A few weeks back we made a video talking about 10 useful food storage tips and you guys loved it! So, we went back to our research facility and found 10 more. Here they are!
- Wrap your celery. To keep it crisp and fresh, wrap the entire thing tightly in foil. This also works for broccoli and lettuce.
- Don’t store bread in the fridge! That’s a fast-forward to stale, hard, tasteless bread. Instead, keep it in a dark place, like a breadbox or cupboard. If you won’t use all the bread in a few days, take the excess slices and wrap them well, then store in the freezer.
- Pad your berries. That little pad in the base of berry boxes was designed to absorb the ripening ethylene gas that the berries give off. Leaving them in their boxes with the pads will extend their life.
- Use your freezer as a pause button. Even foods that are nearing their expiration date can be put into suspended animation in the freezer. Wrap them well, and you’ll still be able to use them a few weeks later.
- Score your tomato paste. You know how seemingly all recipes seem to call for just 1 tablespoon of tomato paste? And then you’re left with that almost full little can—what are we supposed to do with that? Here’s an awesome hack: Scoop the remainder of the paste into a sandwich- or quart-size zipper bag and squeeze out the air. Seal it up, then press the paste to distribute it evenly throughout the whole bag, flattening it out in the process. Take the back of a dull knife and score a grid into the bag, then freeze it. Next time you need a tablespoon of tomato paste, it will be easy to just break off 1 or 2 squares and toss the rest back into the freezer!
- Bag your mushrooms. Unlike berries, mushrooms are not sold in containers that maximize their shelf life. When you get them home, get them out of those little boxes and into a paper bag to store until you’re ready to eat them.
- Don’t overstuff your fridge. Refrigerators need lots of negative space in them to allow the cold air to circulate, so don’t just jam-pack them until it looks like your trunk after an Ikea visit. Leave some room to breathe in between items.
- Flip your cottage cheese. Those cottage cheese containers are not airtight once opened—the air freely flows in and hastens your curds’ aging process. But if you flip the cottage cheese upside down, the cheese forms a seal against the opening of the container, halting the flow of air. Genius!
- Water your spears. To prevent your asparagus from going limp, place it in water, like a bouquet of flowers, and tent the tips in a plastic bag before putting it in the fridge. Be sure to change the water if it gets cloudy.
- No more bad apples! It really is true what they say—one bruised or spoiled apple in the bunch will speed up the rest of them going bad. So if you spot a spotty one, toss it!
COMMENT QUESTIONS:
Do you love mushrooms, or hate them?
Do you like asparagus, or prefer cauliflower?
What food are you having trouble storing?
