On few occasions, the vessel may land up with surplus food at the end of an event.
When a surplus of food is likely, the galley team should start cooling what is not
needed, quickly.
How to begin...
- Shift the food container, away from the heat source (Hot plate, Hot box, BainMarie etc) so that it’s not being kept warm through the residual heat.
- If it’s a big quantity, transfer into a large, shallow dish to cool quickly. Give it a stir from time to time if necessary.
- Don’t leave food out for hours or, even worse, overnight.
- As a thumb rule, all excess food/leftovers should be sorted and put into the fridge/freezer within 90 minutes of preparation.
Cool thoroughly ...
- Food to be thoroughly cooled before storing it in the fridge or freezer, else we risk increasing the temperature inside the fridge and encourage bacterial growth. This could affect the leftovers as well as other fresh foods inside.
- The fridge should always remain below 5oC/40oF.
- Always use containers with proper lids, or freezer bags.
- Keep the food well sealed and separate. Raw meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, dairy products, and soft cheeses are among the foods at higher risk of causing food poisoning.
- Keeping foods separate and covered helps to combat cross-contamination.
- If the food can be used within two days, store them in the fridge.
- If there’s a large quantity, portion it up and freeze it once cooled, rather than keeping in fridge for few days and then shifting to freezer.
Reheating leftovers ...
- Always use up the stock in the fridge within two days.
- To use the stock from freezer, make sure they are thoroughly defrosted, by leaving them in the fridge overnight (16 to 20 hours).
- Reheat food until piping hot evenly, by stirring continuously.
- Don’t reheat food more than once. If you have a big pot of soup, for example, it’s better to take out what you need and reheat it in a smaller pan.
- Never refreeze leftovers. The more times we cool and reheat food, the higher the risk of food poisoning.
- Bacteria can multiply when cooled too slowly or reheated insufficiently.
Foods should be heated until they reach and maintain 74oC/165oF or above for 2
minutes. Please use a food thermometer to check the temperature in the thickest
part of the food/meat.