With the price of food at the grocery store, it’s going to be well worth it to make sure that you’re making this food last as long as possible by properly storing it. However, many people don’t know how to properly store food, be it on their counters, in the fridge and freezer, or in their pantry. When food isn’t stored properly, it can easily go bad or encourage pests to come into your kitchen and other food areas. So to help ensure that neither of these things happen to you, here are three food storage tips to help food last longer.
Don’t Wash Produce Before You Store It
Produce is vital as part of a healthy diet. However, most produce needs to be eaten quickly before it goes bad. But if it’s properly stored, you may be able to get your produce to last much longer in your fridge.
If you have a habit of washing your produce as soon as you get it from the store, consider stopping this habit now. When too much moisture is introduced into produce, it can make it start to go bad for sooner than it otherwise would have. So as a good rule of thumb, don’t wash any of your produce until you’re planning to use it. This way, you can keep excess moisture out of the equation.
Keep Pantry Items In Airtight Containers
When storing food in your pantry, it’s easy to just put the food away in the container that it came from the store in. However, if you do this, the food could go bad sooner than it needs to.
The most ideal way to store food in your pantry is in an airtight container. With airtight containers, you can ensure that food doesn’t go stale and isn’t accessible to any bugs or other pests that might make their way into your pantry.
Make Proper Use Of Your Fridge And Freezer
Knowing what is best stored at room temperature, in the fridge, or in the freezer can be hard to keep track of. While some of these things might be obvious, other things might go against what you’d always done or had been taught to believe. For example, tomatoes are usually best kept at room temperature while apples can last far longer when stored in the fridge. And when it comes to bread, if you’re wanting it to last, storing it in the freezer is a great way to keep it fresh long after its expiration date.
If you’re needing some help making your food last longer when stored, consider using the tips mentioned above to assist you with this and ensure that the money you’re spending at the grocery store isn’t going to waste.
