How long does food last in the fridge and freezer?

The most-searched cases, one line each

• Cooked chicken in the fridge: 3 to 4 days (in a sealed container, refrigerated within 2 hours).
• Raw ground meat in the fridge: 1 to 2 days maximum — the most fragile meat there is.
• Leftovers of cooked meals: 2 to 3 days.
• Raw fish: 1 to 2 days, ideally eaten the day you buy it.
• Eggs: about 3 to 4 weeks from laying, refrigerated.

The golden rules (30 seconds)

1. Your fridge should run at 4 °C (40 °F) or below in its coldest zone, your freezer at −18 °C (0 °F). A fridge at 8 °C cuts the times below in half.
2. Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours of cooking (1 hour in hot weather). This matters more than the number of days.
3. The times assume properly wrapped food: sealed container, film, bag. Food left uncovered dries out and picks up contamination faster.
4. When in serious doubt (off smell, slimy texture, mould on a fresh product), don't taste-test: toss it. Some bacteria can't be smelled or seen.

"Use by" vs "best before": the difference that changes everything

Two labels look alike on packaging but mean completely different things:

• "Use by" is a safety limit, found on fragile products (meat, fish, deli meals, fresh dairy). Past this date the microbiological risk is real, even if the food looks normal. Not negotiable — especially for vulnerable people (pregnant women, young children, the elderly, the immunocompromised).
• "Best before" is a quality promise (taste, texture, vitamins), found on shelf-stable products (pasta, cans, chocolate, coffee, biscuits). Past the date, the product is usually still safe to eat: it may just be less good. Look, smell, taste a little — if it's fine, it's fine.

In short: a yogurt a few days past its date (acidic product, kept cold, seal intact) is a borderline case many tolerate — meat past its "use by" date is a no.

Chart: fridge storage times (4 °C / 40 °F)

The clock starts on the day of purchase (raw products) or cooking (leftovers) — not the day you remember. That's exactly the kind of date MyFrigo remembers for you and reminds you about before the deadline.

Chart: freezer storage times (−18 °C / 0 °F)

Key point: at −18 °C, food that has stayed frozen without interruption remains safe more or less indefinitely — the times below are quality benchmarks (taste, texture), not safety limits. Past them, it's not dangerous, just less good.

This is where the "freezer black hole" is born: everything is safe, nothing is dated, and a year later you're tossing unidentified frosty bags. An inventory with entry dates solves it once and for all.

Freezing and thawing without mistakes

• Freezing doesn't kill bacteria, it puts them to sleep. Food that was questionable before freezing is questionable after.
• Thaw in the fridge, not on the counter: at room temperature the surface enters the danger zone (above ~5 °C) long before the core has thawed. Microwave or cold-water thawing: cook immediately afterwards.
• Don't refreeze thawed raw food as is. Exception: you can cook it, then freeze the cooked dish.
• Food thawed in the fridge then keeps like a fresh product: 1-2 days for ground meat or fish, 3-4 days for a cooked dish.
• Freeze in flat, dated portions: they freeze faster, thaw faster, and you only take out what you need.

The special cases that trip everyone up

Cooked rice. It can carry Bacillus cereus, a bacterium whose toxins survive reheating. Cool it quickly (within the hour), keep it 1 day maximum in the fridge, and never leave it sitting at room temperature.

Sunday's roast chicken. 3-4 days in the fridge, so Thursday is the limit. If you already know on Sunday you won't finish it, freeze it right away (2-3 months) instead of waiting until Thursday to decide.

The questionable egg. The float test (it floats = it's old) indicates age, not safety. Trust the laying date + 3-4 weeks, crack it into a separate bowl, and cook older eggs thoroughly (no runny yolks).

Mould. On hard cheese or dry-cured sausage: cut generously (1 cm beyond the visible part) and eat the rest. On bread, yogurt, jam, fresh cheese or a cooked dish: it all goes in the bin — invisible filaments spread through moist foods.

"It expired yesterday, can I…?" Depends on the label: "best before" → very probably yes. "Use by" on an acidic, well-chilled product (yogurt) → grey zone, often tolerated. "Use by" on meat, fish or deli meals → no.

The real fix: stop having to remember these dates

You can bookmark this article — or you can stop using your memory as a food-safety tool. That's exactly what MyFrigo does: every item enters the inventory with its date (typed, spoken or photographed), and the app alerts you before it expires — while there's still time to cook it, not when it's ready for the bin. It even suggests a recipe to use it.

Sources

Guidance from the USDA (FoodKeeper), the UK Food Standards Agency, ANSES (France) and the Swiss FSVO. Where sources differ, the most conservative range was kept.