Does it need to be refrigerated?

Question

My wife does a lot of baking for friends and is unsure if some of the things she puts in the fridge really need to be. For instance, cheesecake. How do you know if something needs to be refrigerated? Thanks.

Answer 1

Foods that contain eggs that are cooked by themselves or are highly concentrated (like custard or cheesecake), milky or cheesy foods, and anything that contains meat or broth needs to be kept in the refrigerator. Pies and cobblers and cakes and fudge can be left out of the fridge, in general, but should be sealed up in something. Cobblers tend to go moldy faster than pie or cake (in 3 days or so), so they are better kept cold unless you are planning to eat it all in the first day or two. Fudge keeps a firmer texture and will last several weeks if you keep it cold, but again, if you are having lots of holiday guests over and it's going to be eaten within a few days it's fine to leave it out. Homemade breads and rolls don't have to be refrigerated, but they will start to mold faster than store bought breads made with preservatives. So even the breads should probably be kept cold if you need them to last past two days or so.

To be on the safe side, it never hurts to refrigerate food but you can get food poisoning by leaving out something that should have been kept cold. After spending a night in the ER with food poisoning, I now usually opt for the "better safe than sorry" rule.

Answer 2

Well, this kind of stuff is very second rate to feeding a home made fresh diet because it's still processed to some degree. If you think about it - doesn't it seem wrong that meat wouldn't be refrigerated? Yes, there is something wrong with dry food. It's biologically inappropriate food for a carnivore that developed eating raw meat. Cooking the crap out of meat and coating it with preservatives so it can be left on a shelf for months, in many ways, is very much something wrong if you really look at it objectively.

Answer 3

I would think that anything in the ingredients that was refrigerated before you cooked/bought it, would need to be refrigerated. But, I'm not a cook at all!!! That's just how I do it.

Answer 4

Anything that has eggs in it should be refrigerated because of the salmonella component. Cheesecake has dairy products in it which can also go bad. Go by the rule of thumb that anything that you keep in the fridge that you use as an ingredient should be refridgerated but most cookies can stay out, because the eggs have been cooked which kills the salmonella virus.

Answer 5

Any thing dairy should go in the fridge. My basic rule of thumb is "When in doubt, refrigerate"

Answer 6

If it usually comes out cold in a restaurant, keep in it the fridge. Cake is fine out, fruit pies are also. Cheesecake, cream pies, etc should be kept in the fridge.

Answer 7

Anything that contains mostly dairy products needs to be in the refrigerator.Hope this helps.

Answer 8

yes cheesecake does and most stuff like cake and pies need to be put in the fridge it makes them taste better

Answer 9

Anything dairy and FRUIT does

Answer 10

yes cheesecake does need to be refrigreated ummm anything dat needs ta be fresh nd cooled...