KeepsUntilSearch My fridgeMeat · USDA FoodKeeper

How long does Ham last in the fridge?

20 kinds · each with its own window

Ham, fully cooked, slices, half, or spiral… · From purchase · in the fridge

Use by3 days to 4 days

Counted from the day you bought it

Safety limit · past it, throw it out

How this date is worked out

From KeepsUntilIt is past the dateWhat to do when the window has run out, and when tasting is not a test Where these numbers come fromThe USDA source, the parse rules and what this site cannot tell you Every food on the siteOne page, every product, longest first

Turning the range into a date

Ham (fully cooked, slices, half, or spiral cut) keeps 3–4 days in the fridge from purchase. Each kind gets its own dated rows here, 41 rows across the 20 the USDA lists under this name, because a date is only worth printing against the window it belongs to.

Ham, canned (“keep refrigerated” label)

From purchase · in the fridgeUse by6 months to 9 months after the day you bought it

Ham, fully cooked, bone-in, whole

In the freezerUse by1 month to 2 months after the day you bought it
From purchase · in the fridgeUse by1 week after the day you bought it

Ham, fully cooked, bone-in, half

In the freezerUse by1 month to 2 months after the day you bought it
From purchase · in the fridgeUse by1 week after the day you bought it

Ham, fully cooked, slices, half, or spiral cut

In the freezerUse by1 month to 2 months after the day you bought it
From purchase · in the fridgeUse by3 days to 4 days after the day you bought it

Ham, fully cooked, arm picnic shoulder, boneless

In the freezerUse by1 month to 2 months after the day you bought it
From purchase · in the fridgeUse by1 week after the day you bought it

Ham, fully cooked, canned, boneless (refrigerated)

In the freezerUse by1 month to 2 months after the day you bought it
From purchase · in the fridgeUse by6 months to 9 months after the day you bought it
Once opened · in the fridgeUse by3 days to 5 days after the day you opened it

Ham, fully cooked, vacuum packed, boneless

In the freezerUse by1 month to 2 months after the day you bought it
From purchase · in the fridgeUse by2 weeks after the day you bought it

Ham, fresh, cook-before-eating, bone-in, whole

In the freezerUse by1 month to 2 months after the day you bought it
From purchase · in the fridgeUse by1 week after the day you bought it

Ham, fresh, cook-before-eating, bone-in, half

In the freezerUse by1 month to 2 months after the day you bought it
From purchase · in the fridgeUse by1 week after the day you bought it

Ham, fresh, cook-before-eating, shank or butt portion, bone-in

In the freezerUse by1 month to 2 months after the day you bought it
From purchase · in the fridgeUse by1 week after the day you bought it

Ham, fresh, cook-before-eating, arm picnic shoulder, boneless

In the freezerUse by1 month to 2 months after the day you bought it
From purchase · in the fridgeUse by1 week after the day you bought it

Ham, fresh, cook-before-eating, shoulder roll (butt), boneless

In the freezerUse by1 month to 2 months after the day you bought it
From purchase · in the fridgeUse by1 week after the day you bought it

Ham, fresh, uncooked, whole leg, bone-in

In the freezerUse by1 month to 2 months after the day you bought it
From purchase · in the fridgeUse by1 week after the day you bought it

Ham, fresh, uncooked, whole leg, boneless

In the freezerUse by1 month to 2 months after the day you bought it
From purchase · in the fridgeUse by1 week after the day you bought it

Ham, fresh, uncooked, half leg, bone-in

In the freezerUse by1 month to 2 months after the day you bought it
From purchase · in the fridgeUse by1 week after the day you bought it

Ham, country ham (whole or half)

In the freezerUse by1 month to 2 months after the day you bought it
From purchase · in the fridgeUse by1 week after the day you bought it

Ham, shelf-stable cans

From purchase · in the pantryUse by6 months to 9 months after the day you bought it
Once opened · in the fridgeUse by5 days to 14 days after the day you opened it

Ham, pre-packaged, luncheon/deli meat

In the freezerUse by1 month to 2 months after the day you bought it
Unopened · in the fridgeUse by2 weeks after the day you bought it
Once opened · in the fridgeUse by3 days to 5 days after the day you opened it

Ham, uncured, fresh, cooked

In the freezerUse by3 months to 4 months after the day you stored it
In the fridgeUse by3 days to 4 days after the day you stored it

Ham, uncured, fresh, uncooked

In the freezerUse by6 months after the day you stored it
In the fridgeUse by3 days to 5 days after the day you stored it

Ham, fully cooked, slices, half, or spiral… · In the freezer

1 month to 2 months

Counted from the day you bought it

15×

Ham, fully cooked, slices, half, or spiral… · What the freezer buys you over the refrigerator60 days frozen ÷ 4 days in the fridge from purchase

The USDA rates 20 kinds of this separately

The USDA files 20 separate entries under this name — canned (“keep refrigerated” label), fully cooked, bone-in, whole, fully cooked, bone-in, half and fully cooked, arm picnic shoulder, boneless, and 16 more listed below — and they do not keep for the same time: at its best the shortest-keeping of them holds 3 days to 4 days outside the freezer, the longest 6 months to 9 months.

Freezing changes the unit, not just the number

Here the freezer does not so much extend the answer as replace it. 4 days in the refrigerator becomes 2 months in the freezer: 15 times longer, and days turning into months. On the same shelf it sits 10 of 19, between Retort pouches or boxes at 4 days and Bratwurst at 3 days. Canned, keep refrigerated and label are the same food in the source list.

Every storage figure the USDA publishes for this item

All three places the USDA recognizes are rated here — pantry, refrigerator and freezer — which only 65 of the 466 foods in the data manage. The source also indexes it as canned, keep refrigerated, label and refrigerated.

Ham, canned (“keep refrigerated” label)

In the freezernot recommended
From purchase · in the fridge6 months to 9 months

Ham, fully cooked, bone-in, whole

In the freezer1 month to 2 months
From purchase · in the fridge1 week

Ham, fully cooked, bone-in, half

In the freezer1 month to 2 months
From purchase · in the fridge1 week

Ham, fully cooked, slices, half, or spiral cut

In the freezer1 month to 2 months
From purchase · in the fridge3 days to 4 days

Ham, fully cooked, arm picnic shoulder, boneless

In the freezer1 month to 2 months
From purchase · in the fridge1 week

Ham, fully cooked, canned, boneless (refrigerated)

In the freezer1 month to 2 months
From purchase · in the fridge6 months to 9 months
Once opened · in the fridge3 days to 5 days

Ham, fully cooked, vacuum packed, boneless

In the freezer1 month to 2 months
From purchase · in the fridge2 weeks

Ham, fresh, cook-before-eating, bone-in, whole

In the freezer1 month to 2 months
From purchase · in the fridge1 week

Ham, fresh, cook-before-eating, bone-in, half

In the freezer1 month to 2 months
From purchase · in the fridge1 week

Ham, fresh, cook-before-eating, shank or butt portion, bone-in

In the freezer1 month to 2 months
From purchase · in the fridge1 week

Ham, fresh, cook-before-eating, arm picnic shoulder, boneless

In the freezer1 month to 2 months
From purchase · in the fridge1 week

Ham, fresh, cook-before-eating, shoulder roll (butt), boneless

In the freezer1 month to 2 months
From purchase · in the fridge1 week

Ham, fresh, uncooked, whole leg, bone-in

In the freezer1 month to 2 months
From purchase · in the fridge1 week

Ham, fresh, uncooked, whole leg, boneless

In the freezer1 month to 2 months
From purchase · in the fridge1 week

Ham, fresh, uncooked, half leg, bone-in

In the freezer1 month to 2 months
From purchase · in the fridge1 week

Ham, country ham (whole or half)

In the freezer1 month to 2 months
From purchase · in the fridge1 week

Ham, shelf-stable cans

From purchase · in the pantry6 months to 9 months
Once opened · in the fridge5 days to 14 days

Ham, pre-packaged, luncheon/deli meat

In the freezer1 month to 2 months
Unopened · in the fridge2 weeks
Once opened · in the fridge3 days to 5 days

Ham, uncured, fresh, cooked

In the freezer3 months to 4 months
In the fridge3 days to 4 days

Ham, uncured, fresh, uncooked

In the freezer6 months
In the fridge3 days to 5 days

From KeepsUntilWhere these numbers come fromThe USDA source, the parse rules and what this site cannot tell you

What the USDA adds in words

The USDA attaches 1 handling note to this item, reproduced below word for word. It is not a storage time: it qualifies the figure above rather than replacing it. These are the source's own sentences, not ours, and they are the part of the FoodKeeper record that a table of durations cannot carry.

Ham, pre-packaged, luncheon/deli meat, in the freezer. Freezing not recommended.

Can you freeze ham?

Yes. The USDA gives ham (fully cooked, slices, half, or spiral cut) 1–2 months in the freezer from the day you buy it, and held at 0 °F food stays safe beyond that: the figure is about quality. It advises against freezing ham (canned (“keep refrigerated” label)). Cured and sliced meats change texture once frozen, and the salt in them speeds up rancidity, so the freezer is for weeks, not for keeping.

How to tell if ham has gone bad

Go by the date first: ham keeps 3–4 days in the fridge. Look for a slimy film, a sour smell or mold. A deli package past its window goes out even if it looks fine: listeria grows in the cold without changing how meat looks.

Sources: USDA FSIS: the danger zone USDA FSIS: freezing and food safety FDA: are you storing food safely FoodSafety.gov: the FoodKeeper app.

Is it still safe to eat, or just past its best?

The answer at the top of this page reads 3 days to 4 days in the fridge. What decides that is the food and not the shelf the source files it on: it is an animal food, or made with one. Past it, it is not safe to eat: throw it out without tasting, because bacteria build up while food still looks and smells fine.

The figures in the fridge, in the freezer and in the pantry here are a quality window. The same page carries windows of more than one kind, so which sentence applies depends on which row you are reading, not on the food.

It is past the date. Now what?

Say the calculator above puts it past its 3 days to 4 days in the fridge window, or the container sat out on the counter overnight. Throw the container out without tasting it, and count any hours it already spent out of the refrigerator as part of that window rather than on top of it.

The USDA's limit for perishable food standing at room temperature is 2 hours, or 1 hour when the kitchen is above 90 °F, and that clock runs whatever the storage figure says. Freezing stops the clock but does not turn it back: food already past its window is not rescued by putting it in the freezer. The whole rule, including the cases the source does not cover, is set out under what to do when the date has passed.

Items that behave the same way

The 6 items below are the closest match to Ham, fully cooked, slices, half, or spiral cut by storage behavior, running 2 days to 5 days and bracketing its 4 days.

Where these numbers come from

Every storage time on this page is the USDA’s own published figure from the FoodKeeper data, one of the 9 it keeps per food, reproduced unchanged and never an estimate of ours. Where the USDA lists several kinds under one name, each kind keeps its own windows, and the page names the kind its answer is for. The dates and multipliers are ours, computed from those ranges.

Source: USDA FoodKeeper, retrieved 1 September 2026. Found a figure that does not match the source? Tell us on the contact page. How the site is built is on the method page.

Comparisons and the place in the category are computed for Ham, fully cooked, slices, half, or spiral cut, which is the kind the plain name means here, chosen kind by kind rather than by the order the source happens to list them in.

Also searched as: spiral ham, deli ham, holiday ham

USDA index terms: arm picnic, arm picnic shoulder, before-eating, bone, bone-in, boneless, butt, butt portion, can, canned, cans, cook-before-eating, cooked, country ham, deli, fresh, fully cooked, fully cooked uncured ham, half, half leg, keep refrigerated, label, leg, luncheon, luncheon/deli meat, packaged, pre-packaged, refrigerated, roll, shank, shelf, shelf stable, shelf stable cans, shoulder, shoulder roll, slice, slices, spiral cut, stable, uncooked, uncured, uncured ham, uncured ham uncooked, vacuum packed, whole, whole leg

KeepsUntil is an independent reference built on public USDA data. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the U.S. Department of Agriculture or the Food and Drug Administration. Whether a given window is a safety limit or a quality window is stated on the page that prints it.