May 12, 2005
Dilemma
You pull the container of leftovers from your refrigerator. You are unable to recall exactly how long it's been in there, because you never adopted your grandmother's habit of marking the refrigerator-entry date on every container using a felt marker and masking tape. She warned you that this would be the consequence. You attempt to snifferentiate, but you can't quite tell if it's supposed to have that odor. You examine it closely for mold. There could be some, there in the corner . . . nope, that's just a spot of congealed fat. You realize that you were hoping it was mold, just so you could be sure.
By this time, your kitchen is five degrees cooler because your refrigerator door is standing wide open. Do you eat the leftovers? It was pretty good the first time. But how long has it been sitting there, stewing in a fetid pool of microbes? Do you throw it out? Your mind lingers on that food poisoning incident three years ago, the time when your stomach declared: "Everybody out! Two exits! No waiting!" So what do you do? The clock is ticking. The kitchen is cooling. The electrical meter is spinning. What do you do?
If you live in our house, you put it back and let it sit long enough to be sure it's gone bad.
Posted by Woodlief on May 12, 2005 at 07:46 AM
Absolutely!
But if they were really good the first time around and you are pretty sure it's only been a week, you microwave those microbes to death.
Or, you eat out again.
Posted by: guess who at May 12, 2005 10:00 AM
my dog is always up to eat anything i'm not sure i will...hasn't hurt her yet...
Posted by: mari lynn at May 12, 2005 10:26 AM
I eat it. I don't share with my wife, as she has a sensitive stomach; I don't. I have a cast-iron, teflon-coated, couldn't-less-about-microbes stomach. The only time I've gotten food poisoning in the last several years was when I absent-mindedly did something REALLY stupid involving raw eggs...
But my wife gets food poisoning from stuff that no one else does, so YMMV.
Posted by: Deoxy at May 12, 2005 10:46 AM
Stick in the microwave. All those little energy molecules sterilize everything, including you. Just kidding.
Funny post and I can relate.
Posted by: Teem at May 12, 2005 10:58 AM
don't forget to say grace. :)
Posted by: MMM at May 12, 2005 11:05 AM
Even if you did have the date written down on the container, you would still run into the situation of something being questionable - although you could always tell the doctor, "It was only six days old!"
Opening up long-forgotten containers is a challenge. How long do you enjoy looking at the pretty mold patterns before deciding to sniff the contents (knowing they'll probably smell awful)? Without a disposal, how do you bag and wrap the contents, is the container worth saving, and are you still hungry?
Posted by: MarcV at May 12, 2005 1:44 PM
This is why "disposable tupperware" is my best friend. when they only cost about 25-cents each, you don't debate about whether that mold will clean out easily. :)
Posted by: Paul at May 12, 2005 3:19 PM
Phyllis Diller Law of Leftovers: "I don't throw leftovers away. I put them in the fridge for a month, and _then_ I throw them away."
Posted by: Barney Madsen at May 14, 2005 1:54 AM
