# Food Storage Guide

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

Part of usefulweb.site (https://usefulweb.site/). Results are deterministic calculations from the inputs and the listed assumptions; the API returns exactly what the web page shows.

## Use it
- Human interface: https://foodstorageguide.usefulweb.site/ (interactive tool at https://foodstorageguide.usefulweb.site/tool)
- JSON API: POST https://foodstorageguide.usefulweb.site/api/v1/calculate with a JSON object of inputs (schema: https://foodstorageguide.usefulweb.site/api/v1/tool)
- OpenAPI: https://foodstorageguide.usefulweb.site/openapi.json
- MCP (Streamable HTTP): https://foodstorageguide.usefulweb.site/mcp - tool `food_storage_guide`

## Inputs
- food (select): Food
- storage (select): Where is it stored?
- dateStored (date): Date stored / opened / cooked - Leave empty to use today.
- today (date): Today (optional) - Defaults to the current date.

## Method
- 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.

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