Dear Hallee: Leaving Food Out
Last night we had some bad storms come rough right after supper. I had made an extra spaghetti casserole to freeze, but it was too hot to put in freezer right then so I was going to do it later. The power was off until after I went to bed. I forgot to put the casserole in the freezer. Do you think it’s still good? It’s just noodles, sauce, and cooked hamburger meat. No cheese.
The short answer to that question is that it is not still good and should be thrown out.
There is what is called a “danger zone” for temperature for food. That range is from 40°F-140 °F.

Food left out within this temperature range can cause bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella Enteritidis, Escherichia coli, and Campylobacter to grow at rapid rates. In the right environment, the bacteria can double in as little as 20 minutes.
In room-temperature environments, food should not be left out longer than 2 hours. Anything left out longer than 2 hours should be discarded. If the temperature is above 90°F, it should not be left out longer than 1 hour.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety Service, one of the most common causes of food born illnesses is the mishandling of cooked food. Once food has been cooked, it should be moved to shallow containers to help facilitate quick cooling, and refrigerated within 2 hours. When it’s reheated, it should be thoroughly heated to 165°F.
Hallee
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Hi Hallee and Gregg,
I just found your site two days ago and what a fun blessing it has been to read here. Thank you, you have a beautiful gift and I apprecite your willingness to share ;o)
After reading the post I was wondering if I could ask a food question: I had made eight quarts of chicken broth a couple days ago and read too quickly through my ball canning book. I thought it said to can for 25 minutes (well it did say that!) but I read too fast to see the part about in the pressure canner! Igg, I canned it that evening, set it one the counter for the night. The next morning I checked for something else in the book and realized that it said to pressure can it. Igg! so I put it in the fridge until I could figure out what to do. Obviously I don’t want to waste food but… would overnight be long enough for it to get bad even though it was water bath canned??
Thank you much,
Tammy
I’ve done some reading and some research. I don’t think it’s safe. Chicken broth – or anything with meat – needs to be pressure canned. Since you didn’t put it into the fridge, while it sat out overnight, it was in that “danger zone” of temperature.
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The safest thing to do would be to discard it.
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Thank you for your reply. I’m happy you found my site!