Leftover

Beginning with The Sims 2: Seasons, a Sim can store leftovers by putting them into the refrigerator. The feature is also in The Sims 3 and The Sims 4.

The Sims 2
In The Sims 2, leftovers in the refrigerator or in a Sim's personal inventory can be stored forever. Sims will not autonomously grab leftovers if they are hungry; as such, the player must manually direct Sims to obtain leftovers, or take it out of their inventories. If leftovers are stored in a refrigerator, they are associated with the lot, not that specific fridge, or even that specific household. They will not be lost if the fridge is sold and replaced. If the household is moved to a new lot, they will not go with it, even if one member takes the fridge in inventory. Instead, they will remain with the lot and will be available if a new household moves in.

Since The Sims 2: Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff is based on The Sims 2: Pets, the new refrigerators included with it do not have the ability to store leftovers. Fixes are available at ModTheSims:


 * Fix for players who do not have Apartment Life or Mansions & Gardens
 * Fix for players who have either Apartment Life or Mansions & Gardens

The Sims 3
In The Sims 3, leftovers will go bad over time in the refrigerator, which will then need to be cleaned out. Additionally, eating leftovers from a cheap refrigerator might give a negative moodlet. Stored leftovers can be taken as single plates straight while the group meal remains inside. Reaching level 10 in the Culinary Career rewards the Sim with a Master Chef Fridge that keeps food indefinitely.

Sims may autonomously grab leftovers from the refrigerator, and will usually eat leftovers before preparing new meals. They may also autonomously put plates of food into the refrigerator to be kept as leftovers.

Meals produced by a food synthesizer do not spoil, even if the meal is not stored in a refrigerator.

The Sims 4
In The Sims 4, leftovers in refrigerators will spoil if not completely consumed after a few days and can be cleaned by Sims after all of the servings have been eaten, though they won't do this autonomously. The "Get Leftovers" interaction will make Sims take any random leftover that is inside the fridge.

Completing the "Master Chef" food aspiration awards the sim the "Fresh Chef" trait, any leftovers cooked by this sim will never spoil regardless if it's inside a fridge or not.