kristin's wisdom of the day

Here's a question I've been pondering since 15 minutes ago when I was deciding what to eat for supper, something my decades of education have not yet prepared me for:

How long do hot dogs last in your refrigerator once they've been opened?

It seems like a hot dog should be one of those things that doesn't go bad cuz it's pre-cooked and full of salt, preservatives, and other unnatural ingredients. Like, bacon lasts forever, right? So, I was planning on a meal of a semi-suspicious-looking, high-quality, Hebrew National All-Beef hot dog wrapped in a tortilla (I don't have any bread). But, I was told not to eat it, even though I had already cooked it and covered it in mustard, and it smelled really tasty, as it has been many weeks since I bought and opened the package. Alas, I ended up eating a plain tortilla for supper. Woe is me.

So, how long does a hot dog last once the package has been opened? May the world never know? I think that some scientific experiments should be performed to answer this question, but, until I have more proof, I will use the wisdom offered here: one week is safe, and the tasty tasty benefits of trying three weeks probably do not outweigh the unpleasantness of potential food poisoning.