Reheat with confidence! | Bread & Butter

Open my refrigerator. I dare you.

Scared? You should be.

Shelves of Tupperware housing mystery dishes of dinners past will greet you. Unlabeled masses of food are slowly taking on the unnatural square shape of the bottoms of my plastic containers, mere shadows of their former delicious selves.

I’ve come to find, that with a busy schedule and sea of quick leftovers at my finger tips, the most uncertain and disconcerting territory in any kitchen anymore is that which is lurking just inside your refrigerator.

I know I’m not the only one who finds herself inspecting (sniffing) the contents of a package of leftovers, meanwhile wondering when exactly it was that you even made meatloaf for dinner (or at least something that resembles it), and whether or not it’s still safe to eat.

That’s not chicken parmesan under that tin foil; it’s a nice big helping of doubt.

I have to admit, I’ve found myself calling my mom in the middle of the night to seek her advice on just how long she thinks cold pizza is still good to eat: a week? Two? And I’m pretty sure that I’m not the only one.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than 76 million cases of foodborne illness occur in the United States each year, and of those, 300,000 people are hospitalized, while 5,000 die.

That means one in 60 people hospitalized will die from whatever illness they get from the food we eat.

But fear not! Neither my mom, nor I, nor you have to lose sleep over the shelf life of that Chinese takeout box adorning your icebox’s interior anymore.

The appropriately named StillTasty.com answers the age-old question of whether yesterday’s dinner will be tomorrow’s lunch (and still safe for human consumption).

The Web site, which boasts being your ultimate shelf-life guide, is as fascinating as it is useful. You can browse food shelf lives through clearly discernable categories such as, fruits, dairy, meats, shellfish, nuts and even oils. I highly recommend browsing by category, both for the fun of exploring and for the sake of knowledge.

But let’s face it, when there’s a rumbly in your tummy and a fridge chock-full of potentially illness-inducing, overstayed-their-welcome leftovers to tempt you, you need answers fast. Which is why StillTasty’s “Keep it or Toss it?” search engine is quite possibly the greatest thing to happen to our heightened-awareness, food-safety conscious lives in a long time.

With people dropping dead from salmonella outbreaks via tainted peanuts and a subsequent loss of faith in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, I have to admit it feels good to have some basis for knowledge with which to protect myself (at least at home).

Now armed with the “Keep it or Toss it?” search engine, you can simply type in that still delicious (but questionable) leftover, such as pizza, and instantly you’re given the approximate refrigerated shelf life of your potential next meal: only three to four days.

And as if that wasn’t already informative enough, they also give you the food item’s life in the freezer too (1-2 months for pizza). They give tips on how to maximize its shelf life, when to refrigerate it and how to best package it for its chill time.

And if you still feel like you don’t quite know enough about whether you should be eating your doggie bag remnants, the Web site even features a question of the day, where food safety experts answer your burning questions; like “I left pizza out overnight, is it still safe to eat?” and “Is it better store bread in the fridge or on the counter?”

Their blog-like feature, Shelf Talk, even explains things like the difference between expiration dates on your grocery store items: from “use by” to “best by” and “best if used before.”

So if you find yourself sniffing that leftover Indian food, wondering if a food borne illness is sharing the container with your vindaloo, all you have to do is grab your computer and look it up!

Go forth and reheat with confidence my friends!