Reheating food

I am so much more careful nowadays than I used to be. Only because I have now been made very aware of the dangers hidden in reheating, rehashing, reconstituting re-whatevering than I was back in the day when I had little money and a family to feed. I didn't think twice about reheating leftovers and giving it to OH when he got home late from a shift. The only food poisoning that I have experienced, over the years, was a dodgy prawn sandwich in a reputable hotel establishment and, a few years later, a dodgy lasagne from a well re-knowned pub. Both of which made their disagreement with my internal organs very quickly - say so more!!! I am not aware that any of my children (or their friends/partners etc.) have suffered food poisoning at my hands, although my Sil (early on in the relationship) accused me of poisoning him when he fell ill after having been fed at my table - but no-one else had a problem (delicate constitution mayhap?)

Yes, Jomarie, I had a very casual attitude to reheating food years ago - I don't think we had any idea then of the dangers. I used to cook a joint, say a leg of lamb, on a Sunday, then make a pie from some of the leftovers on Monday. On Tuesday it would be a stew, which would be reheated on Wednesday - and even Thursday if there was any left. And the stewpot never went in the fridge in between servings, but was just left to cool slowly on the hob where it remained till the next reheating . I don't remember ever making us ill though, so I do wonder if all the warnings and my cautiousness these days are a bit over the top?
I'm not about to take a chance though!

In answer to the question at the end of the OP, yes. I do. I always have. I've never had a problem.

I apply the same reasoning as I apply to soup stock that takes several days to prepare (because I collect ingredients for it bit by bit, including meat and/or bones): if you boil it every day, it's fine.

I guess it 'could' be dangerous, but that's only if you don't heat it enough, I think. Also, could be is not equal to will be. Clearly, or I and other members of my family would have been ill by now.

I don't understand the attitude that if something that you've done for ages, which has never had any detrimental effects, then you should still stop doing it now because someone said it might cause problems.

We are so scared of everything nowadays.

I think that most things are safe to reheat. I wouldn't have a problem with pea and ham soup. As long as it's defrosted properly, and brought to the boil and simmered for a while I would eat it with relish! Same with tuna pasta bake, I would reheat that in the oven. Do you have a food thermometer? They are useful for ensuring that food has reached the correct temperature. here is an article from Michael Mosely about reheating leftovers.

I am much more relaxed about reheating food. The rule is to heat it throughly to boiling point and treat it with care in-between.

I bought a leg of lamb for Easter. Not all of it was eaten so the cooked remains were in the freezer within an hour of the meat coming out of the oven. I took the joint out of the freezer and reheated the remains for lunch last Sunday, making sure that the meat was very throughly heated through. I then picked off what meat remained on the joint and froze it, again within an hour of the meat coming out of the oven, and I intend to use that up in as tir fry this evening. I also made stock from the large bone, not much, but that too went immediately into the freezer.

As you will gather from the above recital I never put left-overs in the fridge, they always go straight into the freezer, usually within an hour of being cooked, even if I intend to use them up within a couple of days. It is how you treat the food between reheatings rather than the reheating itself that causes problems. I certainly have no concerns about reheating dishes containing ham, bacon, tuna or any other tinned or commercially pre-cooked food.

If you are scientific about it you'll go on the empirical (experimental) evidence of your own experience not on some high falutin (sp?) non-empirical hypothesis.

Science is about the observation, and the acting thereon, of what actually happens. If you've never had a problem because of eating reheated food, the likelihood is that you'll continue not to have problems.

I am not scientific ,I have common sense. I do not need a higher education to teach me to use it.

If you don't get stomach upsets from your normal routine with food, then that routine is OK. There is nothing different about the bugs these days, just the way food is handled.

It used to be that every house had a stockpot, which was added to and boiled up daily. It was restarted every week or so, but sometimes the same batch was added to and diluted for weeks without poisoning anyone - the frequent boiling killed off any incipient bugs and the flavour improved with all the reducing.

Unused food was covered at once and put in a cool larder, then reheated thoroughly next day, or eaten as cold meat. If it was turned into a different dish, it was cooked again.

Shopping for perishables was done daily, or every second day, from shops without refrigeration or freezers. How is it that now we have these and other ways of preserving food we are more worried than ever about food poisoning?

I think kitchens (and houses in general) are so much warmer than for instance in our childhood, so leaving the stockpot on the hob would have been fine if it remained cool enough, but with central heating I do think cooked food should go into the fridge once it has cooled down. Few of us have the luxury of a cool larder or pantry and I have been known to welcome really cold weather so that I can put soups or stews in the garage overnight.

Science is just common sense formalised. The word "science" came from the Latin word for knowledge: scientia. Knowledge is gained by experience and observing the results over time. After fifty years or so of cooking and reheating foods, we grans know quite a bit about the results of taking a bit of care (or nor bothering) about storage and reheating.

Well thanks for all your responses, and thanks hildaj for your link. Seems I am too easily scared! Though I can blame it on having family members who've spent years in the food and catering industry, taken all the exams, got all the certificates, and put the fear of God into me . The daft thing is I'm far more relaxed about best before / use by dates, and rarely take any notice of them, using my common sense - and the sniff test .

I think I could well be changing my ways from now on.

I think when professionals are catering for large numbers in steamy kitchens with an army of people handling the food they have to conform to rigid hygeine rules. Apart from any other considerations, those enormous pans of food take longer to cool down that our little saucepans, and a lot of things hang around all evening while platefuls are served up one at a time.

In the winter I often make a stew on Saturday. If the children don't come and finish it on Sunday, sometimes dh eats it till Wednesday!! I keep it in the fridge and microwave each portion to death before he eats it. I think that kills most things. I have never poisened anyone eating at my table.

I think avoiding food related tummy upsets is a more to do with food handling and hygiene. When we cook at home, our hands are constantly being washed and dried through food preparation procedures. I certainly wash my hands after handling raw meat or vegetables that grow in the ground or are sticky/smelly when chopped, like garlic or onions. A previous discussion about kitchen cloths and towels showed most 'gn'ers are keen on hygiene. If I've cooked the food, covered and cooled it, I can't see how any bugs could colonise it even if I haven't refrigerated it (except mould spores which are in the air but they won't usually kill you). I happily eat it cold or reheated next day.

People who work in catering have to be taught and taught again about hygiene because a very few will cut corners so the majority must be vigilant. If you order something that should be hot and it arrives at the table only warm, I'd consider sending it back but I think we're safe enough in our own kitchens.

Rice is the only thing I dont reheat as you vould get botulism which is extremely poisonous

Just to make things accurate, check out this link:

www.thehygienedoctor.co.uk/can-reheat-rice/

According to a lot of the comments above....I should have been dead years ago! I reheat everything , including rice, tuna, meat etc., etc.,! Must have strong constitution but haven't upset anybody else's to my knowledge either!

I totally agree pollyperkins, the only food which should never be reheated is rice for the reasons you identify. School dinner providers used to have to be very careful with the cooling of large vats of cooked mince. There were occasions when it hadn't cooled through to the centre when a reheat process started. This difference in temperatures was a breeding ground for bacteria. There are now strict guidelines for reheating foods in any commercial organisation where thermometers should always be used. Normal domestic reheating shouldn't present the same problems. I continue to reheat food from the previous day, it will be cottage pie today.

In countries where rice is the main staple, they invented fried rice. They do it in a very hot wok or pan. Rice is reheatable if you know what you're doing. I've done it many a time without any problems.

Reading all these cautious tales about freezing, reheating, etc. I don't now how I've survived all these years!

I'm a complete devil for this. Reheat chicken stews etc multiple times, keep rice long after you're meant to, eat food from packets saying this is way beyond sell-by state. Still here. But use eyes, smell, common sense,
If my son, who wouldn't eat anything if he saw it was one minute over date, knew what I'd served him in past, think shock would do him in.
Again, I do use common sense. Refrigerate leftovers. Freeze if there's too much to eat up. And if it's shell fish etc, treat with much caution.

I do eat food after sell by date, and use common sense. But having taught food hygiene once long ago I'm careful to avoid cross contamination, and never reheat rice - except in a ready meal with instructions which I follow to the letter!!! As for meat dishes I do reheat more than once though I've been told you shouldn't. As long as it is piping hot throughout bacteria should be killed. The danger is in food being kept 'warm'. Or not rope properly reheated. Botulism Bacteria in cooked rice can form Spores which are highly resistant and sometimes just 'hatch out' when rice is reheated, rather then being killed. As far as I can remember. It's a very long time ago that I taught it!