Quiz: Thanksgiving leftovers: Eat it or chuck it?

Quiz: Thanksgiving leftovers: Eat it or chuck it?

(Brent Hofacker/Shutterstock)


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY (CNN) — Deep in the recesses of most people's refrigerators lives a half-eaten bottle of salsa, some takeout Chinese food and last week's chicken dinner. Pulling one of those things out, you wonder: Can I eat it? Is it safe? A lot of commercially prepared items, such as sauces and condiments, have best-buy dates on the packaging to ensure flavor, not safety, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Packaged foods tend to last a big longer than those suggested dates. Last night's dinner, though, is not as hearty. Cooked food leftovers can usually stay in the fridge for only three or four days. And if you want to put food in the freezer, it will last indefinitely, but at some point it will start to lose flavor. Of course, if something smells off or looks funny, you shouldn't eat it.

Here's the eat-it-or-chuck-it quiz and guide to your slightly suspect leftovers, based on advice from the foodsafety.gov and stilltasty.com.

*The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2015 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.*

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

LifestyleUtah
Nadia Kounang and Tracie Snowder

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast