What is the proper way store a dish that was just cooked for next day use?

Would not say room temp. Not sure how big the dish is but you don’t want to heat the inside of the fridge up. I usually break up in smaller dishes to keep a bit cooler sooner or put in a larger container with ice to cool down.

Let it cool for a half hour or so first.

Then fridge.

it was out for about 10-15 minutes covered with foil. I put it in the fridge and bumped up the temp from 5-6, 7 being the coldest. I'll put it back down to 6 before I go to bed.

uh. let it cool down and the put it in the fridge. you never did this before?

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I put it in the fridge and bumped up the temp from 5-6, 7 being the coldest.

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I hope you know that does nothing to make your fridge cool faster. It's a thermostat, not a throttle. Your fridge is either cooling or it's paused until the temp goes above the set temperature level.

What would help is if you set your thermostat lower in advance to get the temp lower before you put the food in.

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it was out for about 10-15 minutes covered with foil. I put it in the fridge and bumped up the temp from 5-6, 7 being the coldest. I'll put it back down to 6 before I go to bed

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I don't think the food went bad, but that's not long enough to cool something hot. I wouldn't have covered it in foil until it had cooled down. Covering and putting it in the fridge before cooled may result in a good bit of condensation on your food.