Fun: How Long is the Shelf-Life of Nasi Lemak?

[johnconnor]

Assume that the nasi lemak is wrapped with a plastic and then a piece of newspaper, Malaysian room temperature, Malaysian humidity level, placed on a dining table. Also, assume that it is freshly made.

Bear in mind that we are dealing with an ideal situation over here. No aunties will open it when she passes by, nor will there be children crying for food beside the table.

How long will it stay edible without negative health effects?

[ayja]

I guess the only way to find out is to personally conduct an experiment with the above mentioned nasi lemak at various stages of 'sitting there'.

The moment you get explosive diarrhoea, is when it's no longer edible.

[hyperair]

I had ~20 rounds over the weekend after eating something that presumably expired (but I threw the box away so I can't be sure). I sure don't want to be the one conducting the experiment.

[Young]

At room temperature and in our humidity? Not long at all; I suspect 1-2 days tops since nasi lemak is sooo easily oxidized.

[Nicholas92]

1-2 days? I'm pretty sure I wouldn't touch day-old nasi lemak under those conditions...

I think smell is a somewhat reliable measure, so we could roughly test this by smelling it every hour or so till it smells...questionable.

Maybe add a couple more hours for it if you separate all the components...no mixing rice with the sambal, etc.

[yanno_yamster]

If it's made in the morning, by night it will start to smell funny already... Edible or not I'm not sure.

[Dman90]

Less than a day. Trust me.

[johnconnor]

Originally Posted by yanno_yamster

If it's made in the morning, by night it will start to smell funny already... Edible or not I'm not sure.

How do you define "funny"? I honestly don't know. A freshly-made nasi lemak and one that has been left on the table for a day smell the same to me.

[yanno_yamster]

I don't know what word to use to describe the smell but you will know immediately the food is stale once you can smell it. Rice becoming slimy can also be an indicator but that might take longer to be obvious.

Wait, are you still having that nasi lemak?

[iKoMetaga]

temperatures between 4 deg Celsius and 60 deg Celsius are conducive for bacterial growth. In regard to your question "How long will it stay edible without negative health effects?", it is hard to say. Some people are able to tolerate spoiled food to a greater degree than other people. Sometimes your immune system is able to destroy the bacteria w/o your body having to go through a detoxification process (vomit, cirit-birit). Sometimes not. So it is impossible to give a definite time frame for your question. Safest thing would be to pop it in a fridge and it will last for 3-4 days. But from experience, it would take about 5 hours to get bad, from time of preparation

what a random thread