food storage - The Info You Should Know About
Everybody is looking for ways to save money; especially it is crucial at times of economic crisis. Now, when many families spend their budgets mostly on food it would be useful to talk about food storage. It is a very good investment after all. If you follow these simple recommendations on storing your food the right way and under the best conditions your food’s life will be prolonged.
The first thing to keep in mind is that different products need different storage conditions. Some products can be kept under the room temperature and other need to be in the freezer. Keeping some foods in the freezer can extend life of many of them. You should keep the temperature in your freezer at 0F or lower. Put products in the freezer only in special containers made to keep food in the freezer. The wrapping is of the foremost importance when keeping food in the freezer. Some people also put the date of freezing on the package with the product. A proper frozen raw meat can be good for up to 12 months. The life of commercially frozen fish is from 6 to 12 months. The game will be good only for 3 months if purchased fresh and then frozen. Some cooked leftover will be still good for 2-3 months, when frozen smoked meat life is only 1 to 2 months.
Some products should be kept on the shelf. The shelf storage should be dry and cool. The temperature of the shelf storage should be about 70F or lower. All the products should be kept in air tight containers, but if you haven’t opened the packaging yet it could be stored in that original container. The life of the products which packaging you open will be less by half. So it is better to use a clean clear container.
The third group of products should be stored in the refrigerator. It is recommended to have a thermometer in the fridge. The temperature has to be 33F to 40F. Check the temperature often. Foil, plastic bags and wrap, and airtight containers could be used for storing food in the refrigerator. Those containers’ materials should be designed for food storage and should be proof of moisture.
A lot of foods were kept fresh longer with the help of vacuum packaging. Vacuum system is designed to make the life of food about 5 times longer, by removing air from the packaging. Polystyrene containers keep flour, sugar and grains early spoiling, protecting it from pests.
It is also useful to read the information on the original food packaging. The “sell by” date means that the store has to sell the product by this date, but we could still safely eat it. If it says “best is used by” on the packaging then it means that it is best to eat the food for taste reasons not because it goes bad. And if it says “used by or expires” then it means that the product has to be eaten before that date. It is usually spoiled after that date.
Do you know that food storage can save you from lots of troubles during all sorts of emergency cases. Read more about food storage and food storage issues in particular.