Cooked leftovers: meat, poultry, gravy and nuggets
Leftovers are where people most often ask “is this still OK?” These four rows are the ones both charts cover with the same numbers.
Pacific Northwest Extension lists cooked meat and gravy twice, once in its main refrigerator table and once in a separate leftovers table. Both of its lines are counted, and they match each other and Clemson.
| Food | Refrigerator | Freezer |
|---|---|---|
| Cooked meat and meat dishes | 3–4 days | 2–3 months |
| Cooked chicken, turkey and poultry dishes | 3–4 days | 4–6 months |
| Gravy and meat broth | 1–2 days | 2–3 months |
| Cooked chicken nuggets or patties | 1–2 days | 1–3 months |
✓ 2 sources checked per row A single figure means both charts print the same time.
- Clemson Cooperative Extension, Home & Garden Information Center, Food Storage: Refrigerator & Freezer (HGIC 3522) (revised March 31, 2020) — checked 2026-09-27
- Pacific Northwest Extension (University of Idaho, Oregon State University, Washington State University), Storing Food for Safety and Quality (PNW 612) (revised March 2023), Table 2, p. 14; Table 4, p. 21 — checked 2026-09-27
Good to know
- Get leftovers into the refrigerator promptly. Shallow containers cool faster than one deep pot, and Pacific Northwest Extension suggests cutting a large roast in half before chilling it.
- Pacific Northwest Extension notes that fat tends to separate in homemade gravy and usually recombines when it is heated.
- Clemson says cooked meats and leftovers should be wrapped tightly so they do not dry out.
Both charts give these times for best quality and call them guidelines, not hard limits. How the rows are matched: our method. Spotted a row that does not match its chart? Tell us and we will recheck the original.