# Poll: How picky are you about food left in the fridge? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 19, 2006, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-picky-are-you-about-food-left-in-the-fridge/340694 "2006-01-19T18:50:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Large\_Marge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/50afbb/32.png) [@Large\_Marge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Large_Marge)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-picky-are-you-about-food-left-in-the-fridge/340694/21 "2006-01-20T01:55:38Z")
> [@Misnomer](#): > > You mean there are actually people who don’t know how long a given item has been in their fridge?? :eek: > > 😉 Yes, and sadly, my roommate is one of them. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-picky-are-you-about-food-left-in-the-fridge/340694/22 "2006-01-20T04:26:13Z")
If I have the slightest concern, out it goes. My SO thinks I’m crazy for not wanting to eat month-old opened spaghetti sauce. Dude, the stuff costs a couple of bucks a bottle. I love you dearly but I’m NOT eating it if it’s more than a few days old! I don’t care if you say it’s fine. As far as I’m concerned it’s not. I don’t clean out the fridge nearly as often as it needs, but I won’t eat leftovers that have been there more than about two or three days. More like two, really. I’m paranoid. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-picky-are-you-about-food-left-in-the-fridge/340694/23 "2006-01-20T04:30:10Z")
I am the master of our fridge. Trust me, nothing last beyond the expiration date. I do all the shopping, so I know when everything entered. Leftovers are tossed on the third day. ---
**Author:** ![Audrey\_Levins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Audrey\_Levins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Audrey_Levins)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-picky-are-you-about-food-left-in-the-fridge/340694/24 "2006-01-20T06:46:16Z")
> [@xbuckeye](#): > > There is no such thing as the stomach flu. Congratulations…you just got food poisoning! I have to beg to differ here. When Mr. Levins and I had a roommate, said roommate was stricken with what he called a 24-hour stomach bug…it was pretty awful…and 48 hours after he got it, I got it, and then like clockwork, Mr. Levins got it 48 hours after THAT. The three of us did not share any one particular food, and we certainly didn’t eat something so precisely that we all contracted illness from it within these exact time frames. It seemed obvious that our roommate brought it home and then I contracted it and then Mr. Levins contracted it from me. However, re: the OP, I HAVE had food-poisoning from church-supper potato salad, when I was a child, and thus I’m quite paranoid about food spoilage. Leftovers get about three days max. Milk, even when it’s not past its sell-by date, has to pass the Sniff Test. Mayo gets thrown out generally far sooner than it’s used up. Ketchup and mustard generally stay until they’re empty, however. Yes, I’d use a gadget that could help me determine whether the food is still edible. ---
**Author:** ![rinni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f6c823/32.png) [@rinni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rinni)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-picky-are-you-about-food-left-in-the-fridge/340694/25 "2006-01-20T09:17:16Z")
Seconding **Audrey Levins** : I won’t eat leftovers that are more than 3 days old. 3 days is the limit. Leftovers can stay in the fridge overnight only twice. I’m really crazy about that, like Ernie from K-PAX. Okay, maybe not that crazy. I get weirder about leftovers that contain fish, for some reason. In fact, there is a pasta I like to get at a restaurant that contains mussels, scallops, shrimp and salmon. I can never, ever finish it, but I make sure to eat all of the seafood out of it before asking for the rest to be boxed to go. I don’t know if this makes any sense, but hey, I do it anyway. ---
**Author:** ![rinni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f6c823/32.png) [@rinni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rinni)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-picky-are-you-about-food-left-in-the-fridge/340694/26 "2006-01-20T09:18:48Z")
Sorry to double-post, but I forgot to answer half the question. I’d love a gadget like that, but even so, it most likely wouldn’t get me to eat leftovers over 4 days old. I’d probably still be too squicked out even if the gadget said the food was OK! ---
**Author:** ![Spidey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@Spidey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spidey)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-picky-are-you-about-food-left-in-the-fridge/340694/27 "2006-01-20T17:55:28Z")
Not picky at all. I consider it a bit of a personal challenge, to eat that funky smelling bowl of spaghetti sauce. I like to think I’m slowly building up an iron stomach. ---
**Author:** ![light\_strand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a6a055/32.png) [@light\_strand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/light_strand)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2006, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-picky-are-you-about-food-left-in-the-fridge/340694/28 "2006-01-20T21:42:12Z")
Like **Smeghead** I have a degree in Microbiology, and like **Smeghead** I never check expiration dates. The more you know, the less you care. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-picky-are-you-about-food-left-in-the-fridge/340694.md?page=1)