How can you tell if your food is bad?

Just eat it. If you are praying to the porceline god all night, it was bad. 

Well, even if it tastes good, doesn't mean it is.

Given that it not a dairy product and that it hasn't been taken out for a week, I think it's alright.

keep it contained, try a bite, and throw away if it taste like trash

You've just got to use your own judgement, but I do think a week- or- so is too long to keep!

General food-safety rules say that it you have not eaten it within 4 days, throw it out.

But it depends on the individual. The more we expose our body to bacteria, the better our stomach tolerates it .. as LONG as it is NOT something that is seriously-harmful.

For instance, my ex lived in the Yukon in a cabin for 15 years, without electricity.  So he often ate food that was past the eat-date.  His body got used to it.

When WE got together, he would cook and handle food in ways that MY stomach would reject (even when I didn't know how he had handled it) . but HE never got sick off it.  My daughter, who was riasedd with better kitchen hygiene than I had grown up with, would vomit .. I would just fele nauseated. And my spouse wouldn't be bothered at all.

So we can gtrain our body to handle foods better .. but it's not always easy or pleasant.

And if you are feeding others too, never assume they can handle what you might be able to handle.

Four days tops, say the food-safety experts.

If it has sat out on the counter for 2 hours, after cooking, either eat it right away or throw it out.  Don't save leftovers.

And if you are serving it to children, seniors, or those with compromised immune systems, make that "2 hours" ONLY ONE hour before eating or throwing it out.

To be on the safe side.