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How Long Does Food Last? Look Up Any Food

Type a food to see how long it keeps at room temperature, chilled or frozen. 920 foods covered, every number taken from USDA FoodKeeper.

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01 / What you get

What Every Food Page Shows

Counter, fridge, freezer

All three storage spots appear together, so there is no jumping between pages to compare.

Backed by USDA data

Each figure traces back to USDA FoodKeeper, and every page tells you when we last checked it.

Sealed or opened

Breaking the seal starts a shorter clock. You get both times for every food we cover.

The number comes first

It sits at the very top of the page. No pop-ups, no long story to scroll past.

How to spot spoilage

What to look for, sniff for and feel for with each food, so the call takes seconds.

Room-temperature limits

We apply the 2-hour rule (1 hour in hot weather) food by food and spell out the cutoff.

Freezer know-how

Find out if a food freezes well, how best to wrap it and how long it keeps its quality.

Package dates explained

What best-by, use-by and sell-by really tell you, so a stamped date never misleads you.

Related foods

Each page points to similar items, which makes it easy to work through a whole fridge.

Common Questions

Short answers about storage times, dates and safety

Which sources are the storage times based on?
They come from the USDA FoodKeeper database, backed up by FSIS food-safety guidance. Every page names its source and shows when we last checked it.
Should I treat this as food safety advice?
Treat it as general guidance drawn from public food-safety data. Whatever a page says, throw out food that smells off, looks wrong or has an odd texture.
What counts as "left out"?
Any stretch at room temperature, meaning above 40°F / 4°C. Throw out perishables after 2 hours out, or after just 1 hour once it is above 90°F / 32°C.
Does food turn unsafe once the freezer time passes?
No. At a steady 0°F / -18°C, frozen food stays safe indefinitely. The freezer time marks the point where taste and texture start to slip.
Why is there such a gap between opened and unopened times?
An intact seal blocks air and microbes. After opening, most foods switch to the shorter "opened" timeline, even when the printed date is still far off.
What is the difference between best-by, use-by and sell-by?
Best-by and sell-by deal with quality and store stock, not safety. The only date federal rules require for safety is the use-by date on infant formula.
How often do you update the numbers?
Pages are compared with the latest USDA FoodKeeper release, and the "last verified" date on each one changes when we do that check.
May I reuse this data on my website or app?
The USDA data behind it is public domain. The guides and tables we write belong to DiagXCar, so please link to a page instead of copying it.
I spotted a wrong number. How do I report it?
Every food page ends with a "Report a wrong number" link. We compare each correction with the original source within a few days.

Still wondering about something? Write to hello@diagxcar.com and a real person will answer within one business day.