Good Question: How Long Do Leftovers Last?
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - One of the best parts about Thanksgiving is the leftovers.
But with Thanksgiving four days behind us, some of you may be wondering if it's okay to eat what's still in the fridge.
Dawn Block has a pretty good handle on how long the residents of her refrigerator have been hanging out.
"We've got a lot of stuffing and cauliflower casserole and gravy," she said.
What's left of her Thanksgiving meal is also in there.
The only question now is, How long can her holiday leftovers stick around?
"My guess is probably three or four days, but we keep it a little longer than that," said Block.
Ted Labuza is a food science professor at the University of Minnesota.
"If it's warm enough, you could get problems," he said. "If it's cool and dry, you aren't going to have much of a problem in there."
He said as long as your fridge is set somewhere between 35 and 42 degrees, most of your food should be good for days.
Like your mashed potatoes:
"I don't know of any outbreaks from mashed potatoes," Labuza said.
Or your cranberries:
"They are high in benzoic acid, which is a good anti-microbial, so that's not a problem," he said.
Labuza said the biggest risk is the star of every Thanksgiving meal: the turkey.
He said it should be cooked at 165 degrees to kill salmonella.
"Where the salmonella is, is in the cavity, and it's hard to get thermometers in there," said Labuza.
That makes the stuffing inside the turkey a risk too.
But if cooked thoroughly, turkey and stuffing should be good in your fridge for four days or more.
"In my fridge, I can keep leftovers for seven days without a problem," Labuza said.
Labuza said that salmonella can't grow if your fridge is set below 45 degrees.
He said turkey should not sit out for more than a couple hours and what a lot of people do is freeze it and recook it later.
If you put your leftovers in the freezer, they can stay for weeks without a problem, but they should be heated to 165 degrees.
The old rhyming rule holds water: "When in doubt, throw it out."