Tips For Food Storage
Cooking in a batch is one of the common ways for saving time in the kitchen. Many housewives, especially working ones, prefer cooking large amounts of food and freezing it to save the daily time of cooking and reduce leftovers. For using this way for saving time with protecting your family from food-borne diseases, one should know the safety priorities and healthy way for storing food.
Firstly, one should buy foods that can stay for along time and make sure of the expired date. Storing vegetables and fruits necessitates choosing fresh ones and cleaning them well before keeping in the freezer.
Pack foods well before freezing, best way is to keep in plastic bag or firmly closed plastic container.
Meats, birds and fish usually come on top of the list of stored foods. It is recommended to keep raw meats in the refrigerator in a tightly closed plastic bag and place it in the coldest place away from the door. For storing raw meet for more than 3 days, you should wrap in an aluminum foil and put in the freezer. If the amount you are going to store is too large, you should cut it into small pieces and put each amount, about 1kg or as you need in each time, in a separate wrap to be easy to thaw and healthy to eat later. For thawing frozen meat, avoid putting in hot water and then cold water for a long time in order not to lose its nutritious value. It is better to put on a metal surface and let to melt gradually.
There are many other important tips for storing various kinds of food including:
- Herbs and spices should be stored out of direct sunlight and away from direct heat
- For storing fresh mint, you can take the fresh stems and clean them well. Then put in a plate or plastic bag and keep in the freezer till needed.
- Keeping large amount of ground coffee without losing its fresh aroma is quite difficult. The best way for doing that is to put it in the freezer and take the amount you need and keep the rest.
- All the vegetables including Pease, okra and green beans can be stored by keeping it half-cooked in the freezer.
