As the others have said, dont put hot food in the fridge. If you got something big and heavy, like a casserole dish, put the container in an ice bath to speed the cooling. If its a liquid, like a pot of soup, spreading it thinly cools it quicker and more evenly. Like pouring it out into a casserole dish or high baking pan and putting the dish in an ice bath. The even cooling is the important part, as what happens if you put something dense like these kinds of foods in the fridge, the outside will cool while the inside reaches temperatures between 40F-140F. That temperature range also known as the “danger zone”, where bacteria can thrive and multiply very quickly.
Alternately, you don’t want to leave stuff out of refrigeration for too long. Cooked rice is a big one, as it can very quickly go bad and get you sick if left out for longer than a couple hours.
The thing to bear in mind is that the bacteria in the food isnt the issue. You can kill bacteria very easily just by cooking/heating food. The problem comes from the waste the bacteria makes, which is what gives you food poisoning. The waste cant be cooked off. When food is allowed to linger in the “danger zone”, the bacteria can easily multiply exponentially, producing more waste. So long as youre careful when cooking and chilling food, it can last a good week in the fridge.
RegalPotoo@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Like don’t leave it out at room temperature for hours - bacteria die above 60C and go dormant below 4C, so you need to minimise the amount of time the food spends in the “danger zone”