Left cooked beans out overnight Reddit

If you cooked it, than the bacteria in it are probably dead. New bacteria show up and those aren't usually that dangerous, unless you live in some place which is already miserable and risky.

At most, some bacteria will get into the starch dissolved in the water and the mix will turn a bit sour (fermentation). If you eat that, you might get some diarrhea, but I doubt it.

A lot of the food I eat is left out, usually still on the stove and I reheat it or re-bring it to boiling point if I feel a bit squeamish. But I almost never have problems. The last time I had any food-borne problem was when I ate some poorly washed radishes, years ago.

Regardless of what anyone else gives as anecdotal evidence in this thread the answer is: If you left something out on the counter, above 40F and below 140F for more than 2 hours (some sources say 4 hours) then it is unsafe to eat.

Unless you know your warm setting keeps the food over 140F, then the food should be considered unsafe to eat after a few hours. You shouldn't assume that it does keep the food over 140F unless your manual specifically states such, or you know the keep warm function keeps the food simmering.

The problem with this setup is, bacteria multiply faster in warm settings (at least the ones we're worried about), up until they start hitting temperatures that kill them. If your keep warm setting isn't over 140F, you've basically created a hot tub and spa for bacterial nasties to go nuts in.

In the end, it's your call. You are (presumably) an adult, and you can make an informed decision, weighing the potential hazards with the potential benefits of eating food that is left out in the danger zone for hours. If you do decide to take the risk and eat the beans, don't feed them to anyone else, even if they don't make you sick. Just because you didn't get sick, doesn't mean someone else wont. People have different tolerances for consuming the toxins produced by bacteria and the bacteria themselves.

And before anyone comments and tries to explain that you can just bring the beans to a boil to kill the bacteria, rendering the beans safe to eat: No, you can't. Boiling will kill any bacteria that are present, but will not necessarily destroy the toxins that the bacteria have produced in your food. One good example of foodborne bacterial toxins that is heat stable is produced by Staph, which can cause a whole host of digestive issues.

It sucks to lose food to a stupid mistake. It sucks more to get sick because you don't want to waste food.

tl;dr: Yes they are (maybe) diseased, do not eat.

Edit: Certain low moisture foods (such as breads), high salt (such as properly cured meats) and high acid (such as vinegar) foods can be left at room temperature safely. This was not the case with the OP in this case, but I should have mentioned this for the sake of not having someone point it out. Most things that normal people make in their slow cooker will not be high enough salt or acid to be safe, and most of them definitely wont be low enough moisture.

Any food left at room temperature overnight (assuming your rooms aren't refrigerator-cold) is potentially unsafe to eat. Realistically, almost no prepared food left at room temperature overnight will make you sick, especially if you properly reheat it before eating it (i.e., get it hot enough all the way through for long enough to kill off the dangerous bacteria).

The problem comes in where the exceptions to that can be pretty dangerous. It's kind of like playing Russian roulette, but with a ridiculously massive revolver, where there's one bullet that might kill you, a few more that will make you puke/shit, and then tons and tons of empty chambers.

Personally, I go by look and smell: if it looks okay, and smells okay, I'll probably still eat it. Trust your instincts: Our bodies are usually pretty okay at detecting spoilage in food that's likely to make us sick, so if you're iffy about something, it's likely for a reason.

r/Cooking

I batch boiled a pack of dried black beans, drained them and let them cool in some freezer bags to be frozen for later use. I forgot about them and accidentally let them sit on the counter for more than 12 hours. They are in the freezer now but I am worried if they are still safe to eat?

level 1

The general guideline for food safety is no more than 2 hours at room temperature. I might eat beans that were left out for 4, maybe 5 hours, but not 12.

level 1

If the cooling temperature is less than 40 degrees, then yes it’s safe to eat