Food waste in the first world... what to do?

Put it into a fresh, covered (cold) container and stand that container in a shallow bowl of cold water. Drape a wet cloth over it, dipping in the water. The evaporation will cool it faster. That is how we used to store perishable food overnight before refrigerators. We never had food poisoning.

(the only drawback to mine and Elegran's methods is that you are, of course, left with an extra pot to wash, but c'est la vie...!)

If the food was freshly cooked, I would have thought it would be fine left in a covered casserole dish overnight and then refrigerated or frozen the next morning. Food is supposed to taste better the next day when it has 'matured' a bit anyway (isn't it?).

Actually, I was thinking that too, rosequartz, but didn't dare say it!

The best lasagne I ever ate was the second half of a monster one I made. The dish was too big for the fridge so I covered the remains with tinfoil and left it out on the worktop overnight. It was reheated next day and tasted even better than the first half had.

But go with your own judgement, ethel, I would hate to think someone had followed my advice and got food poisoning.
If you are ill, don't send for me please, I am no good with sick.

Most of us must be able to remember the days when a fridge was a rare luxury item. Any cooked food had to be left out because there was no where else to put it. Some people had a larder, others like us had a cupboard. At christmas the turkey would sit on the kitchen for a week and no one was ever ill after eating it.

So many people nowadays don't seem to have any idea what they can do with food. If I cook a joint or a chicken I expect to get at least two hot meals, two lots of sandwiches for lunches, a curry if there's still some left over, and the rest boiled up for stock. I've never got over the couple on television who used to cook a chicken, have some slices of breast for dinner and then throw the rest away because they didn't know what to do with it!

I put spare food into plastic containers as I serve our meal and put it in the freezer immediately afterwards. The danger the experts perceive in putting hot food in a fridge or freezer is the danger that the fridge will be warmed above its recommended temperature.

But if you actually think about it. To do that and have the fridge above the recommended temperature for a significant period of time you would have to put a catering size dish at boiling point into a small fridge and most of the time we are talking about portions for one or two being put into, at the smallest, an under counter fridge or a bigger freezer.

Etheltbags Why not make a small casserole with only as much in it as you can eat? Buy a pound of, say, stewing beef, divide into 4 smaller portions and immediately freeze three of them and make a small casserole with the remaining 4oz. I often go the supermarket and buy just one carrot or one leek if that is all I need, that's the joy of loose vegetable displays. Again spare veg can be chopped and frozen raw if you have to much, ditto tinned veg if you do not need to use a full tin.

It does require planning menus and shopping but it doesn't just save food waste, it saves money.