Avoiding a sick day
Food hygiene is usually something we pick up from our parents, and when we move out on our own the implementation can be hit or miss. Every person I know from college had some sort of food poisoning story when they forgot to heat up rice properly or didn’t check the inner temperature of their chicken before serving it to all their roommates.
Paying attention to the temperature of food is important, and most of us have been told that after cooking we should leave leftover food out to cool before we portion it up for the fridge. The USDA disagrees and points out that leaving food out means it ends up too warm and can encourage bacteria. Better to portion it up first to cool off faster and then put it in the fridge.