set an alarm, and move to the fridge when it goes off?

Really, did you know, it would be THAT late? Maybe set them on a timer, and let them start cooking around 10:00 PM?

Moni

If a small quantity, I'd put 'em into a (previously emptied) yogurt tub; if a quantity, into several such tubs.

Put 'em outside, or into the unheated back porch, for an hour, then into the fridge.

Frost finished most of my beans in several nights, recently.

ole joyful

Same thing you did. We have an extra fridge in the garage storage room. We mostly keep beer and extra water in it, so I would probably have put them in there.

The challenge when cooling something like this is that it cools from the sides to the middle. The sides cool first but the middle stays warm for a long time. Sometimes too long.

Let it cool on the stove for awhile, stirring every now and then. Put the pot into an ice bath using a larger pot or put the contents into a metal bowl in an ice bath. Replenish the ice periodically. Or put into the freezer. Either way, stir it regularly over maybe an hour while doing other things. When it's below warm, it's ready for the fridge. Or, leave it longer in the freezer and continue to stir.

Start earlier, that helps too.

I think you made a good call. If there's something hot that I need to put in the fridge sooner than later, I try to "insulate" it with ice packs around it in the fridge, then it cools a little faster, and hopefully the other stuff in the fridge doesn't suffer so much from the heat it is putting off.

I wouldn't add hot food to yogurt containers (not intended for hot), but I would have put the beans in several shallower glass containers and put them in the refer - spread out, not stacked. Or some in the refer and some in an ice chest/cooler with lots of ice. I freeze water bottles of all sizes to use as ice in my coolers, so I'd just fill the cooler with those and add some of the beans in smaller containers to it.

Or put in your crock pot on the lowest setting and let them stay hot overnight and deal with them in the morning.

I would have put them on your porch if you have one. Temps have been in the 40's, I consider that safe. No porch or deck? Maybe right your steps or I have even put stuff in my car before if I am worried about critters.

Problem is a hot pot of beans, soup ect placed in the frig is going to raise the frig temp well above 40F (higest safe zone temp) than everything in the frig warms up to unsafe temps...from 40to 140 deg F food will grow bacteria outside of an hour.. and because the beans will remain hot quite awhile everything in the frig is in danger of spoiling...the beans will take hours to cool down to at least 40F...how long can food remain at temps of 40 to 140 before bacteria grows...I can't remember the exact but its not hours.

Next time devide into smaller containers and place container into a ice bath prior to going intp the frig.

Hot food must be cooled quickly or kept above 140F.

There is an imaginary zone of temps that food should cross only so many times. When making something hot, you cross that zone one time. Cooling the food (whether slowly or quickly) crosses that zone a second time. Reheating (to a serving temperature) is the third time. Never, ever should there be a fourth time. It isn't safe practices to cross that zone more than three times.

Ideally, your fridge has a good working motor and if the beans were hot, then the motor would work a little more than usual. Stirring a couple of times would have helped a lot. Since it was late (only you knows why it was that late), then the refrigerator was the better option.

Oh my, you all are so careful. Since there was no meat nor dairy, leaving them out would have been just fine. Recently the advice has been not to put anything hot/ too warm into your fridge because it can put the other food into the danger zone.

They would have been just fine sitting out all night, imo. If my soup WITH meat is too hot to put away at bedtime, I leave it out, then boil for at least 5 minutes the next morning, allowing it to cool until it can go into the fridge.

Thank you for the replies. They were done late because I didn't start them till late. Will have to remember that next time.

ETA: yes, there was a hamhock in the beans.

Only meat spoils?

Split into smaller containers is a good idea, that does speed cooling.

I use the two hour or less rule. Hot food is never kept out for longer than two hours unless it is being kept at temp in a crock pot, on the range or in the oven. When cooking ahead once the container is cool enough to handle with bare hands it goes into the fridge. Simply transfering the beans to a fresh container would have been enough if you were in a hurry. Modern refrigerators can handle it. If it's a huge quantity dividing it into two smaller containers may be a good idea at times but it doesn't have to be packed into small units. No smaller than a gallon (4 quarts) is necessary.

So if soup ect is taken off the heat and its temp is 200 degF...how long even in frig do you think it will take the soup to cool to 40F? And don't you think that putting 200F in the frig is going to raise the temp of everything.

This time of year, my porch is easily as cold as a refrigerator so it's a moot question until next spring.

However, I would say I would never take a hot pot directly off the stove (or out of the oven) and put it directly in my frig. If literally the only alternative was letting it sit out overnight, I'd probably do that. It would have to be in a pot with a tight lid, though -- I figure if the food was very hot, the environment inside the pot would be sanitary for a couple hours as long as no one lifted the lid.

Don't worry, when cooking for company I would stay up as late as it took to cook and cool the food.

Think most of us have done that....I know I have. I usually put some empty containers into the freezer, and add the food after it has cooled for a bit, then I find a cool spot or place the containers of food in a pan of ice before putting in the fridge.

When I make soups and such, I cool for a little while on the stove and then put into the refrigerator. I'm sure it warms it a bit, but I don't cook with, or store, any meat or anything really perishable. Maybe some cheese or yogurt but so far I haven't had any issues. I would be more careful with meat or if I were cooking for people other than myself and DH.

It is not the meat that would be the problem but the other stuff if you are thinking food poisoning. Meat will stay safer longer when cooked. Beans with all of the starch and sugar in them can start fermenting fairly rapidly which leads to problems other than what most normally think of as food poisoning.

Beans sour easily. I would have waited for them to cool enough to go in the fridge, even if I had to get up out of bed to do it.

If you have an oscillating fan just point it at the pot and stir. After I make dinner I usually hold my bowl or plate up to our fan and mix it in front of the fan for a few minutes. I don't like my food too hot. Cools it down pretty quickly.

What Olychick said about dividing into several containers. I would have divided them temporarily/overnight into smaller containers, stalled on going to bed a few minutes while those slightly cooled, then divided the containers between my kitchen and garage refrigerators.

I'd have spread them in shallow pans to cool, watched The Ghost and Mrs Muir...again...then put them in a container (bowl? Pot?) in the fridge. Or, it was in the 30s last night, so maybe on the porch, and go to bed at a decent hour.

I would have wrapped them in a nice thick towel and put them in the oven and they still would have been nice and warm when you got up the next morning.

How long is food safe sitting out? Food left out must be kept at either below 40F or above 140F. Problem is it would probably fall between these two temps for many hours placing it at the perfect temps for bacteria to grow.

Curlysue..a towel in the oven could be very dangerous.

I was thinking the same thing Lisa!!! Our temps have been hitting the low 30’s for the last week or so. That is one great plus about living in cold weather! My garage is a large freezer for about 6 months of the year! LOL