How far do you go to salvage food?

jimmymc · Aug 26, 2016

Eat yourself some K-rations canned in 1942, served in 1968,if the can didn't have a rust hole in it—it was good.

GeorgeK · Sep 16, 2016

Cindyt said:
My mother always tossed left out food and so did I. But my husband seldom refrigerated our leftovers. Never made him sick, or me--until the day I ate a pot roast and gave some of it to Harry the Wonder Dog. OH, my gosh!

Never again.

Was it covered and then rebaked, or just left out all night?

GeorgeK · Sep 16, 2016

Roxxsmom said:
One source of argument that's developed in my family in recent years is re thawing on the countertop. Food safety people say absolutely don't do this, but my mom always did when we were kids (leaving a turkey or other large piece of meat out ovetnight before the big dinner), and still does. She gets pretty indignant and says it's a "bunch of 'bull roar,'" because she never poisoned us.

The only food poisonings I've had were from hospital cafeterias

Roxxsmom said:
I suspect some of it is luck, as different pieces of meat may or may not have a critical mass of bacteria when purchased, but salmonella seems to be more common in poultry and eggs than it once was.

Roxxsmom said:
I either let food thaw in the fridge or thaw it with cool water or the microwave (which tends to partially cook it if you aren't careful). It's hard with things like holiday turkeys, though, as they take up most of the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, and there's no place to put the milk and other tall containers that go there.

salmonella is a common gut bacteria in birds, so although other meats I'll let thaw on the counter or in the sink, I don't do that with poultry. If it's vacuum sealed, I have been known to thaw the meat in the hot tub. It sort of freaked my wife out the first time she saw me do it

GeorgeK · Sep 16, 2016

MaeZe said:
Then there is the problem that open to air allows more potential for contamination. Food in the pan it cooked in with the lid on top was only contaminated by the serving spoon. Leaving it open to the air allows pathogens to settle out of the air (MRSA, for example is notorious for spreading around the hospital on air currents).

And you have another problem, enterotoxin A is but one of 21 enterotoxins (see table 2) produced by staph aureus. In addition, there are other enterotoxin producing organisms, streptococcal organisms for example, are also frequent flyers.

I'm all about risk benefit decision making. It's just important to know the actual risk when you are making those decisions.

I don't disagree, I'm just wondering how far people go.

shakeysix · Sep 16, 2016

Friends of mine from college days drove out from Kentucky. They gave me a big carton of bleu cheese dressing that they bought in a restaurant along the way--somewhere between Missouri and Kentucky. They could not remember the name of the restaurant but said it had a huge sign advertising "Best Fresh Bleu Cheese Dressing in the World!." Those restaurant folks weren't lying!

My friends were afraid to take the container on to Nebraska because the ice in their cooler had melted and it was a bit--- not warm but not cold. That was a week ago. I have been enjoying it on garden salads and potatoes, hamburgers and even apples but it has been a week and it has no preservatives added. I am just one person and there is still a lot left but I am going to take it to the limit--maybe one last time. --s6

How far do you go to salvage food?

jimmymc

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GeorgeK

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GeorgeK

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GeorgeK

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shakeysix

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