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YAFT: I made a big pot of chili

edro

edro

Lifer
So I made a large crock pot full of chili. I know that my mom used to make it, then put the rest that we didn't eat into a covered dish, in the refrigerator.

Over the last 4 days, I have just left it in the crock pot, on "warm" and eat it everyday after work. Finally, last night, it had evaporated most of the water, and was more of a coney sauce, than a chili, so I added a little hot water and put it in a tupperware bowl in the refrigerator.

In hindsight, could the bacteria and crap grow in there even if it was "cooking" the whole time? I am still alive, so I guess it was alright, but I think next time I will put it in a bowl in the refrigerator instead of leaving it out "cooking" for 4 days.
 
Ew. Good luck with your colon after eating that. Should definitely be refrigerated and warmed as needed.
 
It has to be at a certain temp high enough to kill the bacteria. If you were just keeping it warm, I doubt it was hot enough. On the other hand, if you havent had any digestive problems I wouldnt be concerned anymore. In the future I would definitely rerigerate and reheat the portion you want to eat. The refrigeration slows down the bacteria growth, and then just nuke the hell out of it to kill anything that might have grown.

Im no expert, but I eat old food all the time (sometimes one batch of spicy chili for a whole month) and I never get sick.
 
Originally posted by: edro13
So I made a large crock pot full of chili. I know that my mom used to make it, then put the rest that we didn't eat into a covered dish, in the refrigerator.

Over the last 4 days, I have just left it in the crock pot, on "warm" and eat it everyday after work. Finally, last night, it had evaporated most of the water, and was more of a conie sauce, than a chili, so I added a little hot water and put it in a tupperware bowl in the refrigerator.

In hindsight, could the bacteria and crap grow in there even if it was "cooking" the whole time? I am still alive, so I guess it was alright, but I think next time I will put it in a bowl in the refrigerator instead of leaving it out "cooking" for 4 days.
Click to expand...

I make a bunch at a time. If pot fits in fridge, I jsut put that in, otherwise I use tupperware.

I refridgerate it for up to 7 days and try to eat a bit of it every day. A great way to eat IMO.

Make a ton of food that doesn't break the bank and use it for lunch all week. lot of work up front, but after that it's just a matter of nuking it.
 
Yes, I think unless its above a sanitization temperature (boiling) then you run the risk of growing bacteria in there. Definitely stick it in the fridge and warm it up when you want it.

Edit: Lotsa people beat me to the punch on my response. 🙂
 
Yikes. I would never leave anything in my crock pot for that long on any heat setting. I always let it cool for a 1/2 hour or so until it's cool enough to put in tupperware and then straight to the fridge.

My new crock pot is a POS...I gotta call those bastards.
 
One more thing. When making a big pot of something like chili, don't just chuck it in the fridge as-is. The outside bits will cool relatively quickly, but the center takes longer to cool down and can end up cultivating bacteria for you to consume later. Put the pot in an ice bath in your sink and stir until it's cooled down, then put it in the fridge.
 
For the same reason you don't have to refrigerate ketsup, chili is pretty hardy if left out.

Pickles,relish and ketchup can be kept room temperature because they are acidic. And jellies and jams because the sugar prevents the growth of bacteria.

However, I do refrigerate chili, and wouldn't recommend leaving it out...

I usually do what the other posters recommend, dividing up the food (those newer disposable containers are great for it, I just pitch them in the trash when they don't clean up good anymore), and refrigerating it, even with refrigeration, bacterial contamination can be a problem.
 
For hundreds/thousands of years people did just what you mentioned without ill effects. They'd cook a big meal about once a week and leave it in the fire until it was all eaten.
Peas porridge hot,
Peas porridge cold,
Peas porridge in the pot
Nine days old.

Some like it hot,
Some like it cold,
Some like it in the pot
Nine days old
Click to expand...
As long as it is over ~150°F, bacteria won't grow. Of course, you probably should have added water every day so it wouldn't become a paste. And I don't know how safe your crock pot is to leave it on for that long.

That said, just refridgerate the stuff. It'll only take 2 minutes in a microwave when you want to eat it.
 
Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004
Originally posted by: edro13
So I made a large crock pot full of chili. I know that my mom used to make it, then put the rest that we didn't eat into a covered dish, in the refrigerator.

Over the last 4 days, I have just left it in the crock pot, on "warm" and eat it everyday after work. Finally, last night, it had evaporated most of the water, and was more of a conie sauce, than a chili, so I added a little hot water and put it in a tupperware bowl in the refrigerator.

In hindsight, could the bacteria and crap grow in there even if it was "cooking" the whole time? I am still alive, so I guess it was alright, but I think next time I will put it in a bowl in the refrigerator instead of leaving it out "cooking" for 4 days.
Click to expand...

I make a bunch at a time. If pot fits in fridge, I jsut put that in, otherwise I use tupperware.

I refridgerate it for up to 7 days and try to eat a bit of it every day. A great way to eat IMO.

Make a ton of food that doesn't break the bank and use it for lunch all week. lot of work up front, but after that it's just a matter of nuking it.
Click to expand...

Exactly what I do. It's nice to have a bunch of meals in tuperware containers, all ready to eat.
 
I was going to say you're a dumbass and that you're lucky you didn't get the shits or worse from that little Crockpot-O-Doom you've got there, but it's already been said. If it wasn't boiling hot the entire time, you definitely had a bacteria farm in your kitchen for 4 days.

Use a little common sense next time and unplug the Crockpot, let it cool down, then put the chili into some Tupperware and refrigerate it.
 
I've always been a little leary about left out food. As someone said, I hope you have had the temperature up high enough to kill any bacteria. I'm assuming that if it hadn o awckward taste or smell to it after sitting out for 4 days, it may have been alright. I just don't like to push my luck with that kind of stuff. I've had one bad experience in Mexico already, definitely don't want another. 🙂
 
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