How Long Does Pizza Last?

Pizza is a dream venture for taste buds. People go nuts for Pizza, no matter how busy they are in life. You just want to complete the whole pizza in one swallow, and leftover seems like a sin.

However, if you are left with pizza at home, you can’t afford to throw it off since no one will have a mind for it. 

Leftover pizza is a phenomenon now, and you want to somehow utilize it. However, how you preserve is a criticality that needs to be addressed. Pizza does go bad as any other food item that we eat. 

The durability of a pizza is up to 2 hours at room temperature. In the fridge, it lasts up to 4 days and can be frozen for 4 months without any problem. Temperature wreaks havoc when it comes to the shelf life of pizza. 

Pizza also has so many ingredients layered on it that all those items need durability on their own. So a pizza, on the whole, should be preserved and maintained carefully so that right from the crust to the cheese on the top stays good and fresh. 

This article will be an elaboration on how you preserve a pizza, how long pizzas last, and how to identify a bad pizza instantly.

Does Pizza Go Bad?

Before we zone into the shelf life, let us first analyze whether pizza will ever go bad in the first place. Pizza is not everlasting as any other food item.

So you cannot keep having pizza every time you think you want to enjoy a bite. It tends to get sour and develop molds and turn bad for you to not afford even a sniff of it. 

Temperature deems to be the main reason for pizza turning bad. The hotter the temperature, the faster any food item gets spoiled. 

This holds good for pizza as well. When pizza stays for a longer time, it might start inviting bacteria, and it breeds on the surface, spoiling the pizza. 

Eating this pizza is prone to spoil your health and give you a food poisoning effect making you liable for multiple trips to the hospital. 

How Long Does Pizza Last?

You always want to prolong the shelf life of pizza by all means. It is possible to keep the pizza for some time longer, but storing it right makes it eligible for consumption like any other food item. 

It can be kept at room temperature for 2 hours in a stretch without any issue. However, refrigerating it is the right choice if you want to prolong its stay for some more time. 

It can stay in the fridge for 4 days. Keeping the pizza overnight is a risk to be taken at your own will, but chances are that you are eating a spoiled pizza. 

Freezing pizza is another choice in the matter. In fact, frozen pizza is a delicacy of its own type. It is enjoyed and relished by many.

It can be frozen for 4 months. Again, checking its condition before binging on it serves the purpose. All the above-mentioned timelines have their own set of challenges. 

So storing it right and packing it well could be the right approach in all ways possible.

How Do You Know The Pizza Has Gone Bad?

There are many eventual signs to indicate that pizza has gone bad. It is not very challenging to spot its spoilage. Many inevitable signs would be through its smell, look, and texture.

1. Appearance

There would be molds on the surface to indicate it has gone bad. Any kind of discoloration cannot be even given the benefit of the doubt.

2. Smell

Bad smell is the enemy of any food. A rancid smell is a warning sign to just toss off the food immediately. Pizza is in no way an exception to this rule.

3. Hard Crust

We always discard the crust even when the pizza is good enough to be eaten. However, a thick or hard crust proves the point that the pizza has become stale beyond consumption. So checking the other part would deem important.

4. Taste

Everything looks perfect on a pizza, and it might also have a shiny appearance similar to when it was bought. However, a single bite of the pizza would reveal that it is not worth having it.

The taste would be awful, which would clearly indicate that you should keep away from it by all means possible.

5. Slimy Toppings

Sometimes toppings are the fast indicator of a pizza gone bad. Slimy toppings and runny texture claim the pizza has already gone bad.

6. Freezer Burns

Sometimes keeping food in the freezer has its own set of risks. The moisture must have dried out, and the air must have been invaded. This will create burns in the pizza, leaving a way for all the pathogens to breed freely. 

Storage Of Pizza

We have already seen the shelf life of pizza and how safe it is to be tossed in the fridge. But will that do?

It can be preserved in the fridge or freezer, but shoving it without any packaging is as bad as keeping it open in the sun. It has to be stored properly so that all its contents are safe without any risk of inevitable spoilage.

1. Wrapping Up

Just as any food needs to be preserved, keeping the pizza tightly wrapped up without any vents or air leaks could be the right approach to prolong its shelf life.

Cover the pizza from all corners, and don’t let it peek at its surface even to the slightest extent possible. This will avoid any air intrusion and keep it away from microbial attacks.

2. Wrap It In Paper Towels

We all invariably latch on to refrigeration as soon as we decide to store the pizza. However, just shoving it without any precaution has no benefit whatsoever.

Hence try using paper towels or parchment paper to cover the pizza and wrap it before keeping the pizza in the fridge. Also, make sure you have cooled it to room temperature before keeping it in the fridge.

3. Stack The Pizzas

No matter how many pizzas you have at home, all of them can be stored in a stacked way. Line up the pizza one by one on top with a paper towel in the layer.

This will pile up all the pizza as a stack and keep it in a long enough container that packs all of them properly.

4. Close The Container

The above method would just work fine, provided you keep a lid on the container. The pizzas can be stacked on a plate and can be lined up one above the other. However, the container should be airtight and have a close-bound lid to avoid any external air. 

You can also keep it in a plastic bag or a freezer bag which is tightly wrapped and sealed.

5. Keeping It In The Freezer

The freezing option is a better choice, but how you freeze, matters the most. You can place the pizza in a freezer bag or a closed container, evading the possibility of a moisture attack.

Can You Freeze The Pizza?

Yes, of course, you can freeze the pizza. We all have heard of pro-frozen pizza and its delightful taste. However, how long you can keep it in the freezer is a question that needs to be addressed. 

Freezing a pizza for 2 months is a safe bet. Anything more than that timeline could be riskier, given the ingredients it contains.

Storing pizza for 2 months may not hamper its taste or texture, but the goodness of the pizza is at stake. 

You may have all the reasons to worry if you have stored beyond 60 days in the freezer. It is better to have it in one go than to brood over losing its freshness when you want to eat it. 

What Happens When You Eat An Expired Pizza?

This is a situation that is not very different from consuming any spoiled food. Right from food poisoning to symptoms like diarrhea, headache, and stomach upset could all be the consequences without a doubt. 

It is better to empty the pizza before you harbor any doubts about its overstay. As soon as it has gone past its allowable timeline, there comes the inevitable risk of consuming something harmful to your body. 

It is better to toss off the bad pizza than to rule over the illness you caught by eating the spoilt pizza.

Conclusion

Pizza is, of course, the favorite food of many and one of the conventional millennial food choices. However, some intrinsic protocols exist for storing it and eating it beyond a certain timeline. 

This article clearly explains how you store the pizza and how long you store it to avoid any risk of food poisoning. 

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