The Fridge
Food goes bad. That isn’t a character flaw; it’s the whole reason cooking has a schedule. This page is the clock: what keeps, for how long, how to tell when it’s done, and what to turn it into on the last day. Nothing here is tracked.
Two hours to get it in the fridge, four days to eat it, one reheat. Everything else is detail.
How long things keep
Home-fridge numbers, ranges on purpose, only the things the dinners here actually buy. Tap a row for how to store it and how to tell.
Vegetables and fruit
Your nose and eyes are enough here. Nothing on this list will hurt you — it just stops being worth eating. Trim, don't toss, until it's actually slimy.
Avocado, wholecounter until it yields, 2–5 days · fridge 3–4 more days, once ripe
Counter until it gives slightly under your thumb, then the fridge stops the clock.
Tell: Squishy all over or the stem-nub comes off brown → past it. Dark stringy flesh inside → compost.
Use it up: Chicken + Avocado Rice Bowl · Taco Bowls
Avocado, halffridge 1 day, and it'll brown
Pit in, cut side pressed flat against plastic wrap or the bottom of a small container. Lime juice on the face helps.
Tell: Brown on top is oxidation, not rot. Scrape it off; underneath is fine.
Salad greensfridge 3–5 days washed and dried; a week unwashed
Dry them completely, then a container or bag with a paper towel inside. Wet greens rot; dry greens wilt, which is fixable with cold water.
Tell: Wilted → a ten-minute ice-water bath brings it back. Slimy or smells like a pond → out.
Use it up: Fried Eggs + Crispy Potatoes + Salad · Steak, Potatoes, Salad
Spinachfridge 4–6 days in the bag
Stays in its bag or clamshell with a paper towel tossed in to catch the moisture.
Tell: A few dark, wet leaves — pick them out and cook the rest tonight. The whole bag slimy → out.
Use it up: Tomato Pasta + Greens · Fridge Frittata
Kale and chardfridge a week
In a bag, stems on, in the crisper. Kale is the toughest green you own; it forgives neglect.
Tell: Yellowing leaves are old, not dangerous. Limp is fine cooked. Slimy is done.
Use it up: One-Pot Rice + Beans + Greens · Lentil Soup
Broccolifridge 5–7 days
Loose in the crisper or in an open bag — it wants air. Don't wash it until you use it.
Tell: Yellowing florets are past their peak but still fine roasted. Soft, dark spots or a sulfur smell → out.
Use it up: Garlic Parmesan Pasta + Broccoli · Chicken Stir-Fry + Rice
Green beansfridge 5–7 days
Bag in the crisper, unwashed.
Tell: Limp with brown spots is old; snap one — no snap, no beans.
Use it up: Roasted Salmon + Potatoes + Green Beans
Tomatoescounter 3–5 days, stem side down · fridge a few more days if they're fully ripe and you can't get to them
Counter. The fridge kills the flavor of a good tomato — that's the whole reason supermarket tomatoes taste like that.
Tell: Wrinkled skin is fine for sauce. Leaking, mold at the stem, or a fermented smell → out.
Use it up: Tomato Bruschetta · Tomato Pasta + Greens
Cucumbersfridge about a week
Crisper, wrapped in a towel or in a bag; cut ones in a container, cut side covered.
Tell: Soft ends and a yellow tinge are old; slimy or sunken spots → out.
Use it up: Greek Chicken with Homemade Tzatziki · Spicy Shawarma Chicken Greek Bowls
Carrotsfridge 3–4 weeks
Bag in the crisper, tops cut off — the greens pull moisture out of the root.
Tell: Bendy carrots are fine in soup. White film is dehydration, not mold — rinse it. Slimy → out.
Use it up: Chicken Soup From Scratch-ish · Lentil Soup
Cabbagefridge weeks; a cut head, 1–2 weeks
Whole in the crisper. Once cut, wrap the cut face and put it back — it keeps going.
Tell: Peel off the outer leaf if it's brown; the inside is fine. This is the vegetable to buy when you're not sure what the week holds.
Use it up: Taco Bowls · Fried Rice From Leftovers
Potatoescounter 2–3 weeks somewhere dark and cool
Not the fridge — cold turns their starch to sugar and they brown weird. A paper bag in a cupboard, away from the onions.
Tell: Sprouts and small soft spots → cut them out and cook. Green skin → peel deep or skip; it's bitter. Shriveled, wet, or smells sweetly rotten → out.
Use it up: The Crispiest Roast Potatoes · Fried Eggs + Crispy Potatoes + Salad
Mushroomsfridge 4–7 days
In a paper bag or their original container with the plastic loosened. Sealed plastic makes them slimy in two days.
Tell: Dry and a little wrinkled → still good, cook them hard. Slimy or dark and wet → out.
Use it up: Fridge Frittata · Chicken, Pan Sauce, and a Vegetable — Complete
Lemons and limescounter about a week · fridge 3–4 weeks in a bag
Fridge, in a bag, if you want them to last. A cut half, face down on a plate, is good for 3–4 days.
Tell: Hard and dry means the juice is gone. Soft spots or fuzz → out. A slightly shriveled lemon still has juice — roll it hard first.
Herbs and aromatics
The most-thrown-out food in America is a bunch of cilantro. Water fixes most of it.
Cilantro and parsleyfridge 2–3 days loose; 1–2 weeks in water
Trim the stems, stand the bunch in a jar with an inch of water, loose bag over the top, fridge. Change the water when it clouds. Like flowers, because they are.
Tell: Yellow or black slimy leaves → pick them out. When more than half is gone, blend the rest into a sauce with oil, lime, and salt and freeze it.
Use it up: Taco Bowls · Halal Cart Chicken and Rice
Basilcounter 3–5 days in water
Counter, in a glass of water, out of direct sun. The fridge turns basil black overnight.
Tell: Black leaves are cold damage. Wilted is fine chopped into hot pasta.
Use it up: Tomato Bruschetta · Foolproof Pan Pizza
Scallionsfridge a week; 2 weeks in water
Roots down in a jar of water in the fridge door, or wrapped in a damp paper towel in a bag.
Tell: Slimy outer layers peel off; the inside is fine. Or plant the roots — they regrow on a windowsill, which is a small win on a hard week.
Use it up: Fried Rice From Leftovers · Chicken Stir-Fry + Rice
Gingerfridge 3 weeks · freezer months, and it grates better frozen
Unpeeled in a bag in the crisper. Or freeze the whole knob and grate it straight from frozen — no peeling, no fibers.
Tell: Wrinkled skin is old, not bad; cut off any soft or moldy end.
Use it up: Chicken Stir-Fry + Rice · San Francisco Garlic Noodles
Garliccounter months as a head; a week once broken into cloves · fridge peeled or chopped, 2–3 days in a container
Whole heads in a bowl on the counter. Chopped garlic goes in the fridge and loses its punch daily.
Tell: A green sprout in the middle is bitter — split the clove and flick it out. Soft, brown, or powdery cloves → out.
Onions, wholecounter a month, dark and dry
A basket or paper bag in a cool cupboard — not next to the potatoes, which make each other sprout.
Tell: A soft spot or sprout → cut it out and use the rest today. Mushy or moldy at the neck → out.
Half an onionfridge a week
Cut side down in a small container, a week. It will not spoil; it will make your butter taste like onion. Wrap the butter.
Tell: A dry cut face → slice it off. Slimy → out.
Dairy, eggs, and the tortilla drawer
Longer-lived than the dates suggest. Sour, fuzzy, or smells like a locker room → out. Otherwise, it's fine.
Eggsfridge 3–5 weeks past the carton date
In the carton, on a shelf, not the door. The date on the box is a suggestion the egg didn't sign.
Tell: Crack it into a bowl first: any egg that smells like sulfur is unmistakable, and a flat, runny white is old but fine for scrambling.
Use it up: Soft Scrambled Eggs, Low and Slow · Fridge Frittata
Greek yogurtfridge 1–2 weeks past the date, unopened; a week open
Back of the fridge, not the door. Use a clean spoon every time — that's what actually makes it last.
Tell: Watery on top is whey — stir it back in. Pink, fuzzy, or fizzy → out.
Use it up: The Greek Yogurt Power Bowl · Greek Chicken with Homemade Tzatziki
Parmesan, the wedgefridge months
Wrapped in parchment or wax paper, then loosely in foil or a bag. Tight plastic makes it sweat.
Tell: A small spot of mold on a hard cheese → cut an inch around it and keep going. That's a real rule, not a dad rule.
Use it up: Garlic Parmesan Pasta + Broccoli
Shredded cheesefridge 1–2 weeks once open · freezer 3 months, and it melts fine
Squeeze the air out of the bag. Freeze half the big bag the day you open it — quesadillas don't care.
Tell: Mold on shredded cheese spreads through the whole bag; unlike the wedge, toss it.
Use it up: Chicken Quesadillas + Simple Salad · Taco Bowls
Buttercounter a stick in a covered dish, about a week · fridge months · freezer a year
Fridge, in its wrapper or a covered dish. Butter absorbs smells, which is why the onion half needs a lid.
Tell: A darker outer layer is oxidation — scrape it. Sour or cheesy smell → out.
Tortillasfridge 2–3 weeks after opening · freezer 3 months, with parchment between them
Fridge once opened, in the bag with the air pressed out. A dry tortilla is a quesadilla waiting to happen; a moldy one is not.
Tell: A spot of mold → the whole stack goes; they're stacked, so it's shared.
Use it up: Chicken Quesadillas + Simple Salad
Raw meat and fish
The one category where the calendar outranks your nose. Cook it or freeze it by the date, and the date is short.
Raw chickencalendar, not nosefridge 1–2 days · freezer 9 months, in a bag with the air out
Bottom shelf, in its package, on a plate to catch drips. Buy it the day before you cook it, or freeze it the day you buy it.
Tell: Don't rely on smell — chicken that smells fine can still be past its date. Gray, tacky, or slimy → out, no debate.
Use it up: Chicken + Avocado Rice Bowl · Seared Chicken + Pan Sauce
Ground beefcalendar, not nosefridge 1–2 days · freezer 4 months
Bottom shelf. Ground meat has the most surface area of anything in the fridge, so it goes first. Brown gray inside the package is normal — that's just no oxygen.
Tell: Gray all the way through, slimy, or sour-smelling → out.
Use it up: A Real Meat Sauce · Smash Burgers
Steakcalendar, not nosefridge 3–5 days · freezer 6 months
Bottom shelf. If you're cooking it tomorrow or the day after, salt it now and leave it uncovered on a rack — that's dry-brining, and it makes a better crust.
Tell: Slight darkening is fine; a slick surface or a sour smell is not.
Use it up: Reverse-Seared Steak · Steak, Potatoes, Salad
Salmon and other fishcalendar, not nosefridge 1 day, 2 at a stretch · freezer 3 months
Coldest spot, in its package on a plate of ice if you have it. Fish is the thing you buy on the way home and cook tonight.
Tell: Fresh fish smells like the ocean; old fish smells like fish. Milky liquid or a dull, mushy surface → out.
Use it up: Roasted Salmon + Potatoes + Green Beans · Salmon Rice Bowl
Tofufridge a week unopened; 3–5 days open, in fresh water · freezer 3 months, and it comes back chewier — a feature
Opened tofu goes in a container of fresh water in the fridge; change the water daily.
Tell: Sour smell or a slimy, pinkish surface → out.
Use it up: Weeknight Mapo Tofu
Cooked food
The calendar decides here, not your nose. The rule at the top covers almost everything below; the exceptions say so.
Cooked ricecalendar, not nosekenjifridge 3–4 days — and into the fridge within an hour of cooking · freezer a month, in flat portions
Spread it on a sheet pan or shallow container to cool fast, then lid and fridge. Rice left warm on the counter is the one leftover that can actually hurt you.
Tell: Hard and dry is retrogradation, which is exactly what fried rice wants. Reheat it once, with a splash of water. Sticky, off-smelling rice → out.
Use it up: Fried Rice From Leftovers
Cooked pasta and noodlesfridge 3–5 days
A container with a little oil tossed through so it doesn't fuse. Sauced pasta keeps better than naked pasta.
Tell: Reheat in a pan with a splash of water and a lid — it loosens back up. Slimy or sour → out.
Use it up: Fridge Frittata · Garlic Parmesan Pasta + Broccoli
Cooked chicken and beefcalendar, not nosefridge 3–4 days · freezer 2–3 months, sliced, with some sauce or fat
Sliced or shredded in a container, ideally with some of its juices. Whole pieces dry out faster than they spoil.
Tell: Reheat gently, or don't — cold sliced chicken in a wrap beats hot rubbery chicken. Slimy or sour → out; don't taste-test cooked meat.
Use it up: Chicken Quesadillas + Simple Salad · Chicken + Avocado Rice Bowl
Cooked salmoncalendar, not nosefridge 2–3 days
In a container, and plan to eat it cold — flaked over rice or a salad. A second cook turns it to sawdust.
Tell: A strong fishy smell on cooked fish → out. Day two, cold, on a bowl: excellent.
Use it up: Salmon Rice Bowl
Soups, stews, and saucesfridge 4–5 days, and better on day two · freezer 3 months, flat in bags or in single-dinner containers
Cool it fast: divide a big pot into shallow containers, lid off until the steam stops, then cover. A full hot pot in the fridge takes hours to cool and warms everything around it.
Tell: Bring it to a real simmer when reheating, not just warm. Mold on the surface or a sour smell → out.
Use it up: Chicken Soup From Scratch-ish · A Real Meat Sauce · Lentil Soup
Cooked beans and lentilsfridge 4–5 days · freezer 3 months, in their liquid
In their liquid, in a container. Beans out of their liquid dry out and split.
Tell: A slightly fizzy or sour taste means fermentation has started → out. Otherwise, a splash of water and a hot pan.
Use it up: Black Beans + Rice + Avocado + Egg · Rice + Beans, Properly
Roasted and cooked vegetablesfridge 3–5 days
Container, cooled first. Roasted vegetables are better cold in a salad or crisped in a pan than steamed back to life in the microwave.
Tell: Wet, slimy, or fermented-smelling → out. Just soft → frittata.
Use it up: Fridge Frittata · The Crispiest Roast Potatoes
Frittata and cooked eggsfridge 3–4 days
Wedges in a container. Eat cold or at room temperature; reheating scrambles what was already set.
Tell: Watery, sulfurous, or rubbery-and-off → out.
Use it up: Fridge Frittata
Vinaigrettefridge 2 weeks, longer with no garlic or shallot in it
A jar. It'll separate and the oil may go cloudy — shake it, it's fine.
Tell: Off smell or mold at the lid → out. Add fresh garlic per salad, not per jar; raw garlic in oil is the one thing here with a real clock.
Use it up: Fried Eggs + Crispy Potatoes + Salad · Steak, Potatoes, Salad
Tzatziki and yogurt saucesfridge 3–4 days
Container, and it gets better overnight as the garlic mellows.
Tell: Watery on top → stir. Sour beyond yogurt-sour, or fizzy → out.
Use it up: Greek Chicken with Homemade Tzatziki · Halal Cart Chicken and Rice · Spicy Shawarma Chicken Greek Bowls
Opened jars, cans, and bread
Once open, the clock starts. Out of the can and into a container — the can was fine sealed; it's a bad fridge box.
Opened cans: beans, tomatoes, coconut milkfridge 3–4 days, out of the can · freezer 3 months for tomato paste in tablespoon blobs
Into a container or jar. Tomato paste: dot the leftover tube or can in spoonfuls on parchment, freeze, bag. One blob per pan sauce forever.
Tell: A metallic taste or fizz → out.
Use it up: Black Beans + Rice + Avocado + Egg · A Real Meat Sauce
Stock and brothfridge 4–5 days once open · freezer 6 months
The carton, folded shut, in the door. Or ice-cube trays, then a bag — pan-sauce-sized portions.
Tell: Sour smell or cloudy film → out.
Use it up: Chicken Soup From Scratch-ish · Seared Chicken + Pan Sauce
Salsa, jarred sauces, picklesfridge 1–2 weeks for salsa; a month or more for anything vinegar-based
Fridge door is fine — these are acidic, which is why they last.
Tell: Fuzz on the lid or the surface → out. Salsa that's gone fizzy → out.
Use it up: Taco Bowls · Chicken Quesadillas + Simple Salad
Breadcounter 2–3 days for a real loaf; a week for the sliced kind · freezer 3 months, sliced — toast straight from frozen
Counter in a paper bag or cut side down on the board. The fridge makes bread stale faster, not slower. Freeze what you won't eat by day two.
Tell: Stale is toast, croutons, or bruschetta. Mold, anywhere → the whole loaf; the threads run further than the fuzz.
Use it up: Tomato Bruschetta · The Big Breakfast Spread
Is it bad?
Fewer rules than you’d think. The first one does most of the work.
- 1
Nose for raw produce, calendar for cooked foodkenji
Your nose is a fine instrument for the wrong question. It catches spoilage — the stuff that would taste bad — and misses most of what would make you sick. Vegetables, fruit, herbs, cheese: trust your eyes and nose, trim what's gone, eat the rest. Cooked food and raw meat: trust the date you put it in the fridge, because the dangerous bacteria don't smell like anything.
- 2
Rice is the exception you have to knowkenji
Cooked rice carries spores that survive cooking, and if the rice sits warm for hours they wake up and make a toxin that reheating doesn't destroy. This is the one leftover that's actually hurt healthy adults. Get it into the fridge within an hour — spread on a plate to cool fast — and reheat it once, hot. Fried rice from yesterday's rice: great. Fried rice from rice that sat on the counter overnight: the actual bad idea.
- 3
Mold: cut it or toss it, by density
Hard things — parmesan, carrots, cabbage — cut an inch around the spot and keep going; mold can't push through dense food. Soft things — bread, berries, yogurt, soft cheese, cooked leftovers, sauce — the threads run far past what you can see. Toss the whole thing. No sniffing required.
- 4
When in doubt, it's tuition
If you're standing at the fridge genuinely unsure, the answer is out. You'll lose four dollars of chicken; you won't lose a night to food poisoning with a newborn in the house. The trash can has never once given anyone food poisoning. Note what you tossed, buy less of it next time, and that's the whole lesson.
- 5
Cool it fast, then cover itkenji
Between 40°F and 140°F, bacteria double every twenty minutes or so; below 40°F they slow to a crawl. So the real risk isn't 'hot food in the fridge' — it's a deep pot of soup spending four hours passing through that zone on its way down. Shallow containers, lid off until the steam stops, then lid on. Bonus: covering hot food traps condensation, which is why crisp things arrive soggy tomorrow. Cool uncovered, and they don't.
Where things go
The habits that make the numbers above come true.
Freeze flat, label the date
Zip bags pressed flat freeze in an hour and thaw in twenty minutes; a brick in a tub takes a day. Write what it is and the date with a marker. Unlabeled freezer blocks are the sauce-shaped mystery nobody ever eats.
Herbs are flowers
Cilantro, parsley, scallions: stems trimmed, standing in an inch of water, loose bag on top, fridge. Basil the same, but on the counter — the cold blackens it. This alone will save more food than anything else on the page.
Store the parts, not the plate
Rice in one container, chicken in another, the sauce in a jar, the avocado in your stomach. Assembled leftovers get uniformly soggy; separate parts reheat each their own way and can become a different dinner.
Buy for two dinners, and keep the short clock in front
Most spoiled food was bought with optimism. Shop for tonight and tomorrow, cook the most perishable thing first — fish tonight, chicken tomorrow, beans whenever — and put whatever has the shortest clock at eye level where you'll see it when you open the door. The crisper drawer is where vegetables go to be forgotten.
Second dinners
Leftovers are sad when they’re the same dinner, colder. They’re good when they’re a different dinner. These are the machines that do the converting, and you already own the recipes for all of them.
Fried rice
Cold rice + any cooked protein + any vegetable + an egg + soy
Yesterday's rice — the drier the better — plus whatever chicken, steak, salmon, or vegetables are in the door. Scallions if the jar's still standing.
The recipe: Fried Rice From Leftovers
Feeds on leftovers from: Chicken Stir-Fry + Rice · Salmon Rice Bowl · One-Pot Chicken Biryani · Reverse-Seared Steak
Day-old rice fries better than fresh. This is the one time leftovers outperform the original.
Frittata
6 eggs + a cup or two of anything cooked + cheese + a hot oven
Roasted vegetables, cooked pasta, potatoes, greens, the last of the parmesan. The fridge's clean-out drawer, set in eggs.
The recipe: Fridge Frittata
Feeds on leftovers from: Garlic Parmesan Pasta + Broccoli · The Crispiest Roast Potatoes · Roasted Salmon + Potatoes + Green Beans
Good hot, better at room temperature, fine cold at 6am with one hand.
Quesadilla or wrap
Tortilla + cooked protein + cheese + something sharp
Any sliced or shredded meat, beans, taco-night leftovers, a spoon of salsa or tzatziki. Ninety seconds in a hot pan.
The recipe: Chicken Quesadillas + Simple Salad
Feeds on leftovers from: Chicken + Avocado Rice Bowl · Taco Bowls · Black Beans + Rice + Avocado + Egg · Smash Burgers · Greek Chicken with Homemade Tzatziki · Spicy Shawarma Chicken Greek Bowls
Crisp it, egg on top
Anything starchy + a hot oiled pan + a fried egg
Potatoes, rice and beans, pasta, roasted vegetables. Press it flat in the pan, let it crust, don't stir, slide an egg on top.
The recipe: Crispy Fried Eggs on Whatever
Feeds on leftovers from: Fried Eggs + Crispy Potatoes + Salad · The Crispiest Roast Potatoes · Tomato Pasta + Greens · One-Pot Rice + Beans + Greens
The runny yolk is the sauce. This is breakfast, lunch, and a legitimate dinner.
The bowl
Rice + protein + vegetable + fresh thing + sauce
Cold chicken, steak, or salmon over fresh rice with whatever crunch is left, plus a sauce you still have. Nothing gets reheated except the rice.
The recipe: Chicken + Avocado Rice Bowl
Feeds on leftovers from: Chicken, Pan Sauce, and a Vegetable — Complete · Seared Chicken + Pan Sauce · Halal Cart Chicken and Rice · Lentil Soup · Spicy Shawarma Chicken Greek Bowls
Fresh rice under cold leftovers — the rice cooker is doing the work again.
Better on day two
Soup, sauce, or beans + a real simmer + fresh salt and acid
The things that were designed to be leftovers: soup, meat sauce, lentils, mapo tofu, rice and beans. Reheat to a simmer, then re-season — cold mutes everything.
The recipe: Chicken Soup From Scratch-ish
Feeds on leftovers from: Lentil Soup · A Real Meat Sauce · Weeknight Mapo Tofu · Rice + Beans, Properly
Not a transformation, an improvement. Cook these on purpose for tomorrow.
Cold on purpose
Sliced cold protein + salad or bread + vinaigrette
Steak, salmon, roast chicken, pizza: things that were perfect once and can't survive a second full cook. Slice thin, eat cold or barely warm, with something sharp.
The recipe: Steak, Potatoes, Salad
Feeds on leftovers from: Reverse-Seared Steak · Foolproof Pan Pizza · Greek Chicken with Homemade Tzatziki · Roasted Salmon + Potatoes + Green Beans
Cold steak on a salad is a better lunch than most restaurants serve. Cold pizza needs no defense.
Perishable first, freezer for the rest, one clean-out dinner a week. The fridge is a tool with a clock on it.