Why do people leave hot leftovers or soup out to cool before storing in the fridge?

Answer 1

Because putting hot or warm food into the fridge will raise the temperature of the refrigerator and the surrounding food. By letting the food cool first, you are less likely to disrupt the internal temperature and less likely to compromise the food already in your fridge.

Answer 2

Home refrigerators are not very powerful and do not bring temperatures in products down very quickly. When you put hot food into the refrigerator, two things can happen. First, it can raise the temp of the fridge and everything in it. Second, the hot food may actually stay in the 40 - 140F "danger zone" longer.

The best idea is to cool the food for short while on the counter, especially if it is in very shallow dishes that increase surface area and speed cooling. Then when you cover and refrigerate, there is less heat for the fridge to remove, it doesn't raise the temp of other fridge contents, and the cooling food will get below 40 faster. This minimizes the growth of bacteria, especially those that cause food poisoning.

Answer 3

I think it stems from a lot of different reasons...

1. This is the one I heard the most from old folks, they thought that putting hot food in the refrigerator would "break" the refrigerator. Maybe it goes back to the days when the refrigerator was actually called an Ice Box and cooled by blocks of ice. Scared of technology?

2. The hot food will warm up your refrigerator which causes your refrigerator to work harder to bring the temperature to normal... which will cause the refrigerator to break down sooner.

3. The hot food will warm up your refrigerator thus spoiling other food.

4. Hot food too hot to handle.

5. Sort of along 2 and 3... it's easier on the refrigerator.

Answer 4

It's because heat breeds bacteria. Thus, it is important to get leftovers' temperature down to avoid the build up of bacteria within the food before storage. You could also place leftovers in fridge but leave uncovered until cool to quicken cooling time.

Answer 5

All good answers... Food will not cool any faster by putting it in the fridge... It will cool down further, than if left out, but not faster.
Why heat the inside of your fridge and ruin what's already in there? Milk and other foods will grow bacteria and spoil faster if slightly warmed.

Answer 6

Because if you put it in the fridge when it is still hot it will use more energy to cool the food. If you wait until the food is cool it is more energy efficient.

Answer 7

Good question.
Mostly it's to keep the fridge from work overtime to cool it off.
You warm the whole fridge a bit.
Always....keep cold foods cold and hot foods hot.
You can cool at room temps, but for no more than 1/2 hr.

Answer 8

do not pass away something with dairy in it out for terribly long. nutrition is effective to put in a refrigerator heat, the only undertaking incredibly is condensation making the nutrition soggy, yet considering that soup is liquid there is not any difficulty there! additionally a respectable plastic container would desire to hold its shape from heat nutrition, i would not placed boiling warm soup in, yet while its been off the warmth for a on an identical time because it may be effective.

Answer 9

Back in the days of the ICE BOX don't add too much heat to melt the ice.
Like wise make Ice cubes = use hot water to freeze fast
but can proven wrong,, hot water just trips the thermostat and uses more power.

Answer 10

To keep from transferring heat to other foods in the refrigerator. But it's not necessarily a good idea. Sort of a Catch 22. To be safe, food should be cooled as rapidly as possible.