Those who love food must also know how to properly store them. Otherwise you would just trouble yourself for some unnecessary round trips to the market.
There are few ways of food storing, such as canning, freezing, drying, fermentation, pickling, cold storage etc. However, for most of us, chilling your food in the refrigerator seems to be the best way so far. Not only it’s easily available, some fridges also come with extra features that will help give extra shelf life to your beloved food.
Be that as it may, storing food saves you a ton of hassle. Here are some simple tips we think you should know (and perhaps apply) when keeping your favourite food safe:
1. Freeze your herbs
There is an interesting way to keep your herbs fresh all-year long – freeze them all.
All you have to do is to mince the herbs of your choice into tiny pieces and freeze them into the shape of ice cube. The idea is to ease your cooking without thawing the entire block. Simply pop out a cube whenever you need and there you have it!
2. Safely freeze your food
We previously talked about how food in your freezer is safe to consume even after a long period.
Food-poisoning bacteria grow and multiply relatively fast in the temperature danger zone, which is between 5°C and 60°C. It is always better to buy frozen food at the end of your shopping trip and store them in the freezer as soon as you get home. If the weather outside is too hot, you can always carry an insulated bag with you. Handle them with care as this can be a bad news for high-risk foods.
3. Beware of the ethylene gas
If you love stocking up fruits & vegetables, chances are you notice sometimes they ripened too quickly. When that happens, you might want to remove fruits like apples from that pile or store them separately.
Ethylene gas is a natural gas emit by some fruits that trigger ripening process. Some fruits tend to emit more, while some are highly sensitive to it. Therefore, many refrigerators come with individual mini compartments and humidity control.
Your leafy greens should always be kept away from fruits and set to high humidity. Ethylene-sensitive fruits in one compartment and medium humidity. While fruits that emit high ethylene gas should be in another compartment with low humidity setting.
4. Ionize the air
Refrigerator draws in the air from outside. If you intend to keep raw food (but not freezing) such as fish or poultry, it might cause some worry as the refrigerator could also draw in unsafe particles, including bacteria.
Getting yourself refrigerator that is equipped with ionizer. could help solve this problem. Essentially, what it does is to generate positive or negative ion to attract the unwanted particles and redirect them out. However, if you’re not planning to cook these raw food anytime soon, it is always better to freeze them instead.
5. If in doubt, throw it out
Not sure how long that custard pie has been sitting in the corner of your refrigerator? If you have to ask, that means it is most likely unsafe anymore.
The last thing you want to consume by accident is the mold or food-poisoning bacteria. Some mold are visible to the eyes, while some are just too fine to see. Even if you do see them, do not just remove the affected part, thinking the rest is safe to consume.
What seems to be a small part of mold actual contains a complex set of roots underneath. This means the food has been fully contaminated and consuming it will surely make you sick.
After all, this chilling and freezing appliance is here to keep our food safe. Just imagine a life without it back in the older time, so much hassle needed just to prepare a plate of fresh meal. Lucky for you that refrigerators are widely available now, including at our online shop. Click here to find the models you preferred – Refrigerators @ DS Home.