Refrigerators

hot food should be put into shallow container so heat can exit fast and food can cool rapidly. As soon as you can hold the pan without burning your fingers. Put it in the fridge uncovered (remember, no thick large batch, heat must be able to exit quickly)

Potentially hazardous food should not be left unrefrigerated for more than two hours. Less time is better, especially if the ambient temperature is around 90°F - then reduce that to one hour. Then it should either be reheated or refrigerated.

In 1874
The first known artificial refrigeration was demonstrated by William Cullen at the University of Glasgow in 1748. Between 1805, when Oliver Evans designed the first refrigeration machine that used vapor instead of liquid, and 1902 when Willis Haviland Carrier demonstrated the first air conditioner, scores of inventors contributed many small advances in cooling machinery. In 1850 or 1851, Dr. John Gorrie demonstrated an ice maker.

If you don't open the refrigerator, it should be fine for about six hours.

Fish shouldn't be in the fridge for too long. A week is about he maximum time before it goes bad. Under optimal conditions the longest it could stay good is a week and a day. It should away from all other foods to prevent contamination.

Fresh tomatoes might last a week. Home canned - about a year. Commercially canned - several years.

Craigslist is a good place to look for free used freezers, but there's always the safety risk. You could also check your local newspapers where someone might be offering it, so they don't have to pay to get rid of it.

for cheap cheese its about 1 week but for expensive cheese about 2 -3 week max

You may have a faulty defrost timer. This is generally a small plug in unit at the lower front under the fridge. If you have a vent grill, take if off and look, if you see a small black unit about half the size of a cell phone, with a wireloom containing 3-5 wires, that could be it. Unplug it and take to a good appliance parts store. -I've found this to be the commonest problem of not cooling properly, although there may be other issues.

Allow hot foods to cool slightly uncovered before refrigerating. Leave them uncovered in the fridge until quite cool. Put a folded kitchen towel or newspaper under the dish before placing in the refrigerator to avoid the risk of the dish cracking from contact with cold shelves. Very hot foods placed in a refrigerator will adversely affect other foods stored there, and will take longer to cool because the interior of the fridge will have become warmer.

The watermelon is larger and it will take more time for it to warm to the temperature around it.

For (can tuna) 4 days if tight sealed, for tuna with a dressing its 3 days, for casserols its 2 months if you freeze it!

Yes, but the texture may suffer slightly from either the condensation from being wrapped and refridgerated while still hot or from freezer burn if not wrapped.

The best bet is to cool the meat uncovered in the fridge for a couple hours, wrap it tightly, then freeze it.

This food will last for a few days. 4 days in the refrigerator is as long as you want to store this food here. Place the food in an air tight container or freezer bags. Then you can transfer it to the freezer if more storage time is needed.

If you store them in an airtight container and put them in the freezer, years.

Apparently they can last in the fridge for up to 5 days. I see pizza pops in vending machines so I assume it's fine in the fridge.

The best place to purchase patio furniture is at your local home improvement warehouse such as Menards, Lowes, or Home Depot. The best time to find them on sale is at the end of the summer season.

The time to actual spoilage is uncertain. From a safety standpoint, potentially hazardous food - like beef stew - should not be unrefrigerated for more than 2 hours. At that point it should be reheated or refrigerated.

if unprepared dry package: refer to expiration date

if prepared there is the concern of salmonella from dairy products. It should be frozen or if refrigerated, kept for no more than 48 hours.

I'd recommend calling an appliance professional to evacuate the coolant. Attempting this yourself can cause health problems, but also can release the coolant into the environment. Neither is good.

Vacuum packaging extends shelf life because it removes oxygen from around the food. There is no one formula to determine how long that will extend shelf life of all foods. Companies that use vacuum packaging perform shelf life studies on their products and it will vary from product to product or even manufacturer to manufacturer. It also depends upon the quality of the product when it is packaged. Home vacuum packaged food may not last as long as commercially packaged product.

Also remember that vacuum packaging does not take the place of proper storage.

Cooked lobster should be good for 3-4 days, according to people who sell it. To be on the safe side, I'd stick to three days tops. I don't think you could keep it much longer without being all too aware that it wasn't safe to eat. Not much smells worse than lobster that's gone bad.

Unlike nuts such as almonds and walnuts, coconuts are more delicate than most people realize and do not have a long shelf life, especially after the outer husks have been removed. The fibrous husks are nature's protective cushion and are integral parts of coconuts, but because of their bulkiness, they usually have been pulled off and discarded. If stores do carry coconuts with husks still on, they may have trouble selling them. The dried, brown husks of matured coconuts aren't particularly attractive, and how would consumers here figure out how to get inside of one? It seems difficult enough to deal with the hard shell. Without the outer husks, the shells bang against each other in transport and often crack or develop leaks. The eyes on one end are also exposed and subject to puncture and air seepage or mold growing inward. Air and mold entering the coconut will make the rich meat spoil quickly. That's why when purchasing a coconut at the store, be careful to choose one that is still heavy with juice. Shake it and if it seems dry, chances are there is a crack or leak in the shell; or it may have sat on the shelf too long, the juice having all but evaporated through the eyes. Check the eyes, they shouldn't look dark or moldy. Though often sealed with wax to prevent leakage, this does not guarantee that leakage has not occurred. When looking for a coconut to buy, search first for a batch whose overall appearance suggests freshness. If there are several that are moldy and cracked, try another store. From a fresh-looking batch, choose the best-looking one, and if you wish to be doubly sure, take home an extra as back-up. If the market carries more than one kind of coconuts, select from those with rich brown shells if you wish to press fresh milk. Inside, the thick flesh should be a pure white color; if it has started to yellow, it most probably is rancid. Besides the thickness of the flesh, you can usually tell whether a coconut is old enough to yield creamy milk by looking at a cross-section of the shell. A well-matured one would have developed a very hard, chocolate-brown inner shell; this is the shell that can be carved to make implements and decorative items. Coconuts with lighter brown shells generally are not as fully matured; the meat is delicious as a snack in itself, or shredded to make fillings and toppings for snack foods, appetizers and desserts. Milk pressed from these coconuts may be less creamy than good brands of canned coconut milk but its flavor can be fresher and tastier if you happened to have chosen coconuts from a shipment just off the boat from Asia. And although this milk is not quite creamy enough for curries and certain kinds of desserts, it adds a fragrant nuttiness to coconut soups that makes them heavenly!