extending shelf life

[Jenny]

I was curious to know how everyone handled prolonging the shelf life of food(anykind). I find myself having to throw out a lot of food because it goes bad too fast. I have been thinking about getting one of those food savers you see on TV at 3am, any thoughts?

[mamster]

"Any food" covers a lot of ground. Can you be more specific? There are tricks for keeping some types of vegetables and fruits fresh longer, but for the most part there's the freezer, dehydration, canning, pickling, smoking...and the vacuum packing device, which I've never tried. Can you buy smaller amounts of perishables?

[Jenny]

I guess if I have to pick one catagory, it would be meat, I hate to freeze it but shopping once a week is just not realistic for me. Fresh veggies too, canned or frozen just is not an option but sometimes by the time I get around to cooking them they are no good.

[Suzanne F]

How often DO you shop? How much do you buy at one time? How many people do you cook for? What are your cooking and eating habits (how much at any given time; how many different kinds of dishes)? How do you store your raw food (what containers/wrapping)?

And: what are your criteria for food going bad? It may be that your food is still okay, just not by what you expect.

Please don't be put off by all these questions. It will help us to analyze the situation. Food is good! and should be!!

[Nick]

If you're talking about stuff in the refrigerator, get a thermometer and turn the 'fridge down to just above freezing, say around 33-34F. It makes a real difference. I learned this years ago when a fisherman friend brought me some fish and stuck it in the fridge. He turned to me and told me it wasn't cold enough. Just from sticking his hand in with the fish. Back then I kept it around 40-43F. Those few degrees make a big difference.

[Fat Guy]

Without more information it's hard to know exactly where this is going, but it sounds like one thing you might benefit from is a few good cook-and-freeze recipes. Soups, stews, and casserole-type dishes tend to freeze very well. You can make them the day you buy your fresh ingredients and reheat them later. Braised meat dishes also keep well, and can be based on frozen meat -- with something like short ribs it's not terribly noticeable.

[Nick]

Without more information it's hard to know exactly where this is going, but it sounds like one thing you might benefit from is a few good cook-and-freeze recipes. Soups, stews, and casserole-type dishes tend to freeze very well. You can make them the day you buy your fresh ingredients and reheat them later. Braised meat dishes also keep well, and can be based on frozen meat -- with something like short ribs it's not terribly noticeable.

Cook and freeze. The story of my life at present - and my father before me. How else can you eat well (halfway decent) when you have so little time to cook?

[Suvir Saran]

Without more information it's hard to know exactly where this is going, but it sounds like one thing you might benefit from is a few good cook-and-freeze recipes. Soups, stews, and casserole-type dishes tend to freeze very well. You can make them the day you buy your fresh ingredients and reheat them later. Braised meat dishes also keep well, and can be based on frozen meat -- with something like short ribs it's not terribly noticeable.

Cook and freeze. The story of my life at present - and my father before me. How else can you eat well (halfway decent) when you have so little time to cook?

what kind of stuff do you cook and freeze?

[John Whiting]

Preserving fresh greens, such as lettuce and green onions, in the fridge: Wrap well in two or three thicknesses of quickly dampened newspaper and put in well-folded-over plastic bag. The bag can go on any shelf, not necessarily in the salad drawer -- but not nearest the freezing unit, which may actually reach the edge of freezing if your fridge is turned down to the 33/4 level.

[Nick]

what kind of stuff do you cook and freeze?

Depends on the season. Do it more in the winter than summer. Mostly bean stuff with some meat. In preparation for the winter I just bought quite a few ears of good corn, scalded it and cut it off the cob to freeze. It's a good addition to the beans I'll be cooking later on. And then I'll make a mess of them and freeze them. It's a circle.

[Niall]

We also keep Asparagus and fresh herbs with their ends in a glass of water and wrapped in a plastic bag. They seem to last longer and be fresher.

[Nick]

Yes, Niall. Also put carrots in a plastic bag and sprinkle some water in there and keep cold in the 'fridge.

[Suvir Saran]

We also keep Asparagus and fresh herbs with their ends in a glass of water and wrapped in a plastic bag. They seem to last longer and be fresher.

I do that all the time as well. It does work wonders.

[John Whiting]

Vegetables in the fridge inside a plastic bag without an intervening layer of damp newspaper -- especially if closed -- risk going moldy.

[Suvir Saran]

Vegetables in the fridge inside a plastic bag without an intervening layer of damp newspaper -- especially if closed -- risk going moldy.

And after mold.. they get soft and mushy... scary

[Nick]

John - I have a couple of carrots in the refrigerator that have been there for nearly a year. They are still good to eat.

Now, I have to go to bed. Adios until later.

Edit: I also have a turnip (rutabegha) that a friend grew last year that is perfectly fine. Temperature, temperature, temperature. As well as moisture.

[John Whiting]

And I've had carrots sealed in a plastic bag go moldy after a week, and at minimum fridge temp. What are your year-old carrots made of?!

Edit: And the fact that you have a couple of year-old carrots in the fridge tells me things I don't want to know!

[Fat Guy]

There are quite a few factors that go into how quickly food deteriorates in your home, and one of them is tough for you to control: How old it is when you bought it. This is the big crapshoot issue when you buy at a supermarket. This stuff gets trucked and warehoused and handled by people who don't give a damn and left on the shelves forever and can be quite far along the path to destruction by the time you take it home with you. You'll find that produce from farmer's markets lasts much longer than supermarket produce, on the whole (there are of course always exceptions). One good example is fresh herbs. I sometimes pick up fresh thyme or tarragon or whatever at the supermarket. At most it lasts a week, no matter what I do in terms of wet towels or glasses of water -- in fact these don't appreciably improve longevity over a Zip-Loc bag in my experience. But when I buy herbs down at the Union Square Greenmarket they can last for as long as a month. So how old are the supermarket herbs when I get them? Could be a few weeks. Of course the incentive is for supermarkets to turn over their product quickly rather than have a whole bunch of it in inventory and at various stages along the supply line. But even so they're just not very good at moving product from farm to table quickly.

[torakris]

To keep veggies fresh for a pretty long time I use these wonderful "Keep fresh" bags they have here in Japan. They are green bags that come in a variety of sizes and keep leafy greens for about a week and things like cabbages, carrots, turnips, etc last for about 2 to 3 weeks. I saw an article about them in an American parenting magazine a couple years ago so they (and maybe still are) available in the US. I have no idea what they would be called in English.

They really work wonders,especially when I can't get to the store that often.

And of course the best way to keep celery in to wrap it in foil, keeps for weeks!

[Jenny]

How often DO you shop?  How much do you buy at one time?  How many people do you cook for?  What are your cooking and eating habits (how much at any given time; how many different kinds of dishes)?  How do you store your raw food (what containers/wrapping)?

And: what are your criteria for food going bad?  It may be that your food is still okay, just not by what you expect.

Please don't be put off by all these questions.  It will help us to analyze the situation.    Food is good! and should be!!

Suzanne:

There is just two of us, Mr. Picky and me. I shop every two weeks, I buy enough for at least five larger meals.

I have to admit on produce I leave most of it in the bag it comes in, in my crisper. Bad is stinky and mushy, ya know like mushrooms when they get slick and wierd

Nickn: What a great tip on the temp! Thanks

[Fat Guy]

Torakris: I've seen bags like that around in US markets. I think one brand is called Green Bags. I also have some Rubbermaid containers that have gas-release valves on top. These also keep foods longer than sealed containers. I think the operative theory is that the gasses produced by some vegetables and fruits are a major causes of spoilage, and that these designs allow those gasses to escape.

Jenny: If you're talking mushrooms specifically, depending on what you're using them for you might be just fine freezing or pre-cooking them. Those white button mushrooms from the supermarket don't have a lot of flavor anyway so they freeze fine (they should be blanched first). It sounds like one thing you might want to do is sequence your menus. If you're shopping on a two-week cycle, you should probably make ahead and freeze or refrigerate whatever you'll be eating on the last five or so days of that cycle. You should cook with the most perishable fresh ingredients on the first five days. And in the middle you can use the fresh ingredients that keep longer. I'm sure if you plan this all out you can stay ahead of any potential spoilage.

[researchgal]

Soups, stews, and casserole-type dishes tend to freeze very well. You can make them the day you buy your fresh ingredients and reheat them later. Braised meat dishes also keep well, and can be based on frozen meat -- with something like short ribs it's not terribly noticeable.

Related question--When making something like a meat stew in advance of serving, how do you determine if you should freeze or simply keep refrigerated? I'm planning on making a blanquette de veau to bring to my parents house on Saturday. The only time I can make it is Wed nite--should I freeze it or simply keep it refrigerated until Saturday?

[Fat Guy]

With blanquette de veau, for 72 hours I wouldn't bother with freezing. In fact I'd recommend 24-48 hours in the refrigerator just to improve the taste of most any braised dish. I'd probably be willing to go 4 days in the refrigerator, maybe longer if I'm the only one who is going to be eating it. I doubt there's a safety problem anytime within a couple of weeks, but in terms of palatability those are the numbers I'd use based only on experience and not much of it.

[Suzanne F]

Suzanne:

  There is just two of us, Mr. Picky and me. I shop every two weeks, I buy enough for at least five larger meals.  

  I have to admit on produce I leave most of it in the bag it comes in, in my crisper. Bad is stinky and mushy, ya know like mushrooms when they get slick and wierd

All the advice people have already given is excellent: keep your fridge COLD; wrap your produce in paper (towels work fine) as a buffer between veg and plastic bag (and change the paper every few days when it looks too wet; you can let it dry and reuse it); keep herbs and some veg in "vases" of water, but cover loosely with a plastic bag so they don't dry out; and try to buy the freshest possible stuff.

Mushrooms: NEVER keep them in plastic; paper bag!! Or if you buy them in little boxes, put a piece of paper towel on top of them before re-covering with plastic wrap.

Remember that vegetables are still sort of alive: they breathe out moisture. It's the collection of moisture that speeds the rotting.

Meats are difficult -- can't keep them raw for that long (unless they're cured, like bacon or dry sausage). If you really can only shop every 2 weeks, you might have to consider freezing. Or make more vegetarian mains near the end of the period . Or cook ahead and wrap really well -- as in the blanquette advice.

[snowangel]

Any hints on extending the shelf (refrigerator) life of ginger?