Today, we’ve rounded up all the expert tips we could find to help you make sure your food lasts longer and save you from having to make unwanted grocery store trips.
How to store food during the social distancing
In these days of social distancing, stretching your grocery haul is more important than ever. Here’s how the pros do it.
Given the many anxiety-inducing precautions shoppers must take during the coronavirus pandemic, you hardly need health experts to urge you to keep food shopping trips to a minimum. Buy wisely, and take steps to make the food you get last longer.
One of the most fundamental ground rules for keeping refrigerated items fresh: “The colder the fridge, the longer things will last,” says Jonathan Deutsch, Ph.D., a professor of food and hospitality management and director of the Drexel Food Lab at Drexel University in Philadelphia. “Refrigerators should be between one and four degrees Celsius for both safety and quality—even a degree can make a difference for products like milk.”
Everyone is home all day, which means there’s likely a lot more opening and shutting of the refrigerator door. This likely means that the food in the front and on the side of the refrigerator door may be well above four degrees, he says. So make sure your fridge is set to cool enough and push things as far back from the door as possible.
1. Choose foods with staying power
“Never before has processed food become more important for health,” says Kantha Shelke, Ph.D., a food scientist and principal of Corvus Blue LLC, a food science and research firm. It’s important to remember that not all processed food is bad—sometimes the processing that’s done is to help make it shelf-stable. Organic milk, for instance, will last much longer than conventional because of the ultra pasteurization it undergoes. Some other long-lasting picks, according to Kanthe: apples, winter squash, eggs (they’re good up to five weeks), citrus, onions, hard cheeses (avoid low-sodium cheese which won’t last as long), tofu, pickles, cream cheese, sour cream, heavy cream, and bacon.
2. Socially isolate your produce
All fruits and vegetables are not created equal, and tossing them all into the same crisper drawer can significantly shorten the lifespan of some food items. Apples, tomatoes, potatoes, melon, and peaches, among others, produce a lot of ethylene gas, a plant hormone that speeds up the ripening process. Asparagus, garlic, onion, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, green beans, peppers, and strawberries are among the produce items most sensitive to the effects of ethylene. Potatoes, tomatoes, onions, and avocados last longer at room temp, Deutsch says.
3. Scalp it
Spoilage can be caused by several factors, including moisture and oxidation (exposure to air), says Kanthe. But with produce, time is usually the killer. “Some enzymes in fruits and vegetables continue to be active and cause deterioration in their quality and safety,” she says. That’s why, for root vegetables like carrots, parsnips, turnips, and beets, removing its leafy tops can extend its life in storage by months.
4. Wait to wash things
Not your hands, definitely wash those as much as possible. But moisture leads to mould, so washing a whole carton of strawberries at once is a ticket to spoiler city. Instead, only wash the amount you’re going to eat in one sitting immediately before eating it and leave the rest dry, says Deutsch.
5. Bag your herbs
Ingredients like fresh herbs make a big impact but those delicate greens never last long. Growing your own is always a good option, as is using dried. The best way to extend the life of cut leafy herbs like cilantro and parsley is to stick it in a jar of water and place a plastic bag loosely over the top. That helps maintain proper moisture levels. Remember to change the water regularly.
6. Halve your losses
Sometimes you only need half an onion, tomato, or lime, and that’s OK. Since exposure to oxygen is one of the fastest ways to spoil food, you want to minimize your cut surfaces (i.e. don’t chop the rest of that onion) and cover it tightly with plastic wrap. Bonus: This will prevent odours from stinkier items like onions from permeating surrounding foods, says Deutsch.
7. Don’t smother your cheese
Cheese, especially good cheese, is a living thing. And plastic wrap, the standard way to store an open wedge, doesn’t let it breathe. Instead, it traps moisture inside, which is why cheese can start to feel slick and slimy before sprouting mould (the bad kind). A better option: If you didn’t save the fancy paper it came in, wrap it in parchment or wax paper and pop it in a small Tupperware container with a tight-fitting lid.
8. Wrap right
Ideally, you want to treat the food in your refrigerator and freezer like you’d treat yourself on a sub-zero day: Layer up. Start by wrapping leftovers in plastic wrap, foil, or both, before popping then in a Tupperware container. This can be especially important for preventing freezer burn on foods you’re planning to keep for longer times.
9. Vacuum pack it
When you don’t want to take any chances with food going bad before it’s time, pumping the air out of the container your leftovers are in is the only solution. Proponents claim that vacuum sealing can keep food fresh for five times as long as other storage methods.
10. Label everything
One of the reasons food goes bad is because people forget to eat it. That’s why transparent storage containers are so important: So you can see what’s ready to be consumed at a glance. Tagging each dish or item with the date you put it in there takes seconds, but can save you countless meals.
11. Practice self-preservation
Preserving foods through pickling or fermenting can extend its shelf life several times over. Pickles, salt-preserved lemons, kimchi, and sweet or savoury jams are all great options to make at home. “I’m a huge fan of canning applesauce and tomatoes,” says Marisa McClellan, author of The Food in Jars Kitchen. “They are things that my family uses in abundance and the homemade versions are both cheaper and better.” When it comes to storage containers, you want them to be squeaky clean, have the ability to seal tightly, and, if you are making something for the freezer, you want sturdy straight-sided glass jars.
12. Put a lid on it
It’s time to institute a no open containers policy in your refrigerator. Everything goes into storage. No Tupperware? No problem. Stretchable lids fit right over the top of the serving bowls and containers you already own.