Here's some ideas for food handling for greater safety, better nutrition,
thriftiness and convenience.
I hate to clean my refrigerator. (I'm talking about
dismantling every part and scrubbing it thoroughly.) But I do mini-cleans weekly. I clean and disinfect the counter
nearest the fridge. Starting with the top shelf, I remove
everything. I spray the shelf with a disinfecting cleaning spray such as Fuller's
Spray 'N San, and wipe with a damp cloth shammie, and then rinse the
shammie and the shelf. Then I check
the expiration dates and quality of each food item and return it to the refrigerator,
organizing as I go. If there was a spill, I wipe the bottoms of the
containers, too. If any food is good but should be used promptly, I
make immediate plans for a dish that uses it at put it at the very front. I continue on down the
shelves, ending with a good sorting and checking of the produce drawer.
This is a good time to make Dump Soup.
Don't store any fruits or veggies in sealed plastic. They
are alive, and need to breathe. Yank open a hole in plastic-wrapped
packages of mushrooms. Put bulky items loose in a newspaper- or paper
towel-lined produce drawer. Put celery, carrots and green onions
into a container with a lifted drainer bottom, such as Tupperware®
has.
Rinse greens, removing any damaged outer leaves, shake off and wrap firmly
in a terrycloth towel. Lay each bundle in a warmer section of the
refrigerator.
Always store grains and other dry goods in plastic or glass.
If you cannot afford the costly kind,
even washed and dried mayonnaise or other food jars with screw tops will do
fine. Don't forget to cut out or tear off the instructions and tuck it
into the container. Label everything! On
perishables, such as dried fruit, grains or cereals with whole wheat, or
anything else rarely used or likely to turn rancid, put the date of purchase
on the label. If you do get a bug in something, put the entire
container in the refrigerator for a couple of days. That will stop bug
infestation in its tracks!
Always store meats, poultry and fish in a dish or meat
drawer, even though
they are packaged in plastic from the store. They can and do leak and can
spread dangerous germs in your refrigerator. If you use your
meat drawer for raw meat, poultry or fish, don't store ready-to-eat foods in
the same drawer to avoid ugly contamination.
When you buy canned or bottled goods that you already have on hand, place
them to the rear of the older ones.
Store cooked foods promptly in the refrigerator. Don't
cool them down first; that gives germs time to grow. You can store them
safely while still fairly hot if you use a microwave-safe storage container like
Tupperware®
has, or enamelware such as
CorningWare.
How often have you checked a leftover in the refrigerator and wondered
"When did I put this in here?" Date-label leftovers and opened bottles or cans of perishable foods when you first put
them into the fridge, for safety, thriftiness and better
flavor.
When I cook more of a dish than we will use in a couple of
days, I cool it in the refrigerator, and then put the excess into a zipper
freezer bag while it's still fresh. Squeeze the air out and
flatten. Label with a medium size permanent felt-tip marker with name and
date. Lay flat to freeze quickly (since it's thin, it will defrost
quickly too, another safety factor).
Save scraps and leftovers in the freezer. Small amounts of tomato
paste, grated ginger, chopped onions or other such items can be frozen in a
pint freezer bag. Break off pieces as needed to add to cooked
dishes. If you have leftover broth, tomato sauce, lemon
juice or canned milk, freeze it in ice cube trays. has a
covered ice cube tray that's great for this. When frozen, dump cubes
into a labeled zipper freezer bag. Leftover crumbs, flour
or cornmeal used for breading can be stored Tupperware®in a labeled zipper bag in the
freezer too (leaving it unfrozen might allow dangerous germs to
grow). Dry stale (but not moldy) bread or bread crusts for
croutons, or grind dried bread or crackers for crumbs. Throw washed celery leaves, bell pepper
and onion trimmings, cabbage cores or other leftover veggies in a zipper
freezer bag labeled "soup". Dump contents into chicken or
soup bones you are cooking for broth, then strain out and discard after they
have given up their flavor and nutrition. Save the labeled
zipper bags in the freezer even when empty; you can reuse them for the same
purpose several times.
Organize your freezer with wire baskets. You'll be able to haul
out a basket and sort through for the oldest date. You'll save
electricity, too, as you won't have to hold the door open while you
scrounge.
