How Long Does Food Keep? Food Storage Safety Times From Official Guidance
Most leftovers keep 3 to 4 days in the fridge; raw ground meat keeps just 1 to 2. Here are the official storage times for the foods people ask about most.
By Galactic News Editorial · Published 2026-11-08T01:35:13+00:00 · Updated 2026-11-08T01:35:13+00:00
Most cooked leftovers keep three to four days in the fridge. Raw ground meat and poultry keep only one to two days. Almost any food stays safe indefinitely in a freezer held at 0°F. These times come from the official FoodSafety.gov cold food storage chart. This guide lists the numbers for the foods people ask about most, plus the two rules that govern everything.
The Two Rules That Govern Everything
Keep the fridge at 40°F or below and the freezer at 0°F or below. Every time in this guide assumes those temperatures. Above 40°F, bacteria that cause foodborne illness multiply fast, and the safe windows shrink. Use a fridge thermometer to check. Few refrigerator dials show a real temperature. The second rule is the two-hour rule. Throw out perishable food that has sat at room temperature for more than two hours. Above 90°F, the limit drops to one hour. This applies no matter what the storage chart says. Bacteria can grow to unsafe levels in that window alone. The USDA calls 40 to 140°F the danger zone, the range where bacteria grow fastest. Food that sat out too long cannot be made safe by reheating or by putting it in the fridge afterward.
Food Storage Safety Times: The Fridge Chart
The times below follow the FoodSafety.gov cold food storage chart. They assume food stored continuously at 40°F or below. Treat them as outer limits, not targets.
| Food | Fridge time |
|---|---|
| Cooked leftovers (meat, poultry, rice, pasta) | 3 to 4 days |
| Soups and stews | 3 to 4 days |
| Pizza | 3 to 4 days |
| Raw ground beef, turkey, pork, or chicken | 1 to 2 days |
| Raw chicken or turkey, whole or pieces | 1 to 2 days |
| Raw steaks, chops, and roasts | 3 to 5 days |
| Fresh fish, lean or fatty | 1 to 3 days |
| Fresh eggs, in the shell | 3 to 5 weeks |
| Hard-cooked eggs | 1 week |
| Milk, opened | About 1 week |
| Hot dogs, opened package | 1 week |
| Luncheon meat, opened or deli sliced | 3 to 5 days |
| Bacon | 1 week |
| Egg, chicken, ham, tuna, or macaroni salad | 3 to 4 days |
Eggs surprise most people. Fresh eggs in the shell keep three to five weeks, far longer than most cooks assume. Ground meat is the opposite. It has more surface area, so it spoils faster than whole cuts. Cook it or freeze it within one to two days. Leftovers follow the same rule as everything else. If you will not finish them in three to four days, freeze them on day one, not day three.
Freezer Times Are About Quality, Not Safety
Food kept frozen at a steady 0°F stays safe to eat indefinitely. The freezer times below are about quality only. Food loses texture and flavor over time, even when it stays safe.
| Food | Freezer time for best quality |
|---|---|
| Raw ground meat | 3 to 4 months |
| Raw steaks, chops, and roasts | 4 to 12 months |
| Raw whole chicken or turkey | 1 year |
| Raw chicken or turkey pieces | 9 months |
| Cooked meat or poultry leftovers | 2 to 6 months |
| Soups and stews | 2 to 3 months |
| Pizza | 1 to 2 months |
| Fatty fish such as salmon or tuna | 2 to 3 months |
| Lean fish such as cod or flounder | 6 to 8 months |
| Eggs, raw yolks and whites beaten together | 12 months |
| Butter | 6 to 9 months |
| Milk | 3 months, though texture changes |
Do not freeze fresh eggs in the shell or hard-cooked eggs. Beat raw yolks and whites together first, then freeze them. Label every freezer bag with the food name and the date. Use the oldest food first. Thaw frozen food in the fridge, in cold water, or in the microwave, never on the counter. Once thawed in the fridge, cook ground meat and poultry within one to two days and other foods within three to four days.
Signs Food Has Gone Bad
A chart cannot replace your senses. Throw food out if it smells sour or off, feels slimy, or shows mold. Slimy deli meat and sour milk are clear signs. Mold on soft foods, such as bread, yogurt, or cooked dishes, means the whole item goes. Cutting the moldy part off does not make soft food safe. Hard cheese and firm vegetables are the exception. There, you can cut at least one inch around and below the mold. When in doubt, throw it out. A few dollars of food is never worth a case of food poisoning. Store leftovers in shallow containers so they cool fast. Cool hot food within two hours of cooking, then refrigerate it. Never put a large pot of hot soup straight into the fridge and expect the center to cool quickly.
Bottom Line
Remember three numbers: 40°F for the fridge, 0°F for the freezer, and two hours on the counter. Leftovers get three to four days. Raw ground meat and poultry get one to two days. Freezer times protect flavor, not safety. Label everything, freeze early, and throw out anything that looks or smells wrong before its time is up.