The Glade 4.0

So I left a package of deli ham and a package of provolone on the counter over night. These definitely not safe now?

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The Dude abides.

I'd be dubious if it were beef. Any pork, absolutely not.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
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The cheese should be fine.

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Holy shitsnacks!

Dangit. I'm so strapped for time I can't remember to do anything anymore. :-\

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The Dude abides.

Sorry dude that sucks. I've done that before. Either forgot to put the leftovers away and wasted a whole lot of food, or left some of the groceries in the car until the next day and had to throw them away.
Cut some things out of your schedule maybe or take a day off to relax and catch your breath?

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"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

Typically, the harder the cheese the safer you are. If it were something runny, like brie, I would pitch it, but provolone should be ok.

Although this is not an absolute, ham is a cured meat. The ham should be fine.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

Deli meats are notorious for being at risk for certain nasty things like listeria, ham or not.

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"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

Feed it to the dog and see what happens.

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I give the smell test. You could always just fry it up instead, the heat should kill any latent bacteria, besides, that's what immune systems are for.

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Gorse

Freeze it solid for a month. Cold kills germs as effectively as heat.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

To Gorse and Diamondeye:

No and no. Heat should kill most of the bacteria itself, but it won't destroy certain toxins the bacteria produce. Cold doesn't even kill most of the bacteria. In fact, many bacteria are more cold-tolerant than heat-tolerant. When you freeze items, it still has a shelf-life. Freezing just lengthens the shelf-life. And with even a small amount of growth in the freezer, the bacteria will give off toxins and you'll still be violently ill. My best advice is to toss away the ham. A little bit of ham saved isn't worth the risk. The cheese should be okay, but if you're not sure or it tastes a little funny, toss it as well.

I'm in the toss the ham, keep the cheese crowd.



While I agree with the sentiment, I think it needs clarification. I think of it as is freezing "suspends" the shelf life; when you take it out it's in (relatively) the same state you put as when you put it in. If you freeze your milk because it's going to go bad the next day, when you thaw it - it's still going to go bad the next day.

I know you know that Ienan - no offense intended.

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"Dress cops up as soldiers, give them military equipment, train them in military tactics, tell them they’re fighting a ‘war,’ and the consequences are predictable." —Radley Balko

But... its HAM!!

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Holy shitsnacks!

Not exactly. If your milk was going to last a day, it may now last a month in the freezer (that's just a hypothetical example). Bacteria still grow in the freezer, albeit at an extremely slow rate. By the way, bacteria found in milk aren't usually pathogenic, but the acids they produce curdle the milk and make it taste...well bad. And if you leave milk in the freezer too long, it curdles as well because the proteins in milk denature as they do with the acids from bacteria. But the freezer doesn't destroy bacteria like high heat, such as found on an oven or stove, does. Extreme cold does, just as extremes in heat do (most of the time - there are exceptions to the rule but most of them aren't pathogenic). Now if you used liquid nitrogen, you may be able to kill off a substantial amount of bacteria. I don't know how many home freezers have liquid nitrogen in them, though.

And when you thaw it...



Pasteurization tends to do that. There are plenty of pathogens in milk (E coli, Listeria, Salmonella and Yersinia enterocolitica to name a few) before they're killed by heat.

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"Dress cops up as soldiers, give them military equipment, train them in military tactics, tell them they’re fighting a ‘war,’ and the consequences are predictable." —Radley Balko

Better to toss it all if there is any question than to pay the price of food poisoning if any of it is bad. Consider the lost money on the discarded food both cheap health insurance and a lesson cost for remembering to put your groceries away right when you get home.

It might have been okay is little consolation when you're heaving or worse.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

I don't think I'm following. When you thaw it, bacteria will grow that much faster. But it can spoil in the freezer without any thawing needed, too. It's one of the reasons why frozen meals have expiration dates and why you should get rid of meats and other perishables over a certain amount of time (times differ for different items) in the freezer. Extremely slow growth doesn't mean no growth. It's not quite cold enough for true bacteriostatic conditions. But it's close enough.


Indeed. I meant when you get in your house. People have a tendency to think milk isn't usable after it spoils. If you really needed to, you could drink it. It's a combination of different bacteria, such as Lactobacillus, Leuconostoc, and other microbes. It just wouldn't taste to great. The only reason I bring this up is because I see people throw away milk that's still good, but starting to spoil. I'm just giving a recommendation to use it as long as you can, as it won't harm you.

Same with cheese, no? I've heard that cheese mold, for the most part, isn't harmful.

I'd probably have eaten the ham. Go go CON 18.

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This cold and dark tormented hell
Is all I`ll ever know
So when you get to heaven
May the devil be the judge

Pretty much correct, unless you're storing it mixed with other stuff.

Block cheese is even better -- if it gets moldy, just cut away the surface and you don't even have that to deal with!

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Cool, thanks. I'll go have some moldy cheddar now.

(Actually, I tend to use slightly moldy cheese in omelettes, and people/wife always say, "Wow, this is really good." Hehehe.)

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This cold and dark tormented hell
Is all I`ll ever know
So when you get to heaven
May the devil be the judge

While that sounds awful, i'll give you the benefit of the doubt, since it's the main point of "blue cheese."

(I don't like blue cheese.)

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

I eat pretty much everything even if I've left it out. I've cooked meat thats been in the freezer for years. I cant recall having food poisoning.

luck?

I think the best descriptor for you would be "cast iron stomach".

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Meh. I've eaten pizza that has been in the kitchen for 2 or sometimes even 3 days(without even reheating it) and I've always been fine. If it smelt fine and didn't have any visible signs of spoiledness, I'd stick it in the fridge and not worry too much about it.

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