Most food waste — and a fair amount of food-poisoning risk — comes from not knowing how long something is actually good for. The USDA's Cold Food Storage Chart gives conservative, well-established times for the refrigerator and freezer. Two assumptions underpin all of them: your fridge is at 40°F (4°C) or below, and your freezer is at 0°F (−18°C). Get those right and the chart does the rest.
A few times worth memorizing
Raw eggs in the shell — 3 to 5 weeks in the fridge. Hard-cooked eggs — about 1 week (they don't freeze well). Opened or deli-sliced lunch meat — 3 to 5 days; unopened, about 2 weeks. Opened hot dogs — 1 week. Store-prepared or homemade egg/chicken/tuna/ham/macaroni salad — 3 to 5 days. These are USDA figures, not package marketing.
The freezer rule that surprises people
Food kept frozen continuously at 0°F (−18°C) stays safe indefinitely. The freezer times you see on the chart are about quality — flavor and texture degrade over months — not safety. So a roast frozen for 14 months is safe to eat; it just may not taste its best. The exception is that some foods (like hard-cooked eggs and mayonnaise-based salads) simply don't freeze well in the first place.
What the chart doesn't cover
Milk, most fresh produce, and many packaged goods aren't on the USDA cold-storage chart — for those, follow the package "use by" date. And remember the chart assumes proper temperature throughout: food left in the danger zone (40–140°F) for more than 2 hours should be discarded regardless of any chart. When in doubt, throw it out.
Food Storage & Expiry Guide
Look up fridge & freezer times for any food
Open Food Storage & Expiry Guide →Set your fridge to 40°F or below, trust the USDA times over your nose, and discard anything left in the danger zone over 2 hours. Search any food in the storage tool.