A practical rule of thumb my wife, Karen, and I use to keep our leftovers fresh and our refrigerator organized: Every week on garbage day, go through your leftovers (I define leftovers as cooked food that is refrigerated). Open each container and look at the food. Throw out any leftover that’s been there for a week or more. In other words, if the leftover was in the refrigerator last garbage day, it goes. Questionable foods that have been in the cooler for five or six days should get close scrutiny. If you have the slightest question about the palatability of a food, toss it.
Raw food is more perishable than cooked. Most raw vegetables and some fruit can last a week before they start deteriorating. Raw meat and raw poultry should be cooked within two days of coming home from the store. Don’t let them sit around beyond one day, if you can help it. Pay attention to dates on meat and poultry packages when shopping, and pick the package with the most advanced date. However, stick to the two-day rule for cooking. Raw seafood is seriously perishable; plan to cook it the same day you bring it home. Never keep raw fish in your home refrigerator more than 24 hours before cooking. And don’t freeze raw, fresh seafood you have bought in a store. If it turns out that you can’t eat the fish within 24 hours, cook it right away and refrigerate the cooked fish in a closed container. Cooked fish will last 2-3 days in refrigeration.
The best way to deal with leftovers is to plan for their consumption. I like to eat leftovers from dinner two days later … for dinner. And, I always try to change the presentation by adding a new side dish or combining the leftover with a small amount of new food to create a completely different dish. Pasta is both a good side dish and a good addition to the entree.
Whatever you do, don’t create another leftover by adding too much new food to the leftover. When reheating and eating leftovers, eat it all or throw it away. Do not recycle leftovers over and over; that’s asking for food poisoning. Leftovers are great, but two appearances at the table are all they get.