Food Storage Hacks
Life is just getting more expensive everyday... Rising grocery costs, fuel prices, interest rates on a variety of things, personal services, pet food, the list never seems to have an end! As a consumer, it’s really made me second guess the way I spend my money to make sure I’m getting the best quality for the best price.
Image by Vicki Bartel Branding
Now, before I continue on this rant about the cost of living, I wanted to give this blog a bit more context so you don’t have to read 10,000 paragraphs before actually knowing what this post is all about…
I HATE wasting food and HATE wasting money. I try my best to make sure our cupboards are empty and my fresh produce is gone before we go out and start replenishing our pantry. Over the years, I’ve used these couple hacks to make sure that I’m making the most of my food items and keeping them as fresh and usable for as long as possible.
I was recently chatting about containers of mixed greens in a grocery store with a gentleman (not something I do often LOL) and he claimed that he would have to go home and eat ALL of the container of greens in one day because they just didn’t last. I felt bad because salads are nice but not when you have to consume 4-5 of them in a matter of 24 hours. I gave him my best tips on preserving this particular item and wished him luck. Then oddly enough, I saw him at the same store a couple weeks ago and he stopped me and thanked me for sharing that tip with him because it saved him from throwing mixed greens and money in the garbage (I felt like a hero… No big deal).
Now I’m not an expert and I’m no professional chef, but gosh darn it - sometimes these little tips and tricks just work and it’s nice to read about it vs watching a video (a more intentional way of getting screen time). So if I can share one thing with you in the new year, it will be; how to reduce food waste and keep that money in your pocket!
So to get started, here are my tips for preserving/reusing some of your food items;
For best results, you will need paper-towel, clean tea-towels, mason jars, berry containers (if you have one), zip-lock freezer bags (or reusable ziploc style bags), some freezer space, and some time.
Mixed Greens/Spinach/Kale - Those containers come in multiple sizes and options and typically cost $4.99 and up. My best tips to getting the most use out of them is to of course make sure you’re grabbing one with the farthest out expiration date but that’s not the big tip here cause that feels obvious hahaha… this is the tip; when you get home and unpack all your groceries, take the time to empty the container and lay out your mixed greens on some paper-towel (I usually use about 6 sheets or so). Once you do this, roll that paper-towel back up with the mixed greens inside and pack it back in its container. It keeps the vegetable fresh but not from getting too soggy and ultimately rotting.
Berries/Grapes - I take all my berries and grapes and soak them in my freshly cleaned sink or a bowl with a little apple cider vinegar and baking soda and water to make sure I’m getting any harmful chemicals or pesticides off them (this is my ratio - 1 cup of vinegar, 2 cups of warm water, and 1 tsp of baking soda). After a 15 minute soak or so, I rinse them off thoroughly and let them dry on either paper-towel or a clean tea towel. Grapes I’ll store in a mason jar and take them off the vine, berries I store in a berry container that has a lid but good aeration. I put all these things back in the fridge and use at my leisure. I once ate blueberries that were 4 weeks old (I fed them actually to my parents when they visited and they were still firm and lovely as ever….). I also freeze berries and use later on to bake into muffins or pancakes. I’ve also taken them and blended them and dehydrated them into my own “fruit leather/fruit roll-up”.
Citrus - I wash all my of my citrus as well and that may sound strange but I zest a lot of them so I want to make sure the zest I use is “clean”. So after washing I store them on the countertop (I prefer to do that) but if they’re cut they go into a reusable zip-lock style bag and go into the fridge. If your citrus is looking “meh”, I save them and put them into a bag in the freezer to use for cooking, cocktails, or baking down the road.
Fresh Herbs - I take a moist paper-towel (not wet, just moist) and wrap it around my herbs and then bag them back up to keep them fresh in the fridge. I’ve also kept them fresh by putting the bottoms into a mason jar and wrapping the top up with a bag and putting into the fridge. If herbs aren’t the freshest anymore, I will either freeze them, hang them upside down to dry and then put the dried herbs into a small size mason jar OR I will freeze them into little olive oil cubes.
Bananas - This one is an easy one but when my bananas are looking a little brown and mushy, I take them and peel them and portion them to go into the freezer for smoothies or banana bread.
Apples - Apples are such a versatile ingredient. I use them to bake, for cooking, for beverages and salads. When my apples are typically on their way out, I peel them and make them into an easy apple sauce to serve on the side of pork or incorporate into a baked recipes (great substitute)
Meat - I sometimes get lazy after shopping and don’t always do this right away because it’s time consuming but if you want to make sure you’re not wasting expensive meat. Make sure you’re portioning out your meat in advance. I will buy ground meat, fresh fish, pork tenderloin etc… and cut it up and portion it out in freezer safe baggies and then date and label everything before putting in the freezer. It makes meal prepping a bit easier but also makes it easy to keep an inventory list so you can cut down on last minute shopping.
Yogurt - Smoothie lover? If you eat yogurt cups and they’re on the verge of expiration, I throw mine into the freezer in a freezer bag to keep them grouped together. Why do I do this? Well I take that little yogurt cup and throw it into my smoothies so I don’t use a ton of ice (I don’t have an ice-maker) and I’m not wasteful with my yogurt. I also saw this cool recipe for yogurt bites that I’ve been meaning to try.
Dry goods - Anything like pasta, flour, spices etc.. I decanter into seal-able containers to keep them super fresh and to make my cupboards nice and tidy. My brown sugar, I use a brown sugar saver OR a piece of bread and put that in the container to keep it from getting rock hard.
Tomato paste, diced tomato, pasta sauce - How many of us open a can of tomato paste and use a tablespoon and throw the rest away? Well STOP doing that and do this instead. When you open your can of tomato paste, open the top and bottom with a can opener and push the lid up (like one of those old school candy push-pops) and empty the contents into a freezer safe bag. Flatten it out and freeze. Then when you need tomato paste next time, you can just snap of a piece (measured to how much your recipe calls for) and throw it into your pot/pan. I also save any diced tomato or paste sauce this way too because I will eventually use it.
Bread products - Now I’m sure you know you can just chuck bagels, bread, english muffins and so much more in the freezer but instead of doing that and then never eating those items because sometimes frozen bread can be a little “drier” than normal. I take my old bread products and will make them into croutons or homemade breadcrumbs. It’s pretty easy to do and they have so many uses!
So if you made it through that list and make only a couple of these changes to your lifestyle you can save a little bit of cash and reduce your waste (which is a always a good feeling). If you have any suggestions on other ways to save, let me know because I totally have more ways to approach this but I figured I could do a 2.0 version of this blog post down the road!
Anyways, thanks for reading and happy adulting!
Cheers,
Markie.