By Briana Hayes
Staff Writer
After the meal is finished, two things are evident on Thanksgiving Day. One is that your stomach has grown two sizes and another is that there is still tons of food leftover.
Tupperware containers and saran wrap are brought out and all the leftover turkey, stuffing, gravy, and tons of other side dishes are put away and saved for the rest of the week.
While you will have food to last you your entire time home for the week, you also need to make sure that leftovers are treated with care to avoid sickness and eating bad food.
Hot, perishable food that sits out for longer than two hours is considered unsafe to eat and needs to be thrown away. This is because the temperature of the food has most likely been in the food danger zone for too long. This temperature allows for bacteria to rapidly reproduce and contaminate the food. So even though you still may be in pain from eating so much, try and put the food away as soon as possible.
Sending leftovers home with guests is a great way to minimize the amount of refrigerator or freezer space needed by the host. Since the two-hour rule still applies, a good way to minimize bacteria growth is to put food in a cooler to keep it out of the temperature zone.
When it comes to storing your turkey, turkey can be kept in a refrigerator for about four days and still be safe. However, if you have a lot of bird leftover, store some in the freezer where it can be eaten for six months.
Stuffing can be cooked inside the turkey, but once cooking is done, stuffing shouldn’t be stored with the turkey. If turkey and stuffing are stored together, there is a risk of salmonella bacteria contaminating the stuffing.
In addition, the “two-two-four” rules is another good way to practice good food safety. The first “two” refers to the maximum of two hours that food should be kept after cooking.
The second “two” refers to the two inches that the containers the food is stored in should be in depth. Storing the food items separately in shallow containers is the only way to ensure proper food safety once the food is put away.
This is because shallow containers allow the food the cool quickly and evenly and will reduce the bacteria that grow on the food.
The “four” refers to the four days that food should be eaten in. While you may have enough food that can last for a whole week, this can be fixed by putting it in the freezer instead.
Food safety is just as important as how good the pumpkin pie tastes so remember to take special care when putting your leftovers away.
