Total Pageviews

Thursday 12 August 2021

From Mason Jars to Fridge Hacks - Ways We Store Our Food


Tess Patrick at Food Matters site writes:

"Any foodie will tell you that the key to a kitchen is a handful of simple routines, or ‘hacks’. How you store your food is just as important as the food you buy itself. Whether you’re making the most out of shelf-life, looking to reduce wastage, or trying to save time and space, there’s a few simple rules to follow. It’s nothing that will break the bank or eat up your weekend, but rather that little bit of preparation to make your life infinitely easier. From mason jars to fridge hacks, here are 11 ways we store our food in the Food Matters kitchen.

1. Package-less Pantry
First, go back to basics and start with all the goodness in your pantry. From quinoa to cashews, all of our healthy wholefoods can become a mess if they’re not stored correctly. We love spending time organizing a ‘package-less pantry’. Not only do the uniform jars look beautiful on shelves, but by shopping in bulk and using jars or containers to store your foods you’re reducing unnecessary plastic, saving money on staple foods, and storing them in a way that keeps them fresher for longer. Plus, it’s really fun rearranging beautiful shelves - so you always know where your staples are when you need them, and you’re guaranteed compliments from every dinner guest.

2. Store Root Vegetables In Cool, Dry, Dark Places
While you’re in the pantry, this is one of the best places to store root vegetables. In the cooler, darker corners, keep some baskets, canvas bags, or even large ceramic vessels to store things like potatoes, pumpkins, and onions. This will prevent them from sprouting or getting too weathered by harsh environments.

3. Invest In Spice Jars
Leaving spices in their little pouches from the store is one of the fastest ways to spill them, lose them, and create a mess in your kitchen. Spice jars are an inexpensive, but lifesaving investment when it comes to preserving the nutritional integrity of the healing herbs and spices. Plus, when you’re creating delicious dishes in the kitchen, it makes them that much easier to find.

4. Fresh Herb Storage
When dealing with fresh herbs, rather than dried, if they’re not coming fresh from the garden, store them for longevity. There’s a couple of ways we do this, depending on where we have room in our fridge, but either way prevents them from going limp, flavourless, and sad looking. The easiest way is to fill a glass jar or tumbler part-way with cold water, and place your bunch of herbs in there like a bouquet of flowers so that the roots and stems submerged in water. Then, wrap the leaves in re-usable plastic (we like to re-use sandwich bags) and store them in the refrigerator. Alternatively, you can lightly spritz them with water, roll them in a damp paper towel, and store them in your vegetable crisper drawer.

5. Salad Spinners For Green Leaves
To keep salad leaves fresh, you can use the same wet paper towel hack that you would with herbs, or you can keep them ready to go at a moment’s notice. One of the best kitchen gadgets is a compact salad spinner. The ventilated basket stops any produce from going limp or rotten to quick, and whenever it needs a freshen up or wash, you can rinse and spin with a fuss-free approach. Plus, the sealed lid keeps your greens fresher for longer and they’re ready to put on the table at dinnertime.

6. Prepare Your Produce For Longevity
It’s easy enough after your weekly trip to the market or grocer to get home and attempt to shove your produce wherever there is space. But by dedicating an extra 15-minutes to rotating your fridge contents and getting the new fruits and vegetables ready for the week ahead, you’ll thank yourself infinitely when it comes to busy dinners throughout the week. Start by pulling out any left-over produce from last week. Then take your fresh foods and wash, chop, and prep them if need be, before putting them in containers to be on-hand for the week ahead. Once they’re good to go, make sure your older produce is still okay to eat (compost if not) and place it back on top - this means you’ll reach for the food that needs using first.

7. Glass Containers & Reusable Jars
Speaking of containers, making sure you have ample containers is the key to keeping your fridge organized. They can be a relatively inexpensive set, but they’ll make your life easier. Glass or ceramic containers that can stack on each other are the gold standard, as you can be sure no chemicals in the plastic are leaching into your food while making the most of space - plus they’re much sturdier and are great for storing leftovers too. Alternatively, any reusable jars always make great containers for prep day foods such as quinoa, or individual leftover portions of soup - if you’re not already using all of the jars in your package-less pantry!

8. Choose Reusable Food Covers
If you’re looking for ways to make your kitchen more sustainable, consider switching your cling film out for a washable, reusable alternative. Silicone food covers and beeswax wraps are readily available online, and while they’re initially more expensive, they last forever so will save you money in the long run! And if you’re crafty or creative, you can easily make your own beeswax wraps at home with your favourite fabrics.

9. Secrets Of Mushroom Storage
Most of your food should be stored in individual containers or the vegetable crisper, but there’s an exception to the rule. Mushrooms last better when kept in the brown paper bag that they come in from the store. Don’t put them in the crisper drawer either, but rather the shelf just above. This will ensure the mushrooms have the right climate to stay fresher for longer.

10. Spring Clean Your Shelves
When you get on a roll, it’s easy to want to get everything done at once. So set aside one day a month to spring clean your fridge and shelves. The task may seem mammoth to begin with, but if you keep on top of it regularly it can be done in as little as 5-minutes. The best place to begin is the shelves in your fridge door; how often to special sauces or random condiments sit here for six months or more gathering dust and mold? Then take this approach for the rest of the fridge, before moving onto the pantry. This way, there’s room for fresh produce and delicious meals, every day of the week. Another good way to keep on top of it is checking your vegetable crisper daily to make sure you’re using all of the food so none is going to waste. Then, if you’re feeling up to it - move onto the freezer...

11. Freeze Foods In Individual Portions
While you’re in the freezer, it’s good to employ a handful of life hacks to make sure you’re getting the most out of this limited space. When making food in bulk, or deciding to freeze any leftovers, place it in smaller containers to freeze in individual portions. That way, you only have to defrost what you need each time. You can use kitchen tools like muffin tins to freeze big batches of pesto for smaller servings or ice cube trays to freeze single-serve portions of lemon juice. Also, try to keep food in like-spaces; leftovers in one section, meats in another, fruits for smoothies in one area, and sweet treats somewhere else - it’ll make it that much easier when trying to find what you need (and remembering to top up when you run out). Then, when defrosting foods like leftover lasagne or individually portioned fish fillets, pull them out of the freezer the night before and place in the refrigerator to defrost in time.

Kitchens don’t have to be a stressful or chaotic space. Sometimes all you need is some new ideas and an extra half-hour after your weekly shop. Start with one new approach each week, or each time you run out of a dry ingredient, find a new jar, and begin filling it up from the bulk buy section. In a few short weeks, you’ll be able to find foods easier, reduce your food waste, and move around the kitchen with ease."
Above words and picture from original article here

Talking of mushrooms! You may like to read this post 'Mushrooms-Did You Know' see it here


Dear reader, this blog brings a variety of articles and recipe ideas, and it is important to note, not all may be suitable for you. If you may have any food allergies, or underlying health issues these must always be taken into account. If you are a diabetic and not sure how certain foods may affect your blood sugars, test is best, i.e. use your meter.

All the best Jan

29 comments:

J.P. Alexander said...

Gracias por los consejos, te mando un beso

Pam said...

I would much rather store in a mason jar instead of plastic.

Christine said...

Great tips!

Lorrie said...

These are great tips. An organized kitchen is so much more pleasant to work in.

Tom said...

...most days lately I have been canning!

Catarina said...

I wish my fridge looked like that all the time.

Angie said...

Jan - what a fabulous set of suggestions! I especially like the idea of replacing cling film/sheet wrap with reusables!

aussie aNNie said...

Brilliant and thanks, x

Margaret D said...

Do most of those things and it's a good read as a reminder.

Elephant's Child said...

Great tips. Mind you we have soooo many spices (in jars) that they are easy to misplace.

Valerie-Jael said...

Good advice! Thanks for sharing, Valerie

Bob Bushell said...

Wow, well done the fridge, so stacked. Mine is gone brown.

Jo said...

I think a kitchen is a place where you do need plenty of storage, and different kinds of storage too as different food requires different conditions.

eileeninmd said...

Hello,

Great post, thanks for all the suggestions.
Take care, have a great day!

Francisco Manuel Carrajola Oliveira said...

Excelentes conselhos.
Um abraço e continuação de uma boa semana.

Andarilhar
Dedais de Francisco e Idalisa
Livros-Autografados

My name is Erika. said...

This was interesting read. I think so many of us forget about the storage end of foods. Hope you're having a great week! hugs-Erika

William Kendall said...

Good suggestions!

Lady Caer Morganna said...

GREAT ideas for organizing the kitchen fridge space! Thank you!

Salty Pumpkin Studio said...

Thank you! You post the best information!
Glass storage is preferred. The insulation in my tiny galley kitchen is not good. Most foods have to be store in the fridge.

José Antonio Sánchez Rumí said...

Great entrance, it is very useful and good to follow and open the door of the refrigerator and the amlamacén and that it is not a chaos.
Thank you.
Greetings-

Miss Val's Creations said...

I did not realize mushrooms should be put in paperbags to last longer. We will give that a try. We do keep lettuce in a salad spinner in the fridge. It works beautifully!

Hootin Anni said...

I could do this all but one...storing in a cool, dry, place. In coastal Texas there is no such thing. I'd have to have AC and de-humidifier year 'round.

Rain said...

Very interesting post! I have so many Mason jars...I try to can pretty much everything I "can". :) I freeze a lot too. I never thought of storing lettuces IN the salad spinner! Smart!! :)

Snowbird said...

I have, and use lots of mason jars. I enjoyed this post, loved all the tips.xxx

HappyK said...

Much good advice and ideas!!

DVArtist said...

I love this post. I do most of it. The salad spinner is my best tool in the kitchen.

Debbie said...

i clean my trig all the time and always feel so proud when i open the door after cleaning it. i already do many of these things, i think i see tomatoes in the frog and that is one item i never refrigerate!! if this is your frig, it is very pretty inside!!

i use mason jars and reuse jelly jars and pasta sauce jars if they are not too big!!

Ananka said...

Didn't know that about the mushrooms. I really do love mushrooms a lot :-D

Teresa said...

Me parecen unas ideas estupendas. Besos.