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Food Storage Guide

How long is food safe in the fridge or freezer? Dates from the official FoodSafety.gov chart.

Leave empty to use today.

Defaults to the current date.

Try an example: Leftover chicken cooked 3 days ago · Ground beef in the freezer since summer · Opened deli meat after a week

How it works

Choose a food and the date you stored or opened it. The guide shows the refrigerator and freezer limits exactly as published in the FoodSafety.gov Cold Food Storage Chart, the resulting dates, and whether the food is fine, should be used soon, or should be discarded.

  • Storage limits are copied verbatim from the FoodSafety.gov Cold Food Storage Chart (refrigerator at 40°F (4°C) or below, freezer at 0°F (-18°C) or below).
  • Text periods are converted to days with 1 week = 7 days, 1 month = 30 days, 1 year = 365 days; "use immediately after thawing" = 0 days.
  • Dates = date stored + lower limit (use-by earliest) and + upper limit (use-by latest).
  • Status (refrigerator/pantry): fine before the lower limit; use-soon from the lower limit up to the upper limit (for single values: on the last day); discard after the upper limit.
  • Freezer: the chart says freezer times are for quality only and food kept continuously at 0°F (-18°C) or below can be kept indefinitely, so the status after the upper limit is "quality-past", not "discard".
  • Items the chart marks "Do not freeze", "Does not freeze well" or "Not recommended" get status not-recommended.

When in doubt, throw it out. Times assume correct storage temperatures throughout.

Sources

For scripts and AI agents

  • JSON API: POST https://foodstorageguide.usefulweb.site/api/v1/calculate (same calculation as this page)
  • Interface description: OpenAPI 3.1 · AI guide: llms.txt
  • MCP server (Streamable HTTP): https://foodstorageguide.usefulweb.site/mcp · tool name food_storage_guide
Example request
curl -s -X POST https://foodstorageguide.usefulweb.site/api/v1/calculate \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"food":"leftover-meat-poultry","storage":"fridge","dateStored":"2026-10-09","today":"2026-10-12"}'
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