Everyday Foods You’ve Been Storing Incorrectly All Along
Regrow Your Scallions And Save Some Money
Have you ever wondered about regrowing the inedible parts of food? Why make another trip to the store if you can practice growing a little more of your own from the produce you already have? It may sound trivial, but there are numerous foods that you could simply plant in your backyard.
If you throw away the white ends of scallions, you are making a huge mistake: put them in water and they will grow back before your eyes. And if you soil them? The taste will be even bolder! You have an endless supply of scallions!
Freeze And Preserve Herbs In Olive Oil To Make Cooking Easier
Ever tried searching for ways to preserve your herbs better? Herbs can make food so much more delicious when incorporated with the right dishes, but if I use them, they can spoil, leading to wasted money.
Rather than allowing them to go bitter so you discard the herbs just pop them into ice trays with olive oil and place in the freezer. Their flavor lasts longer than any other stock and you can use one of cubes as a base for pretty much any dish. Goes well with: thyme, sage, rosemary or oregano
Make Onions Last Up To 8 Months By Storing Them In Pantyhose
We know that is strange but hear us out. You should know this if you use onions regularly. You know how hard it is to keep onions, when you buy a bunch but do not directly use them? Well then, all those troubles are over.
Cut to a thing where you set your onions in a pantyhose and tie a knot among every single one of them. You now have a little something to hang on your wall, and your onions can last up to eight months! Not to mention the fact that onions aren’t in season to be found year-round — you can buy them when they’re at their best and preserve them with this method.
Turn Cottage Cheese And Sour Cream Upside Down To Vacuum Seal Them
While cottage cheese and sour cream can be used in some recipes, they do not have a long shelf life in the fridge. So many recipes call for these and lots of other ingredients but how do you keep them fresh when you only need a small amount for one dish? Don’t worry, because this hack is going to help you tackle this problem.
When it comes time to use your sour cream or cottage cheese, simply close the lid, and turn the container upside down. This forms something like a vacuum seal which helps to slow the growth of bacteria so that they can have a longer shelf life. This really goes for cottage cheese and sour cream, too, and it goes for guacamole, too.
Wrap The Tops Of Bananas In Tin Foil So They Don’t Over-Ripen
Bananas are a weird fruit, one minute they are perfect, then a day or two later they are all too ripe and far too sweet. Sure you can use them in banana bread, but honestly, sometimes you just want to eat a nice ripe banana straight up with a little peanut butter (because that is where it is at).
If you want to keep them from going brown, wrap aluminum foil or plastic wrap around the stem ends of the bananas and they should stay fresh for three to five days longer. Bananas give off ethylene gas that makes other foods rot, so keep them from other foods too.
Milk Does Not Go On The Door Of The Fridge
We keep milk at the refrigerator door in most households for easy access but it makes it get sour soon. If your family plows through milk, you may never notice how moving it changes the quality of a container of milk but it can make a massive difference.
The refrigerator door is a variable place for milk, because the refrigerator is always being opened and closed by people. The temperature of the milk fluctuates, allowing for bacteria to proliferate inside it. No, put it on a shelf that stays cold so your milk can stay fresh.
Ginger Should Be Stored In The Freezer
Ginger is an ingredient with various domestic uses — from home-made cold treatments to acne DIY — and not everyone has it in their kitchen. Although it has an expansive culinary range, from cultural to regional recipes, it is not widely understood how to best store this ingredient. Freezing (the best way to store your fresh ginger)
Freezing ginger not only prolongs its lifespan but also makes it eezi-peel and grate. Ginger tends to grow in odd shapes, making some parts harder to peel, but frozen ginger can be grated and minced so fine that it doesn’t even need to be peeled.
What To Do With Left Over Avocado
If you are anything like us, you probably love yourself some avocados, especially on toast, preferably with chili flakes. While we suddenly have a mouth watering at the thought of avocado toast, it is one of those foods that has a huge faux pas — it always leaves behind a half that will only turn brown a few hours after being placed in a refrigerator.
Avocados are brown so quickly due to too much oxygen exposure. These tips are great unless you eat a small avocado or an entire one for a meal. The pit really should be left there because that allows it to oxidate less quickly. Another trick is to shave the exposed parts with lemon juice and olive oil whilst storing it with onion, which preserves it for over a day.
Clean Your Fridge
This one seems self-evident but you will be amazed at the number of people who do not regularly clean their refrigerator. Plenty of people are going to chuckle upon reading this but you already know — it goes far beyond hygiene reason to scrub your fridge.
When something goes wrong or moldy, spores are left behind that can only wait to attack the rest of the food in your fridge. Therefore, ditch anything covered in mould, and sterilise the fridge interior to eliminate residual particles that can spoil other foodstuffs contained in the appliance.
Never Store Mushrooms In A Plastic Bag
Mushrooms are delicious in mushroom in any meal. They make everything from Asian to Italian tastier and a lot of vegan and vegetarian recipes can be used as substitutes. And there are different varieties to satisfy your fungi as well. They are versatile, but they do not last long.
To make them last longer, place your mushrooms in a paper bag either in the fridge or any dry, cool area. If you store them in plastic, that will keep their humidity and promote mildew. And no one wants bacteria growing on their fungi.
Put Ice Cream Containers In Plastic Bags
Unlike ice cream, which people do not leave in the freezer for long; it is consumed. People with some self-control will buy a tub of ice cream and leave it at the back of the freezer. When they open it again, the ice cream has freezer burn, and the rich, decadent treat is lost.
Keeping dessert in a plastic bag instead of letting the freezer get the best of it. The bag will act as a barrier to freezer burn and retain enough softness in the ice cream to be able to head to scoop it. Also, purchase smaller containers so it can’t freeze sit long enough to become freezer burnt.
Melt Crystalized Honey To Get The Original Texture Back
Every pantry should have honey due to its number of uses. A staple that everyone should have on hand, whether for sweetening your tea or for at-home face mask recipes. Eventually, all types of honey will crystallize, though that doesn’t mean it needs to be thrown in the trash.
If you notice your honey has started to crystallize, place the glass jar in a pot of water and heat to a very gentle simmer. Take it off the heat when the pot is warm, and it will take the crystals out of the boil when it is diluted. The most wonderful part about honey is that it does not spoil due to the honey bee enzymes that protect the gold liquid from bacteria.
Bread Should Never Go In The Fridge
For some people, especially those with bread boxes sitting out on the counter, it would appear clear enough bread does not go in the fridge; others believe it to prevent the bread from molding. As bread becomes mouldy rather fast, it may appear an excellent option to keep it for some time.
Many people think that but keeping bread in the fridge will go stale. Leave it somewhere it can remain at room temperature or invest in a bread box for ideal bread storage. Ideal for homemade bread, though shop-bought loaves will last longer in the fridge.
Where Do Tomatoes Go?
Tomato was never in the appropriate position and till date, none of us knew about it. The default answer would be Yes, in the fridge, because that’s where other fresh fruits and vegetables go, but that’s not right. Apply the following tips to get perfect tomatoes.
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Lest you think I’m a misguided outsider with a peculiar obsession with tomatoes, let me point out that this advice is not limited to those who keep compost piles and herb garnishes on hand: 1) tomatoes never go in plastic bags, plastic traps ethylene gas and makes them over-mature; For tomatoes that have not yet ripened, place them in a paper bag stem down and let the bag sit in a cool place until they are red. Lastly, to accelerate ripening, put them next to fruit. Finally, for the love of God, always let your tomatoes reach room temperature before eating.
Green Onions Should Be Frozen In A Plastic Bottle
If you enjoy various Asian foods like I do, you know that green onions are a staple in most dishes. But once you buy a load to make something tiny, you’ll have far too many, and they spoil quickly. Rather than throwing your money away, you can preserve those excess green onions.
Wash and chop, dry and place in an empty water bottle. Put the green onions in freezer, close the water bottle You want them to be dry because you don’t want them to get freezer burnt if you leave them in the freezer for too long.
Make Sure Your Lettuce Stays Crispy And Fresh
How many of you have faced droopy lettuce because the pack could not be finished once opened? Nobody wants that measured flavor of limp greens when they can easily have fresh crunchy lettuce instead. This is a serious problem that really plagues the world.
Keep a paper towel in with your lettuce when the package is opened and it will last a whole week. But this trick applies to towels as well. This towel will soak up the extra moisture and prevent the lettuce from becoming limp. Never again need you fret about that wilted lettuce.
Put Red Spices In The Refrigerator So They Stay Flavorful
There are spices that can become a game changer for a dish and they can add that punch of flavor to all the blander ingredients. And no, spices do go bad (despite the common belief otherwise). Spices lose so much of their flavor if not properly stored and then you have tasteless meals again.
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The red spices should be kept in the cold regions so that the spice lasts for a longer time. In addition, your spice rack should never be placed next to the oven, as the steam spoils the flavor too. Spices (also, buying bulk at ethnic stores is best because it is cheaper and fresher than grocery store)
Treat Your Delicate Herbs Like Flowers
In addition to their flavor and color contribution to foods, fresh herbs are most definitely used to garnish plates. However, whenever you purchase a fresh herb bunch from the market, they usually go bad within a day or two. Instead of putting your herbs like your fresh flowers.
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For parsley, cilantro, and basil, submerge them in freshwater before covering them with a plastic bad and wrapping the bad around with a rubber band. Every day, you should change the water for the most optimal results. Not only can you acquire these herbs for really low-cost, you can also expand these on your home windowsill.
Use Vinegar To Keep Berries Ripe
Ripe, sweet berries of any kind make an ideal snack any time of the year, but they turn mushy and moldy quickly after harvest if they aren’t consumed rapidly. Worst feeling in the world to open the container to find all your berries went bad before you were able to eat them.
Combine one-part vinegar (either white or apple cider vinegar) with ten parts water—and then simply soak your berries in it to ensure they stay good for the week. Swish the fruits around in the solution, drain, rinse, and refrigerate. It dilutes the vinegar to the point that you can’t taste it. It allows strawberries to last for nearly 14 days.
Cucumbers Should Be Kept At Room Temperature
Okay, cucumbers aren’t the most exciting vegetable, but they go with so many dips that the boring flavour gets masked. Do you even buy cucumbers regularly — those small ones tend to get all mushy and rotten so fast;
The trick is to simply leave cucumbers out on the counter (so they’re in room temperature). If you want to stop tossing cucumbers into the garbage every couple days, that’s the secret. However, the way you buy fruits and vegetables usually is how you keep them. They say you don’t put cucumbers in the refrigerator, so don’t put them in there when you come home.
These Ethylene Gas Absorbers Are A Must For Your Fridge
So we referenced ethylene gas a couple of times above — not many people ever heard of this. While fruits and vegetables release ethylene gas naturally during ripening, it is odorless and colorless, thus invisible. It’s essentially like giving fruits and veggies human growth hormones — they develop at a normal pace.
Ethylene gas is one of the largest grouped climacteric gas among fruits and vegetables, cookies trace నుండి* though they require it to grow, over-ripening is caused due to excessive gas. So, apples and pears produce the most ethylene and this in turn accelerates other things to ripening. These absorbents capture the surplus gas and extend the life of the produce. They’re an essential item in your fridge.
Carrots Can Stay In Fresh For Months If You Store Them The Right Way
If people are freezing a carrot in their refrigerator for months without utilizing it, they probably did not want it from squat. If for some reason you need to keep them that long, we have ways to keep them fresh, because we really do not want your carrots getting soft on us.
WHEN YOU GET YOUR CARROTS once you buy your carrots, head to the sink of your choice and remove the greens stem if it has any and set it in water like the pic. Mmm but also removing the green stems helps keep the carrots from drying out When the water becomes cloudy, change it every four or five days The same trick also applies to baby carrots.
Freeze Maple Syrup Forever
If you, like Canadians, are a lover of pure maple syrup, you’re going to want to learn this trick to make it last. Pure maple syrup is expensive stuff, so you do not want to lose any of it. If available on sale, buy in bulk and store them for years.
Little do people know, but maple syrup is meant for the fridge. It would have a shelf life of one year, if you keep it here. If you have a large volume of syrup, freeze what you do not need in smaller containers. Storing maple syrup in the freezer means it will keep indefinitely.
The Bottom Of Your Oven Can Be Used For Keeping Food Warm
Like many people, we always thought that draw at the bottom attached to our oven was a storage draw. While it isn’t safe to store things inside the oven, we thought the companies did so to give an extra storage option to each kitchen, but we were wrong.
That bottom drawer is actually designed stay warm as the rest of the meal is being prepared! If you have beef-roast-on-an-epic-scale level shit to cook, and you don’t want other dishes to sit out and get stale, just stuff them into the warming drawer and switch it on until you’re finished, Cooie Frontin’ Out Instead of having mounds of gravy-smothered potatoes and veggies go cold on the table? Every day you learn something new.
Never Worry About Your Lemons Going Bad
Unless you’re juicing lemons for shots or lemonade, you’re not going to use a whole lemon at once. For example, if you ended up tossing half a lemons that somehow turned more rancid than usual lemons, then we want to tell you there are actually multiple techniques to preserving them.
Leave the ends of a lemon when you cut it in half and stick them back onto the half you’ve not used, with a toothpick. Dipping lemons in paraffin wax would also keep them oxygen sealed. There are also frozen lemon wedges to make ice in beverages if you ever need them.
Keep Grapes Crispy And Fresh With A Special Bag
Grapes are another one of my favourite fruits that seem to mold very quickly. They ripen quickly because of that aforementioned ethylene gas, so you end up tossing half of them in the trash. For example, a little trick: they are great frozen (they are amazing during the hot summer days).
Instead of freezing grapes, grapes can also be put into polyethylene bags, a type of plastic bag that keeps the freshness of produce. Grapes can remain crispy longer based on the type of container you use.
Store Potatoes And Apples Together To Stop Sprouting
Those of you who have left potatoes too long in the wrong place will know the agony of finding them sprouted and rotten. As one of the most adaptable pieces of food, potatoes need such specific bits to be in your kitchen for a good amount of time
Potatoes can be kept from sprouting by storing them with apples since the fruits also emit ethylene gas. Apples release the most ethylene gas than any other fruits and vegetables, so it is preferable to use them when you can.
Never Have An Exploding Juice Box Again
Everyone knows kids make messes, right? A juice box is no way to soothe a screaming child; if they get mad, they may squeeze it just a little too hard and, BOOM. They’re covered in gooey juice and you have another mess to deal with.
To skip the exploding juice box disaster, open the bottom flaps of the box without tearing them. So they can grip the juice box without squeezing it too hard. That is one less mess that parents have to clean.
Revive Raisins In Hot Water
Raisins are consumed by everyone, from the toddler to those that are really past retirement. Raisins take to everything from trail mix to cookies, and even when no one invites them, they arrive, unannounced, wherever they’re least wanted. They go stale and hard over time but you are not gonna throw them away yet!
If you have dry raisins instead of disposing use hot water leave them for 1-2 hrs to swell. Wipe them dry and then place them in an airtight container, so they don’t dry out again. They can also be rehydrated in small batches anytime you want them.
Butter Will Stop Cheese From Drying Out
We all love a generous piece of cheese straight from the wedge. In fact, cheese can be a drug as addictive as any drug, and throngs of lactose-intolerant people will endure the agony to get their fix. But after you cut into cheese, the cut end will dry out, and no one wants to eat that end of the cheese.
Rub a bit of butter on the cut side of the cheese to prevent it from drying out. Weird, right, but it will keep it moist for the next time you untie it. For you found this too unnatural, encompass it within a waxy piece of cloth or cheesecloth thus keeping it edible.
Nut Butters Should Be Upside Down
As peanut butter lovers ourselves, we know how heartbreaking it is when you reach that bottom of the jar only to find that there are no more creamy goodness days left. The oil sat atop that start, but that oil could not have reached all the way to the bottom. You end up with a dried shriveling lump of peanut butter that is frustrating to spread, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
Keep the jar upside down after you crack and stir it, to allow the oils to flow into the butter. And store it in the fridge for an extended shelf life. This applies to all types of nut butter—store bought and homemade.
Rules For The Perfect Refrigerator
Everyone has their system for rearranging the contents of a fridge so they can find what they are looking for, but we discovered the best locations for each food to be placed in the refrigerator so it could remain longer without going bad. One — turn that fridge down to below 40 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius) to keep bacteria in check, as well as pay attention to the temp settings on those veggie drawers.
Another guideline is also to keep fruits, vegetables, and beef apart so that they cannot contaminate every other. In addition, place meat and seafood on the bottom shelf, so it does not leak onto other items. Overstuffing the fridge stops air from circulating, leaving some areas at warmer-than-ideal temperatures, thus ruining food. Lastly, before each trip to the grocery store, clean out your fridge so you do not forget about anything that might also be going bad.
The Dent In The Milk Bottle Is Actually Very Important
You know that little dent in the plastic milk container? Ever wonder what that was really for? Many people would not even blink twice at this in everyday life, however it actually is there for a good reason. This will help to understand if the milk is good or not, but you don’t need to do the smell test from horror stories.
If the dent opens outward it means you had too much gas in the container and your milk is spoiled. There’s also a dent in case the jug falls then it absorbs the shock and helps not to burst the container. That’s how you will never shed tears over spilled milk.
Potatoes Should Stay In Dark Places
Unless you are trying to grow a potato for a science project, you typically would want to avoid this phase in the potato’s life. If potatoes are sprouted means they are rotten and you cannot eat it. You are tossing money in the bin, when you toss them away.
Potato is one of the easiest crops to grow, so it should be easy to store. They certainly need a dry and dark area because the potatoes need to be kept away from moisture. If the potatoes turn green, you will know there is too much light. Potatoes storage is made easier by using ventilated baskets.
Certain Alcohols Never Expire
There’s absolutely not much to worry about if you’ve been sitting on a bottle of booze for a few years without having popped the seal. Kitchen staples often come with expiration dates, but alcohol can be good for years before spoiling.
The only thing you need to remember is: no heat or sunlight on top so cold and dark places only. Even 10 year old beer will be ok to drink, it just wont taste quite the way you were hoping!
Roast Nuts And Then Freeze Them When You Get Home From The Store
Nuts Nuts can be kept at home and can be consumed as a quick, healthy snack. They can also be incorporated into many recipes, so it’s nice to have some on hand at all times. But the worst is mushy nuts that have sat in the drawer too long.
Instead of keeping them directly in the pantry, roast them for 15 minutes at 350 degrees and keep them in the freezer. This helps them stay quite flavourful and crispy for long. Or freeze immediately before roasting for additional crispness.
Oily Herbs Are Come Tied Together For A Reason
Herbs, like all food, should not be treated equally, despite common sense. Well, because there are many types of herbs, they also don need different rules for storage to be at their most flavorful and useful. Not each type of herb have the same features so you cannot toss all them inside the refrigerator.
Herbs that contain a lot of oil, such as thyme, should be gathered loosely and hung to dry in a draught. And this will provide you with the most flavor when you use them in your cooking, and the smell will be a breath of fresh air in your kitchen. Also, a great piece of green decoration.
Aluminum Foil Is A Life Saver For Keeping Veggies Fresh
Aluminum Foil: Everyone knows aluminum foil is the magic answer to many problems. Whether it be a quick kitchen remedy or wrapping veggies, the foil is hands down a kitchen must-have. Aluminum foil can solve any problem which is why it is the duct tape of kitchen essentials—even when it comes to your veggie storage.
Aluminum foils wrap stalks of celery, broccoli, and lettuce by placing in fridge. This will make them stay fresh and crunchy for four weeks. And it will protect them from being invaded by aliens — because no one wants to be a probe-ified stalk of broccoli.
Reuse Plastic Bottle Caps To Close Plastic Bags
Yes look so bad for planet, but sometimes you need use it. Many DIY hacks, including this one, allows you to recycle old plastic. The flimsy plastic bags given at the store only remain closed when they are knotted up. But what if you want to quickly open it?
Instead of knotting it, use the top of a plastic bottle: cut it off, pass the bag through the top, and close it with the cap. And so you can pop in and out of the bags with ease. Reusable containers would be a better choice if you can stay away from these plastic bags.
Freeze Mashed Potatoes Like This
Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and with the holiday season close behind it, you’ll be getting a double dose of leftover on leftover. But, it could be a struggle to consume all that extra food before you have to throw it in the dumpster.
Most holiday meals come with mashed potatoes, but you have a lot of leftovers? Place them in the freezer and they last up to 1 year. When you want to thaw them, please place in the refrigerator because the microwave will change the texture.
Freeze Fresh Herbs For This Reason
Unknown reason #5: Fresh herbs always come in excess. Wherever you try to buy them from you always have way too much. No need to ruin your herbs by stuffing them all at once – save them for when you need it next without making another store trip.
Freeze your herbs in ice cube trays to have them ready to cook with when you need them. All you must do is defrost a few cubes and you’re good to go with any recipe. This can be done with water (to make an herbal tea), olive oil (to make an herb-infused oil that you can use in cooking), or butter (to make an herb-flavored butter).
Remove Beet Leaves To Keep Them Fresh
Thus, beets can taste amazing in almost any meal when you can overcome the muddy flavor that is dirt and prepare them the right way. They might stain your clothes, your hands and your mouth, but they are versatile and so full of strength and vitamins that will keep you healthy.
If you purchase beets with the skin on, make certain to eliminate the leaves, they will maintain longer. The leaves take up the water from the beets and make them droop and dry out. If you don’t want to throw them out, you can also add the leaves to a salad.
Spray Left Over Guacamole With Cooking Spray Before Putting It Back In The Fridge
Guacamole is undoubtedly the best dip on the planet. When paired with a hot tortilla chip the right way, it is nothing short of heavenly. But see, when you have leftover guac, it turns an un-appetizing shade of brown in the next-day container and totally destroys the beautifully aesthetically pleasing dip that used to be a hit.
Rather than allowing your guacamole to go all brown and horrific, spray it down with a little bit of cooking spray before you stash it back in the fridge. In the same vein, it is like the avocado trick we talked about before, but for your version of that food that you smashed up.
Freeze Green Beans Without Blanching Them
If you are a plant person then there are so many things you must be growing in the garden like for example green beans. Just look at your green beans because hey it is hard to grow them and they go with so many things, but before you give this trick a whirl.
Freshly-harvested or supermarket-bought, snap the bean tips off and chop baby-beans in half to keep them bright and crisp. Ensure all dirt is out then dry them for 20 minutes. Seal them in a ziplock freezer bag, and store them in the freezer for as long as desired.
Store Asparagus Like Flowers
While similar to the aforementioned herbs, all vegetables have varied storage protocols. We touched on tomatoes, cucumbers, and carrots in the rules sections, and all had to be treated differently. If you enjoy consuming asparagus — and the after-effects of eating it — this trick will properly preserve them for when you are ready to make them.
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Think of asparagus in the same way you would think of flowers. You want to cut the stems and put them in the water and cover them with a plastic bag and secure the bag, however, that works in your situation. Tip: Change the water daily until you use them. This keeps them for up to a week and also works with cilantro and parsley.
