with an ice brick and eaten 3.5 hrs. later. Thanks. You seem to have the right equipement on hand for your son's lunch.  The insulated bag and the ice brick should do the trick to keep his lunch cold for that period of time.  A frozen juice container could be used as well.  It is always what I would recommend parents to do. I purchased hot beef patties on Monday, put them in the refrigerator about two hours after, kept them in the refrigerator for five, should I throw them out? If you are saying that you put them in the refrigerator after two hours of purchase and kept them for 5 hours, they should be fine.  But if you are talking about 5 days in the refrigerator, then, they should be thrown out. I made meat balls last night for lunch today. By mistake i left them on the stove (which I turned off) over night. The meat balls were cover all night and in a sauce. Can I still reheat and eat the meatballs. Absolutely not.  It would be dangerous to consume those meat balls.  They have spent more than two hours at room temperature and this is enough time for harmful bacteria to growth and make you sick.  Even if they were covered, spores present and resisting to heat will start to germinate and growth.  And reheating them will not get rid of any toxins that could be present.  Discard them. I have often cooked a whole