How long soup actually keeps, and how to store it

The reason a household can eat well all week from one cooking session is that Nigerian soups keep extremely well. The reason many households do not is that the soup lives in one big pot that gets reheated in full every evening. Every reheat costs you flavour and shortens its life.

Portion before you store, not after

Divide the soup into the portions you will actually eat, on the day it arrives, while it is still cold from delivery. Two portions per container is usually right for a family of four with rice or swallow. You then only ever reheat what you are eating.

Chilled or frozen

• Chilled, at or below 4°C: three to four days for soups with meat or fish.
• Frozen: up to three months with little loss. Egusi, ogbono and efo riro all freeze well.
• Left on the counter: no. Not in Lagos heat, not even for an afternoon.

Reheating

Bring it to a proper boil, not just warm. Stir so the middle heats too, and only reheat a portion once. Ogbono thickens as it sits, so a splash of water or stock brings the texture back.

The bit people skip

Cool it fast before it goes in the fridge. A large hot pot put straight in warms everything around it and sits in the danger zone for hours. Shallow containers cool much faster than a deep pot.

Our bulk soups arrive chilled in sealed containers with reheating instructions, already portioned for the size you ordered.

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