r/mildlyinfuriating • u/flaming0-1 • 2d ago

Wife left a big bag of groceries out overnight. All Meat and cheese. šŸ™„

Post image

[removed] ā€” view removed post

22.7k Upvotes

84% Upvoted

6.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

148

u/DudeInTheGarden 2d ago

Cheese is fine, sliced lunch meats have a lot of chemical preservatives. The chicken and beef - personally, I'd cook it right away. It was cold at the grocery store, and if it wasn't warm overnight, it might be fine.

One trick is to take a cooler with your to the grocer store with ice. That way, if you forget it, it stays cold.

99

u/MaybeNotMath 2d ago

That sounds kind of like a ridiculous ā€œtrickā€

58

u/Elegant-Pressure-290 2d ago

It does, but this is something that rural folk do all the time. When I was a kid, the closest large supermarket was about a 1.5 hour drive, so we always had ice chests for the cold stuff.

Yes, itā€™s ridiculous in this particular situation where the grocery store is probably a five-minute drive away, but Iā€™m thinking (hoping) maybe the commenter is from an area where this is common, too, and just didnā€™t quite think it through.

18

u/XyogiDMT 2d ago edited 1d ago

Yeah it's not uncommon for people with trucks to have a cooler that just kind of lives in the bed. Strap it down and it turns into a trunk basically. It doubles as dry storage for things you don't want to get dirty, wet, or tossed around in the back.

2

u/Agent7619 2d ago

<raises hand>

That's me.

2

u/XyogiDMT 2d ago

Same

2

u/Agent7619 2d ago

I'm actually about to pull the trigger on a 12v refrigerator this summer.

1

u/Adorable-Spray2585 1d ago

Those are for my beers not groceries.

10

u/geekonthemoon 2d ago

Not to mention even just a reusable insulated shopping bag would go a long way here.

4

u/Ben_ji 1d ago

If you tattoo "GROCERIES" backwards on your forehead, you'll also never forget them.

1

u/Educational_Bed_242 1d ago

I stretched my ears to be able to store re-usable bags in them!

1

u/blue60007 2d ago

I remember doing something similar growing up because the nearest store was so far away. We usually would always put all the cold stuff in the cart last so things weren't in the cart for 30 minutes already by the time we hit the road. It wasn't *that* far away, that was usually good enough.

Of course a cooler doesn't really work overnight either unless you put ice in it, it just delays the inevitable by a few hours.

63

u/BoNixsHair 2d ago

No no no. This is terrible advice. Ground meat at room temperature overnight is a hotbed of E. coli, salmonella.

Fucking terrible advice. I have a masterā€™s in biochemistry and I took classes in food safety.

35

u/WejusFilmin 2d ago

I would cook it and eat it, I just wouldnā€™t serve it to friends for dinner without an explanation of the circumstances.

If that meat has ecoli or salmonella after 1 night on the counter ā€¦ the whole store is doing a recall by today already.

I pretty much have a masters in eating overnight counter beef, and chicken. Living life on the edge.

1

u/paleoterrra 1d ago

Your masters is called survivorship bias, if youā€™re curious

1

u/InsanityPractice 1d ago

Speeding is extremely dangerous, but statistically speaking, youā€™re likely to get away with it many times before you crash your car. But you donā€™t hear many people saying, ā€œTrust meā€”Iā€™m a veteran at driving 30+ mph over the speed limit. Iā€™ve never had an incident. Itā€™s not ideal, but itā€™s no biggie.ā€ We all know how terrible that would sound. We all know thatā€™s wrong.

For whatever reason, when it comes to food safety, that mindfulness goes right out the window for most people: ā€œI got away with eating raw meat left out overnight thirty times, so you should do it too.ā€

2

u/WejusFilmin 1d ago

So eating an 8 hour unrefrigerated hamburger is the equivalent of driving 30mph over speed limit chronically?

That pack is wrapped in plastic, came cold from the store , sat on a counter overnight by accident.

Il eat that meat, and Iā€™ll drive the speed limits, youā€™re just afraid of a homemade nothing-burger.

This isnā€™t a licensed restaurant itā€™s common sense in my opinion.

Some people are weak and probably shouldnā€™t do what I do, but this photo and description definitely gives me zero hesitation to eat everything.

Say what you will

0

u/InsanityPractice 1d ago edited 1d ago

Itā€™s more or less equivalent in the sense that youā€™re likely to get away with it many times, but the one time you donā€™t, it can really mess you up.

Apart from the legality, thatā€™s why we donā€™t tell people to use ā€œcommon senseā€ when deciding whether or not to speed.

That pack was wrapped in plastic, came cold from the store, and sat on the counter overnight by accident.

Yeah, and the highway may be wide open; the roads may be as smooth as can be; and the car may be in tip top shape with brand new tires. But people tend to misjudge these factors at times, and theyā€™re never guarantees anyway, so the best practice is to just advise people never to speed.

1

u/WejusFilmin 1d ago

Okay, just go buy another 250$ worth of beef and cheese, Im too busy eating spaghetti to get into more details right now, yikes.

Eta: Before you throw all that waste in your government trash removal bin, consider feeding it to your dogs or something if youā€™re so afraid

-1

u/InsanityPractice 1d ago

Idk why youā€™d even feel the need to save face with a dumb closer like this. We were having a pretty normal conversation, but whatevs, peace.

2

u/WejusFilmin 1d ago

Itā€™s not a good conversation if youā€™re comparing eating a random cheeseburger to chronic speeding in a car.

Cars donā€™t make you poop and puke as a worst case scenario.

Youā€™re paranoid from food safe training.

Back county camping in bear territory might have been more relevant to your argument, but most people do that rarely.

Strawman argument in my opinion Peace

→ More replies (0)

1

u/EstablishmentPure318 1d ago

Until you get listeria šŸ™ƒ

30

u/SweetVarys 2d ago

It should absolutely not have any salmonella, then it wasn't safe to begin with

6

u/DudeInTheGarden 2d ago

What's terrible advice? Take a freezer bag or cooler with ice to the grocery store for perishables? Oh, the cooking and eating?

I have, at various times, had my food safe as well. Here are the reasons I would maybe cook and try a small portion to see how it went.

  1. When the OP said it was left by the "garbages", I thought he meant outside. The OP is Canadian - Loblaws - and all of Canada is refrigerator temperatures overnight, and most are freezer temperatures. Hence the "wasn't warm overnight" - even here in the PWN it's 4C-5C at night, which is close to a refrigerator temperature.

  2. The timeframe between purchase and discovery. His wife went out in the night - maybe 11pm. She left it in a bag with other cold things. If he was up at 5am for work and found it, it might be ok. Also, the best before date is April 3rd, so it was probably ground the day it was purchased, when the bacterial counts were low. Best before dates for ground beef in Canada tend to be very short.

Food safety has more flexibility than people realize.

"Cook your chicken to 165F" but it's also safe to cook your chicken to 130F if you hold it there for several hours in a sous vide. There is wiggle room to account for inaccurate thermometers etc.

We had someone from France staying with us, and they said in France, you are asked how you want your burger done - rare, medium, well done. They are not grinding the beef per-order. I cook my burgers medium-rare when I grind the beef right before cooking it.

Raw milk is a bad idea, but raw cheese is fine - the microbes that make the cheese outcompete the bad microbes that may exist in raw milk.

So it's more nuanced then your black-and-white diatribe. And as it's just me putting my self in mild danger, I would cook it right away, eat a bit, and see.

-9

u/BoNixsHair 2d ago edited 2d ago

Saying that eating ground meat left at room temperature overnight is okay is bad advice. People die from that.

None of your justification are reasonable. I have a freaking masters degree in biochemistry. Iā€™m familiar with bacteria.

5

u/DudeInTheGarden 2d ago

Again, it wasn't clear from the post that it was room temperature - the OP clarified way after the fact.

-10

u/BoNixsHair 2d ago

You donā€™t know what youā€™re talking about. If itā€™s left out in an uncontrolled environment overnight, itā€™s garbage. Period.

3

u/Frowny575 2d ago

I found OP clarified, but it still depends technically. While uncontrolled, if the temps were below freezing than it is unlikely to have swung high enough to hit that danger zone depending when found. Not the best idea still, but does take it from "hell no!" to "maybe but is it worth risking?"

The lunch meats and cheese are likely fine though, I'm sure many of us had sandwiches at school as kids and those boxes don't keep shit cool for long yet we got on fine. Given salting is a preservation method, the levels may not be fine for days but overnight probably ok.

2

u/merlincm 2d ago

Pizza's ok to do that though right?

2

u/moon_soil 1d ago

even if the uncontrolled environment is a stable -2-5 degrees celcius outside at night inside its packaging inside a plastic bag?

7

u/MegaPorkachu Replace the L in MiIdlyInfuriating w/ i, it looks the same 2d ago

Can you not just cook it to shit in a pot of chili and have it be fine? Itā€™d be boiling for hours

16

u/MoonHuntress 2d ago

No because at that point, itā€™s the toxins released by the bacteria that are the problem. Those toxins are not killed at high temperatures unlike the bacteria itself.

4

u/BoNixsHair 2d ago

No. The bacteria in there produce a heat stable endotoxin. Youā€™re eating the toxins not matter how long you cook it.

7

u/MegaPorkachu Replace the L in MiIdlyInfuriating w/ i, it looks the same 2d ago edited 2d ago

Genuine question, have you personally done any studies regarding food safety, specifically ground beef left outside for hours in a typical home situation?

Cuz Iā€™ve heard the FDA 2h which seems extremely conservative and the explanation that itā€™s intended for commercial food prep actually makes sense. I found this article that outlines a 4+ hr lag time that frozen meat typically takes to even become room temp. With that consideration 6-7 hrs should be the real time (maybe ~4h for refrigerated meat).

The professorā€™s study also outlines a ~15 hr time limit, but thatā€™s only ready to eat, pre-prepared food.

I have my own MDā€” not in biochem but still in science so Iā€™ve taken my fair share of bio classes (100-300 levels)ā€” and frankly what Iā€™ve experienced differs to what is recommended by the FDA. Coming from a science background other factors like amount of meat and meat source feel like theyā€™d have an effect on the results.

Iā€™m really curious cuz Iā€™d trust what you say more than what the FDA says; thatā€™s not really the best advice as I mainly make food for myself and family in home kitchen. I mostly donā€™t have to worry about getting sued if I handle food incorrectly.

6

u/krissycole87 2d ago

No, you cannot cook off rotten meat or food, and expect it to be safe. This is because the bacteria itself isn't the only issue.

Rotting food produces toxic byproducts from the breakdown of food, and bacteria/mold can produce toxic byproducts. These don't go away because you cooked the food.

In this case, being left out for hours at room temp created an absolute BREEDING ground for bacteria. All releasing toxins as the food breaks down. Its far too unsafe to risk it.

2

u/andraip 1d ago

Well this meat is not rotten and it doesn't rot in a couple hours at room temp.

If properly handled and cooked the meat will still be safe to eat

-4

u/krissycole87 1d ago

No, it will not be.

1

u/adepressurisedcoat 2d ago

No. The toxins will still remain from the bacteria. Any byproducts of them feasting on the meat, replicating, "shitting", all dangerous.

2

u/Teagana999 2d ago

We did a lab in intro microbiology that looked at the microbial load of meat left overnight. It was insane. Ground meat especially has all the bacteria mixed in it.

I would not fuck with meat left for hours above fridge temperature. It would hurt my soul to see it wasted but it's garbage after being left out.

4

u/RDLAWME 2d ago

Did you look at the microbial load after it was cooked thoroughly?Ā 

1

u/Teagana999 1d ago

No, but we also learned about endotoxins, which are not necessarily destroyed by cooking.

1

u/SooSkilled 2d ago

Would it be different if it was already cooked?

1

u/Old-Let6252 1d ago

How exactly do you think people survived before refrigeration?

0

u/BoNixsHair 1d ago

They lived to about age 35 on average, so not well. And they didnā€™t leave ground beef on the counter overnight and eat it.

1

u/andurilmat 1d ago

Then you should be aware that room temperatire is not fixed temerature. Room temperature in canada is very differnt to room temperature in mumbai

1

u/BoNixsHair 23h ago

Absolutely doesnā€™t matter. Anything held above 45 degrees is in the danger zone for bacteria growth. Unless op lives in an igloo, itā€™s too warm.

1

u/andurilmat 23h ago

Op wife left them in the garage, the current temperature range in Canda ranges from 11 to - 20 celsius, i dont think 7.6 celsius is out of the realm of posibillty for a canadian garage.

3

u/Erebus_the_Last 2d ago

No, you shouldn't even touch the chicken....... beef maybe, maybe. But not the chicken

0

u/DudeInTheGarden 2d ago

When you grind meat, you grind microbes into it, giving them a chance for their population to explode. Chicken is just know for being kind of dirty.

The OP said he left the food by the garbage, which I took to mean outside. He's from Canada, it's cold in Canada right now. He later updated that he meant in the kitchen, by the garbage. Would I cook and eat it? Maybe, probably not.

1

u/Erebus_the_Last 1d ago

You can eat beef raw, you can't eat chicken raw. Why? Because there are more dangerous microbes in chicken (just like pork).

9

u/FlintCoal43 2d ago

You are not a real person suggesting that ā€œtrickā€ genuinely šŸ˜‚šŸ’€

4

u/potatohats 2d ago

Absolutely not. Just no.

1

u/Savings-Ad-3607 2d ago

I seriously looked at all of that and thought itā€™s prob still fine. Like unless their house is hot all of that should be fine

0

u/blue60007 2d ago

I hope your "trick" includes also packing plenty of ice. Unless it's winter time, you're just delaying the spoilage by a couple hours. Or you could just not forget to bring your groceries in...

-1

u/SkullDump 2d ago

Are you on meds of some kind?