The holidays are upon us, which means your fridge is bound to be filled with leftovers.
There are quite a few guidelines when it comes to knowing if that plate you brought home from mom's is still good to eat -- depending on the type of food and how it is stored. However, there's one big rule that is easy to remember and follow.
Food safety experts tell the Daily Mail there are five foods you should always eat on the same day they are cooked or opened if you want to avoid getting sick. These items are more prone to bacterial growth and could cause food poisoning, which could leave you suffering from diarrhea, fever, abdominal cramps, and vomiting 12 to 72 hours after infection.
#1 - Hardboiled eggs
Leave the shell on if you want your eggs to last. Otherwise, peeled eggs should be consumed within 24 hours. When left in the shell, hard-boiled eggs are safe for roughly one week, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
#2 - Ground meat
The U.S. Department of Agriculture suggests that consumers cook or freeze ground beef within one day, a maximum of two, of purchase. This preserves freshness and slows the growth of harmful bacteria like E. coli and salmonella. If ground beef is refrigerated promptly after cooking (within two hours), it can be safely refrigerated for about three days.
#3 - Cantaloupe
This sweet melon may be delicious, but it can also be dangerous. Cantaloupe should be eaten as soon as it is cut open and should never be kept in the fridge for an extra day, Dr. Darin Detwiler, a food safety expert at Northeastern University in Boston, told Daily Mail.
Detwiler said the problem is cantaloupes grow close to the ground, so they're exposed to pathogens from soil, water and animals. Additionally, the melon skin is covered with a net-like pattern that can harbor microbes.
Cantaloupe is currently linked to a salmonella outbreak that has sickened 117 people in 34 states, including 61 hospitalizations and two deaths.
#4 - Raw chicken
Just like ground meat, the USDA recommends cooking or freezing raw chicken within one day, a maximum of two, of purchase. Once cooked, you don't want to keep chicken refrigerated longer than three days.
#5 - Cooked rice
Rice can carry spores of Bacillus cereus, which can survive the cooking process and cause food poisoning, according to the National Institutes of Health. If rice is left standing at room temperature, the spores can grow into bacteria, which can multiply and produce toxins that make you sick.