I haven’t written an article like this before.
This is simply a rant.
Anybody that has spent enough time with me has heard this rant. It is grumpy-old-man opinion, and, for better or for worse, should be taken as such:
Stop putting your lunch in the fridge.
Just… stop.
Gladly. Let’s go back a few years:
You’re a kid.
At 6AM your mom packed your lunch for school.
It sat in your locker, or on the coat-rack of your classroom until lunchtime at noon. You ate your warm lunch.
You didn’t die.
You repeated this scenario hundreds of times each year along with hundreds of your schoolmates.
Everyone was OK.
Somewhere along the line, mini-ice packs became popular. And we decided that our peanut butter sandwich and apple had to be refrigerated.
I pack my lunch everyday at 5AM for work and don’t eat it till around noon. I never refrigerate it.
In my office we have FOUR refrigerators that are full of lunches. People eat cold apples and cold oranges and cold sandwiches.
I don’t get it.
There are two questions to answer here:
Let me begin by admitting that my advice is not peer reviewed research, and it is not recommended by the FDA. (I do, however, have the seal of approval from my own society.)
The federal takeover is in full swing.
I have eaten a whole lot of warm lunches 5-8 hours after I made them, and I’m pretty sure that I have never gotten sick from one. Fresh fruits and veggies certainly don’t need to be refrigerated. If they spoil in a few hours on the countertop, they were too far gone already.
Even meat sandwiches…how bad can they get in only a few hours from being in the fridge? (The assumption here is that you aren’t storing your lunch in the sunshine or on the dash of your car.)
Hard boiled eggs?
They will be just fine.
Even leftovers…like last night’s lasagna, casserole, or chicken? Assuming that you stored it in the refrigerator overnight, they are fine till you heat them up at lunch. It’s not gross. They aren’t going to go bad. Everything is fine. I promise.
Second, does food taste better cold?
Well, I’ll concede that this is a matter of taste.
And we tend to like what we are conditioned to like.
So if you have been storing your apples in the refrigerator all your life (why?) and you are used to freezing your teeth off as you bite into a 33F (0.5C) apple, then my argument probably won’t sway you.
But there are very few fruits and veggies that taste better cold than warm, in my opinion. Hard boiled eggs? Does anyone like those cold? PBJ cold? No thanks. Even a salad, while not particularly offensive cold, tastes better at room temperature.
At least bananas are still safe.
Since chilling a banana will prematurely turn it an ugly brown, people tend to leave them on the countertop,
Where they ought to be.
And don’t even get me started on cheese. It should always be served at room temperature. That way you can actually taste the flavor. Chilling any food mutes its flavor.
I will make one exception: if your labor is physically strenuous and you are very hot and sweaty, then some cold fruits and veggies can be refreshing. This is really my only exception.
Stick with me, and I’ll even help you develop a taste for warm milk! (You liked it warm at one time.) Trust me, all milk of any kind started out warm. I do not count milk-like beverages produced from plants. Apologies to my lactose intolerant friends, but I prefer mammal-produced milk.
So: Keep that lunch on the counter:
- You won’t clog up the fridge.
- You won’t need to deal with the watery mess from dripping condensation from your unnecessary ice pack.
- And your lunch will taste better anyways.
Room-temperature is where it’s at.
What are your favorite examples?
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Warmly offered, Link. I’d say the one exception for me is any dip that uses dairy (like cucumbers and sour cream). But hummus and other non-dairy dips do taste better at room temperature.
Link, you’re certainly not lukewarm on the matter! 😃
Lunchmeat sandwiches? Definitely with you there.
Cold apples are indeed terrible to the tooth.
Eggs, butter, and cheese are all better at room temperature.
With leftover foods (the majority of my lunches), if you leave them out, you do introduce more risk of bacterial growth, but probably not nearly as much risk as we tend to think.
Still, since microwaving those is the best option of all, it just makes sense for me to store them in the fridge before heating them up.
Not to mention, most refrigerated foods have their own kind of charm for me. Not as good as freshly cooked, but still appealing in a unique way. Cold pizza is a classic, but I also love cold Thanksgiving leftovers, cold spaghetti and meatballs. Even cold soup, as long as it’s not too congealed.
Not in the wintertime though. Hot food is the priority now.
If you’ll excuse me, I need to go nuke some ice cream! 😃
Cold spaghetti? That’s one I don’t think I could love!
Tell us what you really think Link 😁
When I was a kid and there were leftovers from a meal they were left in the oven overnight and it never did us any harm – they were in the oven just cos it kept them out of the way and the oven had by then cooled down, they weren’t slowly incinerated overnight.
Now though, my wife puts all leftovers in the fridge regardless of what it is. It’s an argument I’ll never win so I just roll with it.
One thing that is incredibly annoying is butter in restaurants if they serve some nice bread and then provide a rock hard lump of butter straight from the fridge that is impossible to spread without destroying the bread in the process.
Yes!!! Rock hard butter is unusable. Keep some room temperature people!
Here, here! I love it when restaurants serve actual butter rather than margarine but cold, unspreadable butter is frustrating.
I remember talking with a woman who said when she was growing up in the 60s, her mom would fry up a giantpan of chicken and leave it on the stove top. The family would then nibble on it for the next couple of days till it was gone. I don’t know that I would go that far.
I have two intractables regarding food temperature.
Firstly, I’m a coffee lover. From a delicious gourmet blend at a boutique shop that will set me back $6, to a greasy spoon brew from a pot that hasn’t been washed out in a few weeks: I’ll drink anything. Really it, doesn’t matter; just what’s available at the moment.
I love it ice cold, and I love it just this side of piping hot. But absolutely, positively, nowhere in the midrange.
This foodtemp rule goes for pizza as well. Hot? Yes. Cold? I’m so there. But never at an ambient room temperature.
I hear you on the drink temperature I don’t drink coffee. Just water. Cool water is fine and I usually drink hot water in the morning, but I even agree that Luke warm water isn’t as appealing.
I don’t know if your spellcheck is just doing its job, or you are referring to an actual guy named Luke.
If it’s the former, I get it.
If it’s the latter, eww.
I almost always bring leftovers to work for lunch and put it in the refrigerator as soon as I get there. I do this because every so often a co-worker will say, “Let’s go out to lunch today.” Or sometimes the boss will have lunch brought in. So my leftovers stay fresh in the fridge for the next day.
But I’m with you on room temperature fruit.
Link, Leader of the #FreeTheFridge movement!!!
I’m in the same boat as JJ. MrDutch insists on refrigerating everything to the point I’ve given up trying to counter, I just shrug and go with it.
Guilty as charged!
I packed my kids’ lunches, and always put an ice pack in them. My kids would NOT eat room temperature cucumbers, and the other fruits/vegetables they have are stored in the fridge, so it’s what they’re accustomed to.
My daughter does NOT like her sandwiches cold, however, so I try to pack them without ice packs, or in another bag.
I’m not sure how warm the classrooms get, but the building is 120 years old. Some of the cold packaging is playing it safe.
Cucumbers may be one of the least offensive veggies served cold. I can indeed go for that. But I wouldn’t prefer it.
Link, this is exactly what I come to TNOCS for… a kind of stoner-esque conversation among non-stoners (well, not sure about Phylum…). Something practical and impassioned, without a shred of pretense.
I also bring my lunch to work everyday and virtually never use the office fridge. The only time I did was when I brought lunch, ended up not eating it, then stuck it in the office fridge to eat the following day.
The worst part is seeing all the sad, abandoned food in the office fridge. People leave yogurt packs, globby Hamburger Helper leftovers, open cans of soda, shriveled grapes, all sorts of culinary monstrosities in the office fridge. It’s like a hellish punishment for otherwise innocent foodstuffs.
I lived in Nepal for a couple of years and had no refrigeration available. So yes I bought milk, fresh meat, you name it, and left it on the counter (covered, don’t want any flies), in a city with 120 degree heat routinely. I couldn’t keep it as long as I can here with a fridge, but I could eat it 2 or 3 days later (4 or 5 in winter) with no problem. I’m still alive, I’m happy to report.
Anyway point being I largely agree with you.
And I’ll add that water should always be served room temperature. I grew up drinking iced beverages with every meal, but now I only drink water room temperature and never use ice in any drink. The idea of ice water makes my teeth hurt.
Non-stoner here, just one who needs to let the demons out from time to time. Like every ten years or so. 😀
I got my lifetime’s worth in a couple crazy years…
Just joshing, fellow non-stoner! 😜
We are well aligned, Pauly! I’ve heard that non Americans are often confused by our obsession with putting ice in our drinks.
It’s usually a good idea to refrigerate tofu.
Damn. That’s all I’ve got. Oh, wait.
My pet peeve was when coworkers would use the community microwave and burn the popcorn.