Can you extend shelf life by reheating?
I marinated a couple of chicken breasts overnight in the fridge
The next day I baked it (in the same ovensafe dish it was marinated in) until fully cooked through
After baking, the chicken is still fully submerged in the marinade
I let it chill 30 min at room temp and then put back in the fridge
StillTasty says it will last 3-4 days refrigerated
If on day 3 I reheat, rebake or even boil it for 10 minutes, will it kill all bacteria that were present and multiplying during those 3 days in the fridge? In other words, can I restart the 3-4 days count whenever I recook the chicken, so that it will last indefinitely?
Best Answer
What you're concerned with when it come to food spoilage is the toxins bacteria produce, not the bacteria. While heating it will kill the bacteria, the toxins are typically proteins which will not be destroyed until your food has been turned to charcoal. Heating it will thus not increase the shelf life. On the contrary: heating and the cooling means your food has been in the 'danger zone' for longer than if it was refrigerated the whole time.
If you want to increase the shelf life of a dish like you described, freeze it. If frozen as soon as it comes out of the oven, it will last for several months in a normal freezer. The sooner you get it frozen the better for extending shelf life.
Pictures about "Can you extend shelf life by reheating?"
Quick Answer about "Can you extend shelf life by reheating?"
The short answer is: no, you can't. In food safety, the times safe at a specific temperature range are cumulative, and nothing can "reset the clock". You only get the opportunity to keep it from ticking while the food is at another temperature range, which is what Johanna suggested with the freezing.Does cooking extend shelf life?
A cooked food has a shelf life of 3-5 days, and this assumes that you followed a safe cooking process, which includes using ingredients which were not expired at the time of cooking. Cooking does not sterilize food, but it reduces the bacteria currently alive in it.Can you Recook old food?
Once it has been cooked, how often can you reheat it? Well the Food Standards Agency recommends only reheating food once, but actually several times is fine as long as you do it properly. Though that is not likely to improve the taste.How can I extend the life of my food?
Here are 10 ways you can help prolong the shelf life of your food.Does use by date change when cooked?
No, cooking the meat does not extend the 'Use By' date, however it does give you longer to use the meat. Once the meat has been cooked, the 'Use by' date becomes redundant, as this is the date that the meat needed to be either cooked or frozen by.More answers regarding can you extend shelf life by reheating?
Answer 2
The short answer is: no, you can't. In food safety, the times safe at a specific temperature range are cumulative, and nothing can "reset the clock". You only get the opportunity to keep it from ticking while the food is at another temperature range, which is what Johanna suggested with the freezing.
If you need the logic behind it, beside the toxins mentioned in the other answer, you seem to also make the assumption that cooking will sterilize your food. It won't, proper cooking will just reduce the bacteria to a certain level, the usual assumption is 1 in 100 000. The food safety agencies have not modelled bacteria growth after the reheating of a dish on the verge of becoming unsafe - it is possible that after the reheat, you will have more bacteria left than after the first cooking. And even if you think "the difference must be very small", the problem is that bacterial growth is exponential, and a tiny difference in starting conditions could give you huge differences after just a few hours.
But logic aside, do not try to invent your own food safety techniques. I already hinted at it above: bacterial growth is impossibly complex, and trying to predict what you will get by commonsense knowledge and a few calculations on the back of the envelope will end up wildly wrong, similarly to trying to predict the weather a week from now by gut feeling. Leave it to the guys with the supercomputers and a body of scientific knowledge to input into the computers.
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: 7inchs, Julia Avamotive, RODNAE Productions, RODNAE Productions