convince someone like OP's boyfriend that what they're doing is wrong. This is because people like him have violated those guidelines every day their entire lives and never experienced any negative repercussions (or they've gotten food poisoning so few times that there either appears to be no real risk or they simply haven't connected the dots). The reality is, those guidelines are designed to reduce the risk as close to 0 as possible because this is necessary for commercial kitchens due to liability issues. The risk skyrockets in those settings because the same kitchen is serving hundreds, or thousands, of meals every day and is liable for every single case of food poisoning they cause. If they only have 3 people get sick out of 1000 customers, that can be enough to cause serious problems for them, especially if it's an ongoing pattern and their customers connect the dots and file complaints. If you get sick 3 out of 1000 meals with sloppy food safety practices as an individual, you're probably not going to change those practices and instead will think there's "no harm" in leaving stuff out longer than the guidelines. Once the only person liable is the individual who prepared their own food, it becomes clear the safety guidelines can be a bit "overprotective". That doesn't mean the guidelines are wrong, it just means people can easily discover they don't get sick from ignoring those guidelines.
I don't know anyone who regularly reheats leftovers or casseroles to 165F to sterilize them again. Does anyone actually not eat cold casseroles out of the fridge for lunch? WTF is up with that?
They're just covering their bases. With rice it's more important that pasta, pizza, chicken nuggets, etc. That said I still eat stir fry rice dishes from the fridge if it's just 12h later or so (dinner -> lunch).
That's gross and lazy.
Seriously, ew! Aside from the whole food safety thing, that sounds like a cockroach’s idea of heaven.
Hey OP, put out a trail camera, web cam, whatever & get pics of the roaches on your food on the counter over night 🤢
My roommate does that all the time. I understand letting it cool before you refrigerate it but overnight and uncovered.... eeeeee it makes me uncomfortable
Uncovered is worse, we live with insects and critters on this planet you never know what’s happening when you’re not keeping an eye out
If it’s plain laziness then just let the vessel cool off and stick the whole thing in the refrigerator.
He's probably built up a tolerance to it, but this is NOT a safe practice. Two of my roommates left food out overnight and both got food poisoning.
I know a dumbass that never wears a seatbelt, and he’s “still alive.” Put your food in the fridge.
My mother in law does this. She's older and it's "just the way it is" just like your bf Funny thing is that she has always had stomach issues. Guess what rice left out overnight can cause?
I grew up like this at times, but that's because we didn't have room in the fridge, or we didn't have the means to store food. But if you have a fridge, why would you risk leaving it out?
>“that’s what his parents always do”. My mother did things in the kitchen that I would never do. It sounds like what he's doing is a disaster waiting to happen. Have a serious talk with him about this. I mean, you don't want to get sick from what he's doing. Give him an ultimatum if you have too.
You REALLY can't eat at everyone house 🤢
My friend also walked barefoot through the city all through her childhood. She never once got injured. Does that mean it's safe? HELL NO. However, it should be stated that you don't want to put piping hot food in the fridge, because then it can warm up everything else. But usually by the time you're finished eating, it is cool enough.
Unless it's like 5kg of something very high in water content like soup, it won't warm up everything else. Unless your fridge is tiny
I used to walk barefoot all the time too (it’s more of a cultural thing here though tbh) and I got hurt all the damn time 😂
Yeah I was gonna say, I really don't see how it is possible to walk barefoot in a city for like a decade (assuming that's what "through her childhood" means) and not get injured even once
Just put it in the fridge anyway.
Either put it in the fridge yourself, or refuse to eat it. Food poisoning is no joke.
Why not just put it away in the fridge yourself? He can’t legit stop you, and if you fight over the fact that’s what’s happening then deuces lol… So it’s “ok” to be left out because it’s what his parents did. Use the same logic back. What’s the middle ground then? Regardless of the fact that it’s pretty unsafe to leave certain things out that long aside from it most likely not being extremely dangerous there’s always that possibility that something can happen.
If you're eating at next day lunch, definitely need to be put in the fridge once it attains normal temperature. Unless you're living in an area which is quite cold.
My mom did that. Cook chili, leave it out covered over night. Mayo? After it was opened it went back into a cupboard instead of a fridge, as if it were peanut butter. I did get some nasty food poisoning from her doing that but it didn’t stop her. I suspect that after I moved out that she must have gotten sick because in her later years she didn’t do that stuff anymore.
My in-laws do this too. Drives me insane. They also will leave raw meat out (that came from the fridge, not the freezer) from 6 am to 6pm on the counter before they cook it. Chicken, steaks, ground beef, you name it. They think I’m absurd for refusing to eat food after they’ve done that and I get admonished for being “over dramatic”. I’ve had food poisoning before, not fun.
Why have a fridge if you're not gonna use it. It's lazy and stupid and could be dangerous. My in-laws do this sometimes with soups and stews if they don't have space in the fridge but then I don't eat the leftovers.
If the soup is brought up to a simmer/ boil and then covered with a tight fitting lid it is moderately safe as the bacteria in the soup are killed off and as the soup cools a slight vacuum forms and new bacteria can't get in. It's similar to canning. The food won't last indefinitely but it can last a few days this way and can be pretty safe. Is it safer to cool it quickly and store it in the fridge yes, but a lot of people in older generations didn't have the same luxuries we have now e.g large refrigerator.
My family did that to in the grand scheme of things You’ll probably be fine but it’s not hard to just put it in the fridge idk why he’s being lazy about it.
After staying in some SE Asian countries and eating cooked fish (among other things) left on the counter >24 hours: I’ve really started to question how sensitive we really are to some bacteria. I tend to get sick from things fairly easy, weak stomach, but I’ve never been sick of there apart from some bad sushi in Tokyo, and I’ve eaten 100’s of dishes left on my mother-in-law’s counter all night/day. Not defending your bf’s choices: put it in the fridge bc why not, but also throwing it out there that I think there’s some over-caution around this stuff in the west.
My in-laws are Filipino/Japanese and they always leave food out. I've never gotten sick, I understand it's not right but I've never had a issue. I've also visited the extended family in the Philippines and they always leave food out and again, knock on wood, never had a issue. I'll admit to having done it here occasionally but I try not to make a point of it.
My in-laws are also Filipino and they leave everything out for so long. Even groceries stay out half a day or more (milk, meats, everything). Cooked food almost never ever make its way into the fridge (not that it could ever fit since whatever they buy they let rot for months in there whilst piling in new food in front). I've gotten sick so many times that I'm at a point where I don't eat anything they cook anymore. My stomach isn't built for this sort of treatment. They are fine though, for the most part.
Look, I hope this works out for you and I don’t want to be rude, but… Honestly, if you have told him about why this is bad and he won’t change, break up with him. This is a simple, verifiable, food safety issue. He will get himself and/or others horribly, potentially life-threateningly, sick at some point. Do you see him as the father of your children?? What other risks is he going to take because he can’t correct something this basic!
When food reaches 41° F, bacteria starts to grow. This happens within 4 hours or less, depending on the amount of liquid in the dish. You can end up in the hospital. Either chill the food or heat it above 135°, although 160° is optimal. I'm a Servsafe certified chef, btw.
>When food reaches 41° F, bacteria starts to grow. No. There is no brick wall. Bacteria grows below 40F and above 140F. When you look at the curves of population growth as a function of temperature, 40F and 140F are reasonable temps to define a "danger zone."
Bacteria doesn't spontaneously start growing though. I think a more accurate statement is when food reaches 41 f bacteria can start to grow. Being a chef and cooking at home are two completely different cooking standards.
A more accurate statement is that bacteria are growing even in the fridge but at a much reduced rate. At >40F it's at a rapid enough rate that food can become unsafe in hours. Whereas below 40F it's safe for days in the fridge.
I'm in the minority here, and I honestly think a lot of food safety fears are very American, and I didn't grow up in America, although I've lived here half my life now, so there's that. I do leave food out sometimes and nothing has ever gone wrong. I also use my eyes and nose and if it smelled bad or looked bad I would not go back and eat it. But I would be lying if I said I always put away the food immediately, this is also a product of growing up. This only applies to myself since I live alone and not food for other people and I don't do it with dairy. Now, I'm not saying this is great practice but I also think some food safety things that restaurants and so forth do are things many home cooks are lax about and are just fine and the regulations around food safety are often in the context of liability in commercial operations and not necessarily a Bible for home cooks. Which is why it often doesn't lead to instant death or food poisoning if a home cook isn't following the set standards, because I think a lot of room is built in and it's done so restaurants are at a much higher standard than probably what's really necessary, for good reason. Again, I am not advocating you throw out your food safety practices or concerns but just wanted to say it's sometimes cultural and also that in general a lot of food safety fears often feel like a very American brand of worry that I rarely see others obsess over. Just like a lot of Americans are squeamish about some practices like asking people a thousand questions about food safety when they hear of cultures that eat raw meat, or leave eggs and butter out on the counter etc. This often horrifies Americans, and this isn't the norm here because of how we do stuff, but it's also putting an American lens on different situations particularly when the folks who have been doing it have fared fine. I wouldn't die on this hill or break up with someone over this, I would either put it away myself or just ask him again and stateyour fears.
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Perfect example! This exactly. Different countries have different food prep / marketing practices and therefore storage requirements. It’s ridiculous to think because one country stores eggs at room temp all eggs everywhere be stored that way, just ain’t true.
What is the point of leaving the food out overnight and risk throwing it out (if it smells bad) if you just can put it in the fridge? If it's by mistake I also wouldn't throw it out (my parents' food safety standards are as low as I would have imagined so I am pretty sure I have a 'very strong stomach'), but I always wondered what is the problem to spend 2 minutes to put it in the fridge to make it safe and preserve the taste
My parents have also always left out food overnight my entire life, and the rice stayed in the rice cooker for a couple days before making it to the fridge and I never had issues. However, I have since learned about food safety and do ask they try and put stuff away when I'm home. I've never gotten food poisoning though so doubt they will change their ways any time soon.
I leave food out overnight all the time in a covered Dutch oven that i cover while still boiling hot. So long as the food is sufficiently seasoned and you don’t poke dirty fingers into it or leave it uncovered after it’s cooked to a dangerous temp zone, there’s very little chance anything is going to spoil. You can also use your eyes and nose to tell. Government Food safety guidelines are just needlessly stringent.
I hare you about the obsession with food safety, but leaving cooked chicken and fish out for 15 hours seems excessive by any standard.
I also rabbit you
European here. I also think it's completely normal and I'm surprised with comments in this thread. I don't judge whether Americans are right or wrong, I actually haven't really thought about this issue - it's just how it is done here.
I’m not American, we live in a warm and humid area. I see what you’re saying and I agree to an extend, or course I wouldn’t throw it out either, and I’m the first to admit that I’ve never gotten any bad food poisoning from it (yet), but why risk it when it’s so easy to just put it in the fridge and be on the safe side? I think food poisoning is one of those things where you don’t take it seriously until it finally happens and you feel like shit and regret everything lol
TLDR at bottom. Biochemist here. The secret is the amount of bacteria that fall onto the food once it's been cooked (sterilized). Also, how wet the food is (think soup vs bread) will have a huge impact on how dangerous it is to not refrigerate it (because bacteria multiply faster in wet food), and this is why bread and some other foods do not have to be refrigerated. Long story short, if the food gets covered (lid on the pan, plastic container, etc) while it's still hot enough to kill "most" bacteria, it'll take a looong time for them to multiply enough to get someone sick. Going further, if after the food is covered it stays above the temperature and time as seen in this [table](https://microbenotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Different-Types-of-Thermal-Processing-Methods.jpg), it's considered "sterile" (pasteurized) and it's the exact reason why canned food can last years out of the fridge. So for example if you cook your rice, turn the heat off and put the lid on it and it's not touched, 5 days later I would just do a smell test before eating it, guilt-free. Last detail: there's ***always*** bacteria in our food. 1 or 10 or 100, etc.... even if you boil it. However, they need to multiply enough (many hours) to reach a number that will be larger than what our stomach acid can kill, in order to make us sick. So if your food has been cooked and covered after removed from the heat, it's probably fine the next day. TLDR: If the food gets covered (lid on the pan, plastic container, etc) while it's still hot enough to kill "most" bacteria, it'll take a looong time for them to multiply enough to get someone sick. Edit: added "the next day" and TLDR.
You can’t smell or taste most of food poisoning inducing food
Does he ever get food poisoning? Or does he have an iron stomach? Gosh. Put the food you want to eat away for yourself or put it away for him too. If he doesn’t want his portion put in the fridge then leave his out.
It's not just gross - it's stupid! My suggestion to you is to put YOUR lunch in the fridge and let him risk food poisoning every day. Maybe once he gets sick, he'll change his mind.
So my boyfriend will eat leftovers off my plate if I don’t throw them away, after they’ve sat out all night. His body can handle food being out that long. I can’t and I will get sick. Leaving meat and fish out all night is asking for food poisoning. Learning about food safety is important and my bf has gotten a lot better about putting leftovers away. I have also gotten better at throwing away my leftovers 🤣
The funny thing is his parents probably had the same lax approach, so his gut bacteria is far more used to dealing with potential threats than yours is. I'm not suggesting we all start leaving our leftovers out at room temp for days, I just think it's interesting to reflect that he's actually *better off* due to this, as he's less likely to get sick from suspect food. Kind of like how parents are encouraged to let their kids play out in the dirt, as it strengthens the immune system.
It only takes one instance of getting a real bad bacteria to kill you.
I agree with this. I’m the same way. I can eat something the next day that I forgot to put away the night before. I never get sick. In fact, I can only think of one or two times I’ve ever gotten food poisoning and it was when I was a teenager. I’m usually good about putting leftovers away but I’m human and I forget sometimes. Either way, I have a strong stomach too. 🤷🏽♀️
Be careful if you ever have to be on antibiotics. They can wipe out the gut bacteria and throw things off entirely. Just heads up
Americans will tell you that this is straight up gross and that about one million Americans die every year because of unrefrigerated food. The Turkish person in me will say, chill for a second and put only your portion in the refrigerator. You know that you can just take a plate of whatever you guys made and put it into the fridge?
I mean the "correct" answer is what the americans here are saying. My eastern european answer is: Our fridge is always too full so food stays out all the time. My family is alive and none of my ancestors died from food poisoning
People usually think food poisoning happens within a few hours or the next day, but often it takes a week or more before it causes stomach upset or diarrhea and then people don't connect it to what they ate a week ago. It also depends on the ambient temperature - food will last longer in cooler climates. But people usually don't die of food poisoning unless it's really severe - they just get dehydrated and don't feel great.
My parents did this my whole life and I never got sick. It wasn't until I got my food handler's permit and worked in food service that I learned about how to properly store food. I refrigerate everything now but I think because I grew up being exposed to bacteria like that is probably why I don't get sick from it. It's probably the same with your boyfriend
My wife’s family is Ecuadorian and they ALL do this. I think it’s a cultural thing. But my wife and I joke that that’s why at least 6 different family members of hers have had appendicitis.
It seems like an easy enough compromise for him to refrigerate food so that you're happy. People REALLY over state the likelihood of food spoiling. It doesn't immediately become inedible or dangerous. I take raw steaks in the Backcountry and will eat them after three days of no refrigeration. For thousands of years people did not have refrigeration. Food that has spoiled will almost always smell or taste bad.
I think they develop some sort of immunity to their own idiocy. My husband has been eating pizza left out over night for 20 years + with zero consequence.
My bf does this too! He has this bizarre theory that if you put a lid on the pot while it’s still hot and let it cool that it like vacuum seals itself and everything is fine. Needless to say I portion out my leftovers separately and put them in the fridge 🤣
Get a new boyfriend. Being that dumbassed/misinformed/stubborn is a serious red flag.
I think the over reactions here are a little ridiculous. There are a few things you mentioned like seafood and chicken that are unwise to leave out overnight. Seafood for sure, don't eat that the next day if it was out. But a lot of other things, the health and safety rules we get drummed into us are often the absolute safest route and designed for commercial food. Like, can you leave a covered pot of soup out? Yeah, it's going to be fine. Is it safer to refrigerate it? Of course, but unless you contaminate it or it's super hot at night, it's going to be fine. The entire human race would have died of food poisoning if we couldn't leave food out before the fridge was invented.
Basically, it’s fine until it’s not. You can probably get away with this most of the time without much trouble, but you’re more likely to get food poisoning if you’re leaving food out. It’s unlikely to kill healthy adults, you’ll just have a bad time. I stopped doing this after being sick for a week from meatballs which I did reheat thoroughly.
Rented out a room to some Argentinian and Mexican students who would do this. First time I saw them leave food out I asked if they were worried about getting sick. They both insisted it was fine and that everyone did this, yet I've never lived with anyone who spent as much time in the bathroom as they did who weren't sick...
Please tell your boyfriend that I once got a terrible bacterial infection that can be caused by unsafe food. I was hospitalized, in quarantine (way before Covid) for 4 days, had three weeks of major medication to take. I ended up in the hospital because my boyfriend thought I was acting very strangely—I had diarrhea so bad it dehydrated me to the point where the ER nurse found me delirious and babbling nonsense. Do NOT mess around with food safety.
When I went to the Philippines people only refrigerated food that wasn’t prepared. As soon as it was cooked it was left out covered with a lid. Sometimes 2 day old food was eaten again. This wasn’t just one family this was every house I went to. Family, friends of family, extended friends and family. We’re talking pork, chicken, and fish.
All it takes is getting bad food poisoning once to make a person change the way they handle food drastically. I seriously think I almost died when I got it lol. If I had been elderly or a child I don’t think I would have survived it. I don’t mess around with food safety now.
Well, yes and no. I went to culinary school, learned about food safety, holding temperatures and time so I understand the concern, but what we’re typically dealing with in restaurants is different from the environment at home; there’s more potential for heat, humidity, and cross contamination in an industrial kitchen. His parents raised him and he’s repeating the behavior, this is sometimes cultural as some cultures grew without refrigeration or the U.S. FDA regulations and standards. If he or his family haven’t ruined their food quality or faced serious consequences for their storage, then they’re okay- if it’s gross for you, that’s okay too. If you are truly concerned about the food you eat, take responsibility for it, and package it into the fridge yourself. Maybe compromise on the foods (such as fish/seafood) that have a higher risk in developing foodborne illnesses by educating them. Otherwise, if it’s not your cooking, maybe it’s not your say, because you don’t have to eat it.
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Put your share in the fridge and leave him be. 🤷🏼♂️ He’s probably built up a stomach for it.
it's gross . Depending on where you live w pests and such it's gross. You are correct leaving food out for extended period can trigger food poisoning or other health concerns. Even something like a frozen turkey is supposed to be thawed out in the fridge over time to prevent bacteria.
My husband does this. I throw it away.
Not if you don't want ants.
Good lord... If it was up to like 6 hours I'd say meh, whatever. Or certain foods that don't spoil quickly, like pizza left out overnight, I wouldn't bat an eye. But chicken, fish, milk/cream left out for 15 hours?? Hell no. Bacterial growth is a function of many factors, but if you're comparing the same food item kept on the counter vs the fridge, you can go by just temperature and time. I don't know the exact math so this is just a guess, but the amount of bacterial growth at room temp for 15 hours might be equivalent to refrigerating for the better part of a week. So if you wouldn't eat week old refrigerated fish, you shouldn't eat fish left out all night. And at the end of the day, c'mon. You gotta scoop the food into containers to pack lunches anyway. Tell him to stop being lazy and do it at night instead of the morning.
What I've learned living with roommates from all kinds of backgrounds: if you've grown up doing this, you can do it. You have a gut biome (that you got from your mother in the womb and soon after birth) that can handle any bacteria growth in the pot overnight. If you have not, then you really shouldn't. You may get away with it a few times, but you're playing the numbers and will get sick one day. The phrase I use is "your stomach can do things mine can't do." So, maybe a compromise is that you put your portion in Tupperware and fridge it and he can be responsible for washing the pot the next day.
From a chef. STOP PLEASE FOR FUCKING SAKE UNLESS YOU WANT TO GET SICK AND DIE. Food shouldn't be left out for more than 2 hours at room temperature. Food safety rules are there for a reason. BECAUSE SOMEONE SOMEWHERE DIED. Rant over. Please stay healthy and happy. If you have a big pot of say chili for example, it should be put into smaller containers. Ideally then put into an ice bath uncovered then put in the fridge. I just let it cool to room temperature at home then put it in the fridge.
My husband is Filipino and his family will eat food that is left out for DAYS. They’ve never gotten sick but there’s absolutely no way I’m going to risk it. 2 hours left out is about my limit and then info the fridge it goes.
Man I’m glad I read this. I tend to do this sometime but definitely going to make a better habit of putting food in the fridge. Thank you for asking
My exs family does this. His mom will make guac and just leave it out. When its brown the next day she just mixes it up. I've seen so many food items treated this way even MEAT! Luckily it did not rub off on him. He understands food safety.
My boyfriend did this years ago with tortellini and ended up with terrible food poisoning. Also we're from a very small town and the goddamn hospital misplaced him and I couldn't find him for a while.
Fried rice syndrome 😬 have him read about it
How safe it is depends on context, I wouldn't freak out about it happening once in a while with foods that aren't especially risky and get adequately reheated before being eaten again, but doing it frequently regardless of context is simply irresponsible. Putting food in the fridge isn't hard.