Let’s get shakin!!!
If you are from the south, you already know, if not, I’m ‘bout to tell you all about it.
Growing up you could open the fridge and there would be 4-5 plastic butter tubs. Did we like butter? Well yeah, who doesn’t BUT, you better open them all ‘cause you never know what you might find inside. That’s right with no shame at all, they were washed and repurposed.
It’s free Tupperware y’all. Now as a spoiled rotten kid this embarrassed me to no end. I thought it meant we were poor. Well, we weren’t but we were hardly affluent. Mom always say red (or tomato based) sauce like spaghetti, chili, sauce picante, etc. would stain her good Tupperware so leftovers went in the “southern” Tupperware. As an adult I’ve realized…she was right and NO she wasn’t just trying to embarrass me.
Those empty butter containers make perfect storage for leftovers and they are basically free! Most of them even hold up in the microwave to reheat whatever great leftover you put in them, and they come with their own lid.
As an adult, and retired chef I finally get it. I honestly own very few “store bought” storage containers. I love reusing the butter containers and even sometimes use the ones that pre chopped veggies come in, although they don’t hold up as well. Oh, and turns out red sauce does stain!
So how long are the prized leftovers good for? There is no exact science but here’s a few pointers.
First off never put anything in the fridge still hot to the touch especially not anything that contains milk, cream, or seafood.
Rule of thumb for me is:
3 days – chili, soups, gumbo (no seafood), stew, spaghetti, beans, peas, potato salad, chicken salad, and the like
2 days – beef, chicken, BBQ, pork, and the like
1 day – seafood, seafood gumbo, anything with cream or milk,
You should also never reheat more than once. One and done!!!
Again, the above is what I do, is it safe to stretch it longer? On some things I’m sure it is, personally I wouldn’t eat it but that’s up to you, be the king (or queen) of your own kitchen.
Till next week I’m Chef Hunter Lee
Remember, “treat your kitchen, treat yourself”
Benwood’s, uniquely Southern, surely the Best”