"I hope you weren't planning on eating that"

My poor husband has become so accustomed to my playing food police that his response to this question as we drive home from Thanksgiving dinner with a car full of leftovers is, "No, of course not!"

I was referring to the tupperware containers full of turkey and sweet potatoes that my mother-in-law (MIL) gave us to take home. Why wouldn't I allow my husband to eat any of it?? Because I want him to live to see Christmas! I've come to realize that I may be the only person in the world who knows how to properly handle, cook, and store food that is safe to consume. Or at least I'm the only person in the Doughty family who does. My MIL thinks it's perfectly okay to cook a meal, then leave the food out on the counter, on top of the stove, on the table- basically wherever the temperature is conducive to bacterial growth- for the duration of the day and/or night so that it is readily accessible for whoever is daring (and foolish) enough to eat it.

This particular Thanksgiving meal was served sometime before 5pm (this is when we arrived and the food was already out). It was not packed up until we left around 9:00. And even then, it wasn't put in the fridge, but on the front porch, where presumably temperatures are fridge-like. There are two problems with this approach: #1, food should only be kept at room temperature for 2 hours and certainly no longer than 4 hours. After 4 hours, it should be discarded. #2, the temperature on the front porch was not necessarily below 40 degrees, the temperature at which bacterial growth is sufficiently slowed. Even if it was below 40 at 9pm that night, it definitely wasn't the next day when the sun came up and heated the many-windowed porch like a greenhouse. But that didn't stop anyone from eating leftovers for the next 3 days!

You can imagine my reaction when we went back there Sunday night and MIL asked, "You guys want leftovers?!!" Oh, and cooked poultry should only be kept for 1-2 days, so that's STRIKE THREE!

While I target my MIL, I know that she is far from alone in her risky food storage practices. I don't know how many times I've heard someone say, "If it smells fine, go ahead and eat it." Or, "you'd know if it was bad." This is, quite simply, ridiculous! You would absolutely NOT know if a food was bad just by looking at it or smelling it. In fact, the bacteria that make food smell and taste bad typically would not make you sick. It's the bacteria that don't have an effect on the food's physical qualities that you need to worry about.

So for those of you who are similarly uninformed, here are some great resources to help you stay safe and healthy this holiday season:

Food Safety Tips for Healthy Holidays

Food Safety FAQs

Kitchen Companion - Very thorough! With charts and stuff!