--- description: A federal food safety agency is offering guidelines on the safe storage and preparation of Thanksgiving leftovers. title: Here's How Long You Can Safely Keep Eating Your Thanksgiving Leftovers image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte2dd64892c349234/69893fc8b21a9c605a4ff874/thanksgiving-leftovers.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Health](/section/health/) ## Health Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Public Health](/tag/public-health/) ## Public Health Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Here's How Long You Can Safely Keep Eating Your Thanksgiving Leftovers  by [Alejandro de la Garza](/author/alejandro-de-la-garza/)  ## Alejandro de la Garza Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 23, 2018 5:25 PM CUT  A close up of a turkey and cranberry sandwich sitting on a wooden cutting board with a small brown bowl of homemade cranberry sauce in the background. A close up of a turkey and cranberry sandwich sitting on a wooden cutting board with a small brown bowl of homemade cranberry sauce in the background.DebbiSmirnoff—Getty Images  by [Alejandro de la Garza](/author/alejandro-de-la-garza/)  ## Alejandro de la Garza Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 23, 2018 5:25 PM CUT For those of us wondering how long we can get away with picking at our Thanksgiving leftovers, the United States government is here to help. This Thanksgiving season, the government is offering recommendations on how to safely store and consume your holiday leftovers. The food storage tips, which include such insights as a recommendation to refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours, were issued by [FoodSafety.gov](https://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/events/thanksgiving/index.html "undefined"), an online portal to food safety information collected by Federal agencies like the The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The information also includes a directive not to store stuffing inside a turkey, to avoid eating leftovers more than three or four days old, and to keep leftovers in a cooler with ice or frozen gel packs “if the food is traveling home with a guest who lives more than two hours away.” The site also recommends only storing food in shallow containers to decrease cooling time in the refrigerator and limit the amount of time your food spends at warmer unsafe temperatures. The guidelines, which come alongside instructions for safely preparing a turkey, may be especially helpful in the wake of a series of holiday season food safety issues. Earlier this week, the CDC warned U.S. consumers to not eat [romaine lettuce](http://time.com/5461594/romaine-lettuce-cdc-e-coli-contamination/ "undefined"), which could be contaminated with E. coli. 32 people in 11 states have been infected in the outbreak, including 13 who have been hospitalized, according to the CDC. The FSIS has also recalled turkey products linked to a salmonella outbreak, as well as certain raw beef and Duncan Hines cake mix products which could be contaminated with the bacteria. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5462345/thanksgiving-leftovers-tips/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5462345/thanksgiving-leftovers-tips/"},"headline":"Here's How Long You Can Safely Keep Eating Your Thanksgiving Leftovers","datePublished":"2018-11-23T17:25:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T22:07:12.773Z","description":"And other important food safety tips","url":"https://time.com/5462345/thanksgiving-leftovers-tips/","keywords":["Public Health","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte2dd64892c349234/69893fc8b21a9c605a4ff874/thanksgiving-leftovers.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alejandro de la Garza","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alejandro-de-la-garza/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte2dd64892c349234/69893fc8b21a9c605a4ff874/thanksgiving-leftovers.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Thanksgiving Leftovers","caption":"Thanksgiving Leftovers","creditText":"DebbiSmirnoff—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/public-health/","name":"Public Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5462345/thanksgiving-leftovers-tips/","name":"Here's How Long You Can Safely Keep Eating Your Thanksgiving Leftovers"}}]}] ```