some rough observations regarding food, drink, etc offerings left for long periods of time, and how to recognize when its time to either clean or refresh. STAGES OF BREAKDOWN *stage 1* fresh offerings. food will have its moisture and texture and everything. drinks with powders and spices mixed in will maintain the fact these parts were mixed together. this is moment one you give something *stage 2* food is now starting to dry out, or has dried out. drinks with powders or spices will begin to separate and have ingredients either float to the bottom or top. the food ingredients most volatile to breakdown and rot in open air by this point, are often already moldy. anything with volatile ingredients at this point is best cleaned up **immediately** *stage 3* food is bone dry and growing mold. drinks are separating by ingredients fully and having mold clusters float to the surface. drinks also begin condensing at this point into super-gross thick slurry. *stage 4* rot and mold. TYPES OF FOOD/OFFERING AND HOW FAST THEY GO BAD IN OPEN AIR (ranked by "shelf life") dairy and milk: goes bad almost immediately. be prepared to swap it out fast alcohol: almost never goes bad by itself, but side ingredients and low alcohol levels go quicker. hard stuff like vodka can be left open on a shelf forever and (almost) never go bad. the higher the alcohol content the longer it lasts meat: goes hard and dry like a piece of wood bread: goes rock hard and stale sugars IE sugar, fruit, honey: for some reason, certain mold types love the energy in these foods smokables/drugs: unless soaked wet and left there forgotten, mostly stable forever. obviously organic VS inorganic will change this in specific instances