Food Storage Friday: Storing Perishables
One thing that doesn’t get talked about a lot of how to store perishables so you get the most out of them. This can be tricky as there are so many different things that go bad at different times. I have a few generic suggestions that can be applied to most things.
Produce: All but banana’s should be stored in the fridge. If you want to take out the produce that isn’t quite ripe the night before you use it, it should be ready use the next day. You can also freeze most produce. I suggest that if you do this you cut it before you freeze it however you will use it when you cook with it.
Dairy: Most dairy will freeze. the only exception I know of is sour cream. Everything else freezes. So if you have a deep freeze this is great for this, if not, it still works, but on a smaller scale. With milk you have to shake it up after it is thawed. Make sure you shake it really well, especially the lower milk fat percentages. If you don’t it comes out like whitish water with little white clumpy things floating in it. Seriously gross, and yes I know this from experience.
Cheese will get crumbly when you thaw it out, so if you are planing on using it for something other then shredding, you will want to be careful with it and it cuts better when it i warmer, so leave it out for a bit before you cut it.
Breads: Most breads also freeze. Even tortillas freeze so when you find a great deal on these stock up on them and freeze them. If you bake at home it is a great idea to do a baking day and make tons of bread items and freeze them. you can do this before or after cooking them. This is great way to save money and be prepared for an emergency.
that is all the perishables I could think of. now I want to be sure you know that I don’t have a deep freeze. I only have my kitchen freezer. but I still do all of this, I just do it on a smaller scale so I wouldn’t be able to last as long in an emergency.
What perishables did I miss??? Do you have any tips to share???
Banans freeze too! I just peel them first and them put them in a ziplock bag. You can pull them out one at a time to use in a smoothie when they are icy–or them them thaw and use them for banana bread.
when freezing things like strawberries I first freeze them on a cookie sheet, spread out, then when they have been in the freezer a couple of hours, I move them to a ziplock bag. Then you can take out just a couple for a smoothie. Do the same for blanced veges like broccoli, so you don’t have a blob of icy veges.
I store my bananas in the fridge. The peals turn brow/black almost immediately but the actual banana stays fresh much longer. They are not pretty, but they still taste great and last much longer than storing on the counter. I also freeze pealed bananas.
What about eggs?