How To Keep Your Food Fresh As Long As Possible
Few things are as frustrating as cleaning out your fridge. Half-finished leftovers long-forgotten sauces.. and wilted veggies you swore you would eat.
Things only get more frustrating when you know you only bought that asparagus a week ago.
And the frustration doesnt stop at the fridge. Your pantry and cabinets have undoubtedly had food left on them too long.
Everyones has. Sometimes its because we just dont get to the item in time. And sometimes its because we dont know how to store the food so it stays fresh as long as possible.
Some things can easily be stored. But others take a little bit of know-how.
From asparagus and leafy greens to bread and mushrooms, this article has you covered!
1) Certain Things Must Be Refrigerated
There are some foods that most people agree need to be refrigerated things like milk, eggs, and cheese.
TRENDING: Women Who Eat These 3 Cheeses Are Losing Pounds of Stubborn Belly Fat (Research Proven)Some parts of the world, such as Britain, might disagree about eggs. But the way theyre packed and sold in America, at least, means they need to be refrigerated.
But not all areas of the fridge chill food the same way. Food stored in the door, for example, warms and cools more often because the temperature changes when the door opens.
That is why foods like eggs and dairy should be stored on the shelves, where the temperature is more consistent.
2) And Some Things Should Never Be Refrigerated
Of course, there are foods that are the complete opposite and should not be refrigerated. Foods like tomatoes lose their flavor and texture in the fridge.
Other foods, like onions and potatoes, actually go bad faster when refrigerated. Thats because their natural sugars break down faster. This not only changes the flavors, but also reduces their overall shelf life.
Potatoes, onion, and garlic are best stored in places that are cool, dry, and dark. A kitchen cabinet is a great place.
SPECIAL: These 3 Delicious Smoothie Recipes Are Specially Designed To Burn Off More Fat So You Lose More WeightJust make sure its not one above or next to the stove since that will cause the temperature inside to shift a lot.
Getting Down To Details
Some foods only stay fresh if theyre treated in very specific ways.
Beyond the basics of whether or not to refrigerate them the freshness of these foods depends on how theyre stored when theyre rinsed and how long you can expect them to stay fresh at all.
3) To Rinse Or Not To Rinse
If youre like me, then you grew up in a house that didnt put a lot of emphasis on rinsing produce. This left me to take cues from the things I saw on TV.
As most people can tell you, television isnt always the best place to get your information. This is very true when it comes to rinsing produce.
TV families will get home from the store and immediately rinse their strawberries, grapes, and lettuce. All of those foods then go straight in the fridge.
In reality, those foods are going to last about half as long as they should when theyre rinsed before being placed in the refrigerator.
TV families might not have to keep their food fresh for long. But if you want your new pack of berries to last more than a day or twoor your lettuce to last at alldont rinse them right away. Wash your produce right before youre ready to use it.
If you end up not eating everything you rinse, dont just throw it back in the fridge. Store it with a paper towel so the towel can soak up extra moisture.
The same goes for leafy greens. While the paper towel might need a change before the greens go bad it will still trap all the excess moisture and keep your food fresher, longer.
4) Mind The Oils
Another bad habit I picked up from TV was keeping my vinegar, oil, and regularly used spices out on the counter. It was something I saw in every TV kitchen.
But as anyone who really likes their olive oil will tell you thats the worst place for it.
BRAND-NEW: Research Shows These 3 Sugar Substitutes Are Best For Burning Fat (Plus 2 You Should NEVER Eat)All oils are sensitive to light. The combination of air and light exposure on the kitchen counter is a sure way to spoil your oil well before youve used it all.
Like potatoes and onions, the oils you cook with are best stored in a cool, dry place like a kitchen cabinet. And just like with the foods, you will want to avoid the cabinet over the stove.
Even oily foods are prone to this. Nuts will go rancid much faster if they are exposed to air or continuous temperature fluctuations.
Instead of leaving them on a shelf, stick them in the fridge or put them in an airtight container. Then store them on a shelf where they wont be exposed to a lot of light.
5) Keep It Airtight
Nuts arent the only food that can benefit from airtight storage containers. Foods like grains, cereals, rice, and flour should all be stored in airtight containers.
This is because grains and flours tend to attract bugs like weevils, moths, and even something called a flour beetle. Storing the food in an airtight container prevents anything from getting into it before you do.
You can also freeze your flour. This used to be standard practice to kill off anything in the flour when home freezers first became common.
There is some argument now as to whether its necessary. But it certainly cant hurt and if it keeps the bugs from your flour, that will prolong its shelf life.
The Takeaway
A lot of people have bad habits when it comes to storing food, myself included. We likely learned improper techniques from somewhere like the TV or family members.
SPECIAL: This Scientific Trick Can Reduce Your Belly Fat By 8.5% in Just 12 Weeks…Or, we might have tried to figure it out on our own and stumbled into bad habits instead.
However the habits developed, its not too late to create good ones that will help keep your food fresh longer.
Itll take some time to adjust. But the increased shelf life and improved taste of your food is more than worth it!
Pro Tip: Buy Sourdough Instead Of Regular Bread (Or Bake Your Own At Home)!
You may have heard about the sourdough craze thats happening now that everyones stuck inside with more free time on their hands (or seen the photos on Instagram and Facebook)…
well, one BIG reason sourdough is so popular right now is it stays fresh for way longer than regular bread.
No joke a loaf of sourdough can stay soft and mold-free for up to SEVEN DAYS while normal bread goes stale and gets moldy after 2-3 days, max.
And thats because during sourdough production, good bacteria convert the linoleic acid in bread flour to a compound that has powerful antifungal activity[1]
resulting in a better-tasting bread that doesnt require any artificial preservatives to stay fresh for a good long while. 🙂
And yes, when you eat sourdough, youll get more of these good bacteria in your system too which can help boost your immunity, keep you healthy, and even help you lose weight in some cases!
(Eat more bread to LOSE weight?? Somebody slap me, because I must be dreaming!)
For example, one 2019 study found L. plantarum, a strain commonly found in sourdough, showed antiobesity effects… including body weight loss and reduction of abdominal fat volume(!).[2]
As a matter of fact, researchers have identified 4 more strains of these good bacteria that have been scientifically linked to weight loss, increased fat burn, and a metabolism boost…
and while you wont find all of them in every loaf of sourdough, there is a reliable way to add them to your diet and the best part is, you dont even have to leave your house to do this: