So last Saturday I bought a commercial deli-style family-sized package of sliced turkey breast, thinking I’d make sandwiches for the next several days. But besides opening and consuming some of the turkey that same day, I sort of forgot about it and there’s still a lot left.
Normally my rule of thumb with cooked meat is 4 days in the fridge tops, then if it’s still around after that it gets thrown out. But, is lunch meat different? If it’s ham I’m fine with giving it a few more days, since it’s smoked / cured or whatever.
The package expiration date says by Sept. 9, but I assume that’s only if unopened. And what’s up with that Sept. 9 date? Seems like a long way out for meat, even for an unopened package.
Wait, I just read the ingredients, and it makes much more sense now- sodium erythorbate, sodium diacetate, sodium nitrate, and of course good ol’ sodium chloride. No wonder it has an exp. date so far out. It would probably not go bad for a year or more in the fridge
This is “deli-style” lunchmeat, right? You didn’t actually have it cut for you in a deli?
If so, that stuff stays good for weeks.
I wouldn’t go that far. We threw some out last week that nobody had touched in about a month. We got sick of sandwiches, so it sat there. Had a odd smell, so we tossed it.
Agreed, I wouldn’t even think about it for at least a week, as long as it is kept cold and wrapped up (preferably in something airtight). I have had lunchmeat stay good for at least a month after it was opened.
Then again, I’ve bought lunchmeat that was bad before I even opened the package (and prior to expiration date), but that’s rare.
Yeah, I was exaggerating-- I meant more in a ‘science experiment’ sense-- with all those preservatives, bacteria and other nasties probably wouldn’t make inroads for a long time.
Hah! I recently tossed a lime that had gotten pushed back behind everything. It had desiccated, hardly identifiable as a lime anymore. Even I have limits.
Hey, gives me an idea for a branching thread-- ‘What’s the absolute grossest thing you found in the back of your fridge?’ I really need to get back to work though. Someone else feel free to run with it though (heh), if you wish.
Cured lunch meat, like salami, probably would be safe a year or more later. That’s why curing was invented, to preserve meat (and that was even without refrigeration).
Turkey isn’t cured like that, but I’d be very surprised if it wasn’t still good after a week.
The most extreme thread like this I ever saw was someone asking about American “cheese” singles that had been left out, in the sealed package, for four hours. Some people are just way too paranoid about food.
I buy lunchmeat for the missus for her lunches, sometimes in the tub, sometimes sliced from the deli. She’ll normally eat on it for a couple of weeks at least before she gets tired of it, and moves on to something else. Whether turkey, chicken, ham, roast beef, or more cured meats like corned beef or pastrami, it stays good that long.
But are today’s lunch meats like salami storable outside the refrigerator? My guess is that it’s not prepared in the same way as the stuff that was produced in the days before refrigeration.
