How long can cooked turkey be safely kept in a refrigerator, before freezing?

Max four days at 36* F or colder.

Who knows. The liberal media wants everyone to believe 3 to 4 days is the limit.

I would say 3–4 days too. I’ve never frozen cooked turkey on its own. i always make the leftovers into something like a casserole or turkey pot pie and then freeze that.

Oh, dear, I guess I’m going to have to throw out about 2 lb. of cooked turkey breast. Things have been out of whack, and I haven’t kept up with some ordinary stuff. We were going to try a recipe called “turkey shepherd’s pie.” It made me laugh because I never knew there were turkey shepherds. Anyway, we would have had to make some more mashed potatoes, and it seems a little funny to make fresh leftovers.

I once said Kraft or Stouffer’s had missed a bet by not packaging and selling little random packets of food labeled “Leftovers.”

Or, I guess, maybe they do, but for the label.

@Jeruba I think you could stretch it to 5 or 6 days if necessary. Just take a little bite of the turkey and taste. And you could make the turkey shepherd’s (if they agree) pie and freeze it.

I have gone as long as a week just fine, if I have deconstructed it and put what I want to freeze into containers.

I have to go off topic and say that I love the sidebar related question, “Car trip with turkey?”

I would say 5 days the longest, but I personally wouldn’t wait that long, probably 3 for me. I sometimes freeze sliced ham day 4 or 5, but the ham has never been out on a table for hours and hours before putting away in the refrigerator, and probably your turkey was out for a long time before you finally put it in the fridge. If you are going to freeze it, freeze it right away. Why wait to freeze it?

I guess it depends on how you handle the day. My turkey is never left out for “hours and hours” anywhere, but I’ve never had more than ten people at the table. I carve after it has rested for about 15 minutes, and the carcass and the not-eaten carved stuff is usually in the fridge after an hour at most.

The sniff and taste test should help.

Freeze leftovers within 3–4 days. Do not refreeze any foods left outside the refrigerator longer than 2 hours; 1 hour in temperatures above 90 °F. From USDA