I bought the book Well Fed so I could get my fridge stocked for the week. My question is, how long do steam-sauteed veggies and cooked meat last? I would think maybe 4 days, tops. Or am I wrong? I just want to make sure I don't keep the food too long.

Would love to hear about how you keep YOUR fridge stocked.

I like to cook a chicken, turkey, roast or fish and then freeze leftovers in individual servings (in small plastic bags inside a large freezer bag marked w/date cooked). That way I always have several types of protein available for a quick meal, just adding a fresh salad & dressing or frozen veggies & butter.

Your meat & vegs should last 3 days in the fridge, but the veggies will probably lose their texture. Veggies like broccoli & cauliflower hold up well with freezing & reheating some of these meat/veg leftovers.

I do a lot of batch cooking - I find most cooked veg are fine for about 5 days, meat a day or so less than that. If in doubt, I throw it out though - food poisoning is no fun at all.

I also do a fair amount of freezing ahead - both full meals in individual servings, extras of anything I don't think we'll consume in the next couple of days, and meals for the family (stews etc) - I make a double or triple batch for most long-cooked meat-based dishes, serve one batch that night, freeze one for a family dinner, and often portion out the third one for single-meals for me or my husband to grab from the freezer. Especially for things that just need a lot of ingredients thrown in a pot and a lot of time I find this is a timesaver and not very difficult. I do chili, boeuf bourgignon (a French stew), blanquette de veau (veal stew with creamy sauce), a more American stew, a spicy sausage thing... I have about 4-6 recipes I do like this, mostly in Fall/Winter. I used to do lasagne this way too, but the low carb "zucchini" one I'm alone in enjoying so I no longer bother...

I would be wary of leaving things in the fridge for more than a couple days tbh, even cooked. Get it in the freezer - Paris has the right of it. Also do your best to buy from local farmers where you know the meat is from well cared for animals. Grocery store meat isn't the same as it was about 20 years ago. I can remember leaving meat in the refrigerator for upwards of a week when I was younger, but anything from the grocery store now turns within a day or so. There is definitely a quality disconnect from years ago.

I don't care for re-heated vegetables, but I mostly eat salads anyway. When I do eat a cooked vegetable - summer squash, broccoli, cauliflower - they don't take long to steam. I should sauté vegetables more often. They're real tasty that way & just as fast - if not faster - than steamed.

Meat, on the other hand, can be cooked up in large batches and frozen in meal portions. I like to pressure can meat in pint jars. Depending on what I serve with it, a pint of meat usually makes 2 meals.

Freezing freshly cooked stuff (after it cools down of course) is a way to go. Like ParisMama said: portion them and put into z freezer. They will retain their freshness and won't go bad. It's better than keeping all the stuff in a fridge. I keep my dinners in fridge only if I intend to eat it the very next day.

I sort of do the opposite. For some reason I don't really like leftovers and prefer to cook things from scratch as much as possible.

So when I buy packages of fresh meat, the first thing I do when I get home is open them and put small portions of meat in separate plastic bags (e.g., 2 chicken legs, 1 small lamb chop, 2 chicken wings, etc.) -- then freeze them. I get a lot more out of the meat I buy that way it seems, I can always add another portion if I'm hungry, but often I find the smaller portions of meat are just fine.

I've become a fan of the Sunday cook-a-thon now that we pay for our electricity (off-peak is cheaper) and I work full-time.

For veggies, I prefer to cook them the night I'm serving them, ie just nuke them. Maybe serve fresh veggies like sliced cucumber or tomato just with some seasoning or salad dressing. I'm also a big fan of the crockpot on weekdays.

Cooked meats have been hit or miss in the freezer for me. I know I tend to leave them for too long. They can get pretty dry and the texture can be icky. For freezing my leftover turkey, I decided to freeze it along with broth so I can just turn it into a soup sometime.

My definite freezer items are soups, stews and chili. If I'm doing a cream soup, I freeze the soup minus the cream (or cream cheese, whatever you add to make it creamy.) Don't ask me why because I don't remember, it's just a habit now.

When I had things under control, I would follow some recipes on the weekend that would last about four days, as you've noticed, without spoilage. Then I would do a second, easy cookup mid-week: usually roast chicken. Roast anything, really, for the main dish because all you have to do is season it and stick it in the oven till it's done. For veggies, I reach for the easy ones after work, like pre-washed salad and greens. Some veggies require less prep than others -- those are the ones to do mid-week.

Sous vide cooking helps a lot too. I bought the Sous Vide Supreme that is sold by Dr. Eades. I buy those fish fillets that are individually pre-vacuum-sealed from Trader Joe's and Costco. I thaw them in cold water (still sealed) while the SVS pre-heats to 64'C. Then I put them in (still sealed) for just 15 minutes and they're perfect. On the weekends I seal some chicken breasts, steaks, and pork chops this way too. They also can be thawed in cold water while the SVS pre-heats (63.5'C for chicken, 52.5'C for steak, 57.5'C for pork chops) but they take longer to cook -- an hour -- in the SVS and then get seared afterward. It's still pretty mindless and easy, though it takes time.

I also like to make batches of sauces on the weekend like romesco sauce, pesto, aioli, harissa, chermoula, etc. Most of these can freeze (not the mayonnaises) in small batches to add flavor here and there.

I also keep seasoning blends around to add flavor with minimal carbs. Penzey's, for example, has some good ones.

I also keep several containers of homemade veggie soup frozen. I like soup.

Lastly, I often resort to those pre-made, frozen hamburger patties. Just pry one off the stack and pan-fry it still frozen. I like a mixture of Jok'n'Al sugar-free ketchup mixed with Melinda's chipotle ketchup. Or just sugar-free BBQ sauce.

HTH

I cook every other day - usually in my slow cooker or smoker. I always cook at least enough for two meals, plus more for the freezer. Then, we eat the meal for two nights and freeze leftovers for nights I just don't have the time to cook. It makes for super easy cooking and easy freezing.

In general, cooked food lasts about three days in the fridge and about three to six months in the freezer - tightly sealed, of course.

When you have frozen cooked meat, what is the best way to use it? (Like, do you take it out and thaw it in the morning, reheat it in the oven from frozen, microwave....?)

I plan my meals out about a week to ten days in advance. So I pull out anything I need, including cooked meat, two days before I use it so it can thaw in the fridge. Then, I just use it in a recipe I have planned or for a meal.

I slice some and dice some cooked meat before freezing in individual servings and either nuke it with some frozen vegs and fat for a few minutes if it is just me eating it. If I'm cooking for others too, I'll put some fresh (or frozen) vegs and the frozen meat in a vegetable steamer insert in a pot on the stove - the steaming defrosts the meat and warms it without drying it out while the veggies steam. The steamer heats everything evenly, unlike a microwave. I'll also make a salad and take the frozen diced meat to work frozen (usually adding the dressing to the frozen meat baggie/container to keep it cool) and it defrosts on my desk in time for lunch - I just dump it on my salad.

Sliced or diced meat defrosts faster than a big slab of meat.

I occasionally I pull meat out of the fridge to the freezer a couple of days beforehand, but since I sometimes work late or feel like something different, I found it worked better to keep the meat in the freezer until the day I need it.

Have you noticed cooking with certain fats works better for freezing than others -- e.g., bacon fat, coconut milk, olive oil, or butter? I'm thinking of following some of these tips, but noticed in the past that foods cooked in butter didn't seem to retain the quality when I froze portions and then reheated them.

I haven't noticed a problem with any of the fats and freezing - I cook mainly with butter, olive oil or coconut oil.

In terms of prepared dishes the main ones I freeze are chili, meat stews, Thai chicken green curry (has coconut milk), and crackslaw.