Would You Eat Cooked Vegetables That Have Been Out All Day and Then Some?

Honestly unless you work in some kind of industrial kitchen and practice common sense, it's fine to eat most food left out for a while.
My family practices "if it looks good and smells ok and tastes fine" it can and will be eaten. Yeah, I know not FDA approved, but honestly, no one has ever had food poisoning from home cooked food in my house.

Personally I would probably disagree with the taste of cooked veggies that have been left out for so long and then microwaved...

Nope. Anything cooked needs to be cooled and stored properly. She probably has a lot of digestive issues that are really due to this issue. Knowing this was going on I'd probably forgo eating anything at her house. Ever.

If its just boiled corn or something, I probably would.

Yeah I'm gross;)

Well, I guess if it were just veggies I'd probably eat it. I think food is safer for a lot longer than we think it is, but I guess what weirds me out is that she is purposely leaving it out for so long. I know you don't want to immediately transfer from stove to fridge, but 12 hours seems excessive. It would make me wonder about other food safety precautions she is or isn't taking and might make me squeamish about eating her cooking in general!

I would not touch it!!!!

Seeing as how I recently spent about a week trying to get my body back from food poisoning that I got while drinking oj that had been out on the counter for 3 hours, I would say forget it!

I tend to live on the edge - we often don't put our left over's away until we get through bedtime which ends up being several hours. 12+ hours seems like a lot...
Why don't you put the stuff away? If she were to protest - you can just say - I'm just helping to clean up a little, plus the food is healthier if it's refrigerated.
Simple explanation, right?

Please don't risk anyone's health this way. Marda's excellent post has great information you should heed unless your husband wants to end up in the ER. You do risk offending your guest but frankly I would pitch this food when she isn't looking and ensure anything else she cooks goes into the fridge within two hours -- at the longest!

My daughter just did a huge science program on foodborne illnesses and food safety. Two hours is the limit; after that time, even cooked food begins to develop potentially harmful pathogens. Two hours, not 12! The person who posted that her family uses the "if it looks good and smells OK and tastes fine" rule is asking for someone to get seriously ill; foodborne pathogens do NOT usually taste odd, smell funny or produce anything that looks strange. Her family, like your relative's family, is likely somewhat used to eating food that is going or has gone "off," but they still are risking illness.

Never leave things out "until they are completely cool." Two hours to cool at the absolute most, and then into the fridge. It is a myth now that "hot food makes the fridge work too hard." Any modern fridge can handle it.

Check the Centers for Disease Control website (www.cdc.gov) and see how many people each year are sickened or die from foodborne illnesses. Many of those illnesses of course are caused by foods that are contaminated in the field or in preparation, but poor food handling practices are part of the mix too.

One last thing: We have relatives who used to leave food out. All of it. They did not even own a working fridge (and they were not older relatives -- they were our age and at that time in their 20s!). They figured that since they shopped every day and cooked that night, the food would be OK stayiing out for 24 hours as leftovers. And then they began to wonder why onef them had consistent, painful digestive problems. Yes: He was eating bacteria-laden food every single day. .

A lot of food safety also has to do with how it was handled during prep and how many people have touched it. The protective skin of foods has been compromised during the cooking process, too, so rinsing doesn't work after cooking. I don't eat anything left out for longer than 2-3 hours. I do NOT cool items in the fridge, it DOES make the condenser work harder when you put hot foods in there. This is well known in the food industry. It is perfectly fine to leave it out for two hours and then put it in the fridge, the magic number is 2, no more than 2 hours held at the 40-140F temp range. Except rice, which can grow a particularly lethal toxin if not cooled below 40 WITHIN 2 hours after cooking it.

As far as the food that she cooked goes, I wouldn't eat it nor would I serve it to my family.

I second Marda on the food danger zone. I don't think it'd be safe or wise. When I was a young one I worked at Taco Bell and we used to pack our hot food in ice after we closed. It was to get the food past the food danger zone as fast as possible. That was more of a concern with meat, but everything that was kept hot was ice packed.

If this is the way she normally handles food, her body is probably used to all of that bacteria, so it's not a problem with her. Probably not a good idea for you or your husband to eat it though. If it has been properly cooked, it probably won't make you sick. That is usually due to fecal matter on unwashed veggies and fruit.

would depend on your immune systems. If you are susceptible to even little infections, upset stomachs, or the squirts. I would say no. If you are made of the tougher stuff, I don't see issues. As long as your home, kitchen, and environment is reasonable. If you have large amounts of bugs or rodents, no. If it was super warm or hot temp all night, no. Is Kitchen fairly clean and was the food fried or baked with any sort of cream sauces? then if with sauces I would say no. I cook most veg foods. If for some reason my husband eats late, he often leaves the food out for the next day. In the 5 or more years I know him and we have been married, neither one of us have had any gastro or bacteria related illness, due to letting it out, COVERED over night. That is just us though.

You said she waits until they cool - If the food is not going to be eaten right away, then waiting for it to cool down to room temperature naturally, before refrigerating them, is perfectly fine. But I guess that won't take 12 hours. :)
I understand she is visiting you? Meaning, she is cooking in your kitchen? Then, perhaps you can politely ask her if she'd mind putting all the prepared food in the refrigerator, after packing them in air-tight containers? She reheats them in the microwave before serving anyways...
I guess just cooked vegetables won't go bad by sitting outside for half a day. Maybe they lose some flavor and freshness of taste, but they probably won't be a health hazard. But, why take a risk?
Try working the idea that if she puts the food away, the kitchen counters are clean and clear as well!

plain vegetables (no sauces, dairy or meat) wouldn't bother me. but i'm not sure why she feels the need to cool foods for that long.
khairete
S.

I will not eat anything that has been left out for 4 or more hours. I have worked in the food industry in the past and in all my training and classes I've taken, bacteria starts to grow after being in room temp for 4 hours. My MIL does this and I think it's totally gross

We are not very cautious about food/refrigeration, so we pretty often eat soups and dishes at night which were made earlier in the day or were heated up at at 6 and left out. However as one poster said, we might be made of 'the tougher stuff' and it might be problematic for other individuals. So it depends a bit on how sensitive your husband might be. Not having dairy or meat in it does reduce the likelihood of problems, in my view.

I dont know about 12 hours but..I used to work at an all you can eat chinese restaraunt. On weekdays business was slow. And they would let food sit out for hours and hours. I should have called the health department or someone on them. But I was very young and didnt think much of it. Thats one of the reasons why I prefer to eat at home. You never know whats going on at restaraunts.

I don't think I would eat them if they have been out 12+ hours. If she had put them in the fridge & then reheated them or if the heat was on simmer/really low I would, but not sitting on the counter that long.