How to Keep Food Fresh and Save Money
Grandma knew how to save money by properly storing food items. That's why your grandma kept her fresh-baked bread loaves in a breadbox on the kitchen counter and not in her icebox. She knew that bread goes stale very fast when it is keep in an 'icebox' (yesteryear's refrigerator) rather than at room temperature. She equated throwing out food as throwing out money. By knowing how to maintain the flavor and freshness of many food items you won't have to toss out so many spoiled items and keep your food bill down. Today we have the advantage of having refrigerator freezers that are self defrosting so there are no excuses for waste. The following advice will help you get the most out of your weekly grocery shopping. Try them and see.
Produce
Once your bananas have ripened you can store them in the refrigerator to slow further ripening. The peel will darken, but the bananas will be good for up to five days.
Always wash and thoroughly dry greens before placing them in a Ziploc plastic bag and store them in the refrigerator's crisper drawer. The crisper drawer is the right humidity and temperature for extending the useful life of greens. Never place greens near fruit. Many fruits, such as apples and pears, emit gasses that can spoil vegetables. When properly stored, most lettuce will last a week; tender greens like spinach or arugula will keep for three days or more.
Keep fresh mushrooms in their package. After you open them, store your button, shiitake, portabellas, and other mushrooms in a brown-paper lunch bag. The same goes for fresh green beans. Fresh green beans will 'sweat' in plastic bags and rot, turning slimy and gross. Put them in the brown-paper lunch bag as soon as you get them home. Plan on using them within three to four days of purchase.
Never ever put fresh tomatoes in the refrigerator. Keep them on the counter top at room temperature and out of direct sunlight, with the stem side up to prevent bruising. Placing tomatoes in refrigerator keeps tomatoes from ripening, kills their flavor, and makes them mealy. Same goes for garlic Store unpeeled heads of garlic in an open container in a cool, dry place away from other foods. Do not refrigerate or freeze unpeeled garlic. Properly stored garlic can keep up to three months.
Dairy
Store opened sticks of butter in a covered dish in the refrigerator's butter compartment. You can keep unsalted butter wrapped in foil or plastic in the freezer for about five months; salted butter, six to nine months.
Some cheeses wrapped in plastic wrap will develop an off flavor, so remove it. Wrap the cheese in wax paper, and then tightly wrap it in plastic. Store the cheese in the refrigerator's meat-and-cheese drawer. Soft cheeses, like Brie, will last a week in the refrigerator. You can keep unopened hard cheese, such as Cheddar or Swiss, in the refrigerator for six months; if it's opened, the cheese will last for up to four weeks.
Keep eggs in their carton on a shelf in the main cavity of the refrigerator, not on a shelf on the refrigerator door.
Meat, poultry, and fish
Place raw meat, poultry, or fish in a covered dish to keep the juices from dripping onto other foods, and store it in the back of the refrigerator. Ground meats last one to two days; chops, roasts, and steaks should keep for three to five days. When you get home from the supermarket, remove the store packaging and rewrap the beef with plastic wrap; you can then keep it for up to two weeks in the freezer. For longer storage, repackage meat in heavy-duty aluminum foil, freezer paper, or a plastic freezer bag, always eliminating as much air as possible when sealing it.
Poultry lasts one to two days in the refrigerator. When you get home from the supermarket, remove the store packaging and rewrap the poultry with plastic wrap; you can freeze it for up to two months. If you're freezing it for more than two months, wrap foil, plastic, or freezer paper over the original plastic packaging or place it in a freezer bag. You can keep whole poultry for a year; poultry pieces, nine months.
Refrigerate fresh fish and shellfish for a day to two. For freezer storage, place the items in a tightly wrapped plastic package and cover it with foil or place in a Ziploc bag. You can store fish in the freezer for three to eight months; shellfish, three to 12 months.
Bread and bagels
You can freeze fresh bread and bagels-- sealed in an airtight bag--for up to three months.
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