I left the steam stop rolling over everything before it goes in the fridge, no matter the size. Then I put the lid on askew so the steam doesn't collect so fast in the fridge. I will seal it completely after a few hours of cooling in the fridge.

I've always been told to let things cool a bit before putting them away for food safety reasons. Like you said, hot foods will warm the items around them in the fridge and if they're big enough bring the temperature of the fridge up.

I've always stuck to this and I've never suffered from food poisoning (never poisoned anyone else either.) :)

I make the oatmeal clafoutis (recipe from Chocolate & Zucchini almost every week, and since it takes an hour to cook, and since I'm a busy gal, quite often I'm taking my week's breakfast out of the oven at 11:30pm. After a pathetic nod to cooling... (sometimes like 5 mins... what can I say... I'm busy, and sleepy) I totally put it right into the fridge with a pot holder under it. And *I've* never gotten sick or made any of my roommates who share the fridge with me sick!

My book on cooking techniques and science says to not hesitate in putting food in the fridge, but, as is noted above, if you're dealing with a large pot of something, you need first to cool it quickly in a water bath--because not only will the heat retained in the vessel reduce the overall fridge temp, but the interior temperature of the food in your large vessel will otherwise not come below 40 degrees Farenheit for longer than the 4 hours it takes bacterior to have a party in there, leaving their toxins all over everything.

As someone who has had food poisoning too many times, I always follow this method and am never poisoned by my own food! However, my mother-in-law, whose food is absolutely delicious, cooks things in large quantities and keeps moving them from stove to fridge and back again as leftovers are needed. While the bacteria are killed, their toxins are left behind, and I've had pretty bad responses to her leftovers a couple times.

P.S. She may think that her leftovers haven't harmed anyone, but I haven't told her about the sicknesses I've had after eating them a couple times. I know I should, but she has never had work outside the home, which is to say that her self esteem is hugely dependent on her excellent cooking. I haven't yet been able to bring myself to say something that I know she will perceive as an incredible insult.

Actually, since we just went over this in one of my nursing classes for home health. Federal guidelines no recommend that hot food not be left out to be cooled, but immediately put away in the fridge to prevent bacterial growth.

I will try to find an appropriate link, but the way I look at these things for my personal use is this formula:
Personal tolerance for risk + negative/postitive experences - experts' recommendations = outcome.

Therefore, hot food left on the counter for 30 minutes or so while I enjoy dinner eh, not so much of risk for me, despite what "experts" now say(and they will change their minds in six months anyway) Stuffing cooked inside a turkey cavity..yeah no so much.

of course, being right does not always mean being happy, and arguing about food on the counter I have a real simple solution. When you cook, you do what you want, when he does, he gets to do what he wants. Problem solved.

I do it somewhere in between hot off the stove, but not as cool as room temp. Maybe taking stuff off the heat and packing it into separate containers to cool faster, and then letting those cool while I clean up a bit, and then putting them away.

When dealing with food storage you should always be reminded of Kenny Loggins. More specifically, Top Gun. Even more specifically, The Danger Zone. When preparing food it can take a ride into the danger zone. The danger zone is between 40F and 140F. You need to bring that hot food below 40F as quickly as possible--in under 4 hours maximum. As long as you think putting something in the fridge hot will accomplish that goal, you're alright. But as the other commentators have mentioned, there are variables to consider like what is the quanitity of food? Obviously, the larger the quantity, the longer it will take to get down below 40. Put the pot into an ice slurry to knock the temp down halfway, then you might be alright putting it into the fridge. What type of vessel is your food in? The shallower, the better as more food surface will be exposed to the cold air of the fridge. But, if that food is steaming hot, that steam is going to heat up your fridge and possible the other foods surrounding it. Most of the time, people put small containers of food in the fridge. If it's so small as to not affect the ambient temp of the fridge, set it in the fridge with the lid ajar or to the side. When the product is cold, put the lid on. Easy peasy.

All my food storage containers are shallow and wide, to maximize surface area for cooling. (They stack, so they don't take up much room overall.) After dishing out the right portion for dinner, the rest are immediately taken out from the hot pot and spread out in the containers to cool while having dinner / cleaning up, then put it in the fridge. Don't sweat it if it's still a little warm, who cares?

"it can bring the temperature of the fridge up to dangerously warm levels"

Where is this coming from? Do you have any stats to back it up? I've put relatively large, warm things in the fridge many times and the rest of the fridge has remained pretty frosty. When the temperature warms up, the compressor kicks in and cools it down.

Depending on what kind of container you use to store your leftovers in makes a difference. If you're using plastic containers (gladware, etc) and you put hot food into the container you risk BPA leaking into the food.

Check out this link for more info about BPA http://www.hhs.gov/safety/bpa/
it's more about preventing risk for children but it's still important information to know.

I just put leftovers in a stainless-steel bowl and put that in the sink with cold water and let them chill for about 15 minutes, then put them in the refrigerator.

Problem solved.

I recently found a website called www.stilltasty.com where they address THOUSANDS of food safety issues including this one, but also use-by dates for specific ingredients. Whenever I have pause, I just pull up the site and check it out - it hasn't let me down yet!

Oh my lord, first the person who was worried about second hand smoke exposure from living about a smoker over on the Home Design page and now someone who worries about putting warm food in the fridge.

Seriously people, there are more important things to worry about!

I just took a food safety course this year. You should be putting the hot food directly in the fridge. Do not leave it out to cool. Why? Because if you let it sit on the counter to cool it will remain in the dangerous temperature zone for bacterial growth for a longer period of time. You want to bring its core temperature below 4 degrees celcius at a faster rate to prevent further growth of bacteria.

I agree with most people. Cool food as fast as possible. If it's a small amount of food, put it in the fridge. If it's a lot of food, cool it on ice or cold water first, then refrigerate or else you'll warm the fridge too much.

For freezing, on the other hand, you want the food to be as cold as possible before putting it in the freezer. Otherwise it makes big ice crystals all through your food, ruining them. So refrigerate before freezing, never put hot/warm food in the freezer.

It's actually really important to get food into the fridge as quickly as you can. This is something we practice in the commercial kitchen. Most modern fridges can handle a fair amount of warm food.
It's OK to let something cool down from boiling first (it won't reach a dangerous temperature for a pretty good amount of time). But below 140, get it into the fridge fast.

I was under the impression that the "let the food cool before putting in the fridge" was left over from ice-box days when it was more likely to alter the fridge's effectiveness.

If you're not sure how putting hot food into your fridge affects temperature invest in a thermometer. I've got a small apt sized fridge and it doesn't take well to hot food. My leftovers get a cooling waterbath first.