Food Spoilage Question

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Okay, this one is going to make me sound unbelievably stupid, but I have to ask anyway. I starting making a HUGE pot of chicken soup yesterday afternoon, and at about 9:30 it was still WAY to hot to put in the refrigerator. SO I started reading and ended up falling asleep, and left the soup out on the stove until morning.I put it in the refrigerator, but I'm not sure if I should keep it. I hate to throw it away, but I don't want to take any chances that someone will get sick. Now, if I boil it again, can I salvage it, or should I toss it?

-- Kristin, in C. Alabama (positivekharma@aol.com), December 09, 2000

Answers

I have found its a lot harder to spoil food than one thinks .I have done the same thing many times and have never got sick .Does it smell and look ok ? You will have to be the final judge .Do you have a relative you do not like near by { maybe Renees inlaws} give them a bowl and wait a day .Only kidding {maybe}

-- Patty (fodfarms@slic.com), December 09, 2000.

Patty-I got a neighbor I'd really like to see go away for a long long time,so maybe I should get some of Kristin's soup.Ah well,better not.

Kristen we did leave soup on the stove all day and into the night and had some late at night,then put it up,and when I went to get some the next time,it had an off taste,so we pitched it.The dogs ate good that day.

But it was still warm in the house and it also had been simmering on the stove all day while we awaited travelers,so I think that was a factor.Plus,if your kitchen is a cold as mine is now, overnight,I'd think it would be probably ok if it doesn't smell or taste funny. Not a scientific answer.

-- sharon wt (wildflower@ekyol.com), December 09, 2000.


Kristen: When in doubt feed it to your teens then watch closely!! If they get sick then chuck it. Remember they probably deserve it anyway!!!.....Kirk

-- Kirk Davis (kirkay@yahoo.com), December 09, 2000.

Please feed it to the dogs, cats, pigs, or chickens, NOT humans, salmonella poisoning is not fun at all, and can be deadly to those with a compromised immune system, like the very young, or the very old, or those like me who don't have a "healthy" immune system. Annie in SE OH.

-- Annie Miller (annie@1st.net), December 10, 2000.

Smell it - if it smells good it probably is fine. Let us know what you did.

-- kelly (kellytree@hotmail.com), December 10, 2000.


I agree with Patty. When working on my mountain nomading all warm season I never use a refrigerator. I air the fresh food I have at night and wrap in a blanket during the day. Birds and rabbits can keep several days just gutted and not skinned while hanging in the shade. A big however - once refrigerated be careful as that "kills" everything, meat, veggies, everything.

-- JLS in NW AZ (stalkingbull007@AOL.com), December 10, 2000.

I went to a friends house years ago for a turkey dinner. She told us that it sat out all night and we shouldn't eat it. We all did except the friend, no one got sick. Just wondering. How did the pioneers keep food that was left over, or did they feed it to the animals at the end of the day. I know they often ate lunch leftovers for supper, but what about the supper leftovers if they didn't have a spring house?

-- Cindy (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), December 10, 2000.

Hello All, Just in case anyone was wondering, the soup was fine. Kirk, NO teens yet, so I coudn't take you advice (G) Renee, I've frozen some, so if you decide the in-laws need to go away, I could leave some out again for you. (Just Kidding) Annie, I understand your concern- however, we had already gone ahead and eaten it by the time I got your message and it almost gave me a heart attack! My husband had to keep telling me I was NOT feeling nauseous LOL. the fact that the kitchen here is like an icebox probably helped a lot! Thanks again for all of the input

-- Kristin, in C. Alabama (positivekharma@aol.com), December 11, 2000.

I think it depends on what kind of food it is. We've had stuff sit out overnight (in a cool kitchen) without spoiling. But one time I had made a great big pot of bean soup for a church dinner. Afterwards it sat in the church overnight (which was cool, but of course the large pot with a lot of left-over soup in it was still warm) and in the morning it was foamy looking. I threw it out. Our ancestors, without refrigeration, didn't keep stuff as long as we do. I suppose they tried not to have more leftovers than they could eat before the stuff spoiled, but if they couldn't eat it, they fed it to the dogs, the hogs, or the chickens. (Not necessarily in that order!)

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), December 11, 2000.

I didn't mean to frighten you so, I'm sorry Kristen! Yes, the cold kitchen most likely helped out, that and if it was well covered, to keep out additional bacterial contaminents. After having witnessed projectile vomiting from salmonella poisoning, I wouldn't wish that experience on anybody! Sorry to scare you so, Annie in SE OH.

-- Annie Miller (annie@1st.net), December 11, 2000.


On the pioneers, remember also how they preserved their food. During the warmer/hotter months they might eat only out of the garden, with the occasional raccoon, opossum or squirrel. Since it would have been a treat, image how that Sunday chicken must have tasted, with soup from the bones for the next meal. Meals were generally what would be eaten in a few meals. Springhouses or wells helped with a bit of preservation. Hogs were killed in the fall and their meat smoked. Deer or elk might be smoked, but if it was cold enough, just hung in an outbuilding and chunks cut off as needed. Once a preserved jar was opened, it might have been an element of the meal by itself once or twice, then the rest used in a stew. Some had a winter refrigerator/freezer which was a box from the kitchen extending to the outside with a door on the inside. Food was preserved in there. I suspect the woodbox also served many as an outdoor freezer. And there were the crock pots, cold rooms and root cellars.

I understand on the wagon trains going west, while the evening meal was being prepared, breakfast and lunch for the next day was prepared at the same time. Breakfast might be coffee and cornbread, with lunch perhaps being lukewarm coffee and cornbread. (By the way, remember the movies where people rode in the wagons. Not so, unless you were very young or very old, you walked to spare the horses, oxen or mules.) The pace of the wagon trains was determined in part by the number of overnight stopping areas. You stopped where the train one day ahead had. Since they didn't have portajohns, I can image what they must have smelled like. Same for native American indians in winter camp. No wonder they moved on in early Spring.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), December 13, 2000.


Jesus L. Christ, after a while, you would think, some would trust you. Dried peas and beans, and also meat products, go back to way before you were born. Or else, your Grand-parents would not have survived, and Hence, you would not be here. Where IS your brain? Oh My Gosh!, I am sorry, I asked.....

-- Thank Lord (forthe@knowledge.com), December 16, 2000.

Thanks for the neat info Ken!

Kristen,I'm glad you're all fine.I'm more with Annie on this matter. [Once I let a nice roast sit out on the counter to thaw a little (fully intending to put it in the fridge before bedtime),Well,I forgot about it.By morning,it was not only thouroughly thawed but lukewarm.I've never heard of slamonella being contacted via beef,but I threw it out anyways.That was depressing!]

Off topic,I often wonder how they made goat's cheese way back when. [I'm not a cheesemaker,obviously...]Don't most people use some sort of really expensive cream separator now?[Hope you don't mind my voicing my ignorance on this thread y'all.]

Blessings,~~~Tracy~~~

-- Tracy Jo Neff (tntneff@ifriendly.com), December 16, 2000.


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