COD · IN THE FRIDGE
1–3 days
One to three days in the refrigerator, the same as any fresh fin fish. The freezer is where lean fish pull ahead: USDA gives cod, flounder, haddock, halibut and sole six to eight months, against two to three months for oily fish like salmon.
No fat means nothing to go rancid, which is the whole explanation.
These are quality windows drawn from published USDA food-safety guidance — an estimate of how long food stays good, not a safety date. If the package carries a printed use-by date, that date governs.
ALSO SOLD AS flounder · haddock · halibut · sole · lean fish · white fish · pollock
By storage method
- In the refrigerator
- 1–3 days
- In the freezer
- 6–8 months
Near the end of the window?
Freeze it, and unlike most end-of-window advice this one costs you very little — lean white fish is one of the better performers in a home freezer. Pollock, ocean perch, rockfish and sea trout sit slightly lower at four to eight months.
Cook it today if you can. A day-one fillet and a day-three fillet are not the same dinner.
SOURCES
- FoodSafety.gov Cold Food Storage Chart, Fin Fish: "Lean Fish (cod, flounder, haddock, halibut, sole, etc.) — 6 to 8 months frozen," sharing the 1 to 3 day refrigerator window listed for fin fish. Pollock, ocean perch, rockfish and sea trout are listed at 4 to 8 months frozen.
- USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, Cold Food Storage Charts (fsis.usda.gov).
Ranges are as published. Treat the short end as your real window — grocery produce is already days past harvest, and a cooked dish starts its clock at the stove.
Looking up your groceries one at a time is a hobby. A bad one.
Savery scans your grocery receipt and tracks these windows for everything you bought at once. The spinach, the strawberries, the milk you forgot about — all on one shelf.