Food Storage Tips

• Vida Mann from Monroeville, Ohio sent in the following tip: After chopping or mincing onions or green peppers I put them in freezer bags and press them flat. Makes breaking off the amount needed easy.
• The Crain Family from Mesa, Arizona sends in a money saving tips for those who have little ones. The Crains wash and reuse the plastic containers that fruit such as Gerbers 4-pack Stage 2 & 3 come packaged in. The resealable lids make them great for snacks later like cereal, etc. when the kids are out and about or in the stroller. You won't have to waste money buying small containers and you won't feel bad if they are lost or you end up throwing them away.
• Lee Ann Reiners of Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania uses squeeze margarine containers to freeze water and juice in. She then uses them to chill her picnic cooler. As the drinks melt, they can be consumed.
• MC of Dallas buys large packages of ground round (5 lbs. or more) on sale and boils most of it, adding chopped onions and a few carrots and garlic powder to the liquid, (or whatever else is on hand). After it's cooked, usually about an hour, MC drains the beef and runs it through the food processor a little at a time to break it up, leaving in the carrots and onions. Bag in small freezer bags to have the perfect amount for tacos, sloppy joes, spaghetti, or any other recipes that calls for ground beef. The bags store stacked flat I the freezer.
• ValleyGal from LaFeria, Texas writes: "if you store cottage cheese upside down in the fridge, it will last a longgggg time. Don't know why, but it works.
• Molly also suggests storing coffee in the freezer. It keeps the coffee fresh from the first to last cup. "Now I put enough coffee into small snack size zip lock bags to make 8 cups, then store them in the freezer. It's a little extra work when you first do it, but saves time when you're in a hurry. I store the little bags in a larger bag. Just pop it out and you're ready to go in a few seconds without having to measure and count. When you're down to the last couple of bags you know it's time to buy more.
• Keya in Las Vegas suggests wrapping sandwiches in a paper towel before placing in ziplock or sandwich bag. The paper towel helps keep the bread fresh. * Mich adds that wrapping lettuce in a paper towel before putting plastic bag to store in the fridge. It helps to keep it fresh and from getting wilted and slimy as fast.
• Patrick A from Los Angeles says he keeps his kitchen shears sharp by cutting through a piece of steel wool or a Scotch Brite pad every now and then.
• Baking powders lose strength over time. Store them tightly covered as moisture can cause them to lose their strength faster.
• Mariann Nichols from Fort Worth, Texas has a fabulous wine tip: If you don't have time to cool your white or red wines before serving, add 2-3 frozen grapes in your glass. White grapes for white wine and red grapes for red wine. It will cool your wine and you will have a treat at the bottom of the glass.
• Always store butter covered as it absorbs odors.
• Corn syrup is one of the few sweeteners that has shelf live. Discard immediately if there are any signs of mold or bubbles caused by fermentation.
• Joy Davies from British Columbia, Canada says that if you keep ice cream cartons in a brown paper shopping bag with the top closed, before putting in the freezer, you can keep the ice cream frost-free and eliminate freezer burn.]
• From Forva: When you buy a peppers (any color) or even onions, and you end up with a little or a lot left over, cut them into slices for stir-frys, or little bits for flavoring recipes, adding to sauces, dips, salsas etc, and freeze. I use the plastic take-away containers that salads are sold in. A chunk breaks off the frozen whole easily, giving you access to a small amount should you need it. The vegetables don't need to be thawed before use.
• Are your banana's past their prime? Peel then leave whole or slice and freeze in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Once frozen, place bananas in a plastic freezer zipper bag. Use in smoothies or in any recipe calling for mashed bananas.
• To quickly ripen a tomato, put it with an apple in a perforated bag in a covered bowl. The apple gives off ethylene gas that speeds the ripening process.
• For longer life, store fresh mushrooms in a brown paper bag in the produce drawer of your refrigerator.
• An apple placed in a bag of potatoes will keep them from budding longer.
• Store lemon, lime, orange and grapefruit rinds in the freezer. Grate fresh citrus zest whenever you need it.
• Best Way to Store Parsley -- Fresh parsley will last for at least a couple of weeks if you store it in a jar. Place unwashed parsley in a clean jar with the stems down. Replace jar lid, and refrigerate. Pour off any water that periodically collects in the jar. Wash before using.
• Freeze leftover cooked long grain or brown rice (other varieties tend to get sticky) for quick use later. Cool the cooked rice before packaging in plastic freezer storage bags. Freeze flat.
• Basil wilts quickly, but it perks up if set it in cool water for about 30 minutes.
• Potatoes rot quickly if stored near onions, so keep them separate.
• To prevent potatoes from budding, place an apple in the bag.
• John Thrasher from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania suggest storing cottage cheese upside-down. John says it will keep fresh for many months and that he found the tip in an old home economics book at the library.
• Wrapping the outside of ice cream containers in aluminum foil will help prevent freezer burn.
• Putting a slice of fresh bread in the cookie jar will help keep cookies fresh. Switch the bread for a new piece every 2-3 days.
• Here is an old Chinese trick: fill a small clay pot (that has a lid) with plain white sand. Store fresh gingerroot by burying it in the sand. It will keep for months! Much better than those dried up roots you find on your refrigerator shelves.
  
• To keep lettuce longer, wrap it in a damp cloth placed in a plastic bag in the refrigerator.
• Maureen from New Hampshire says to put a few grains of rice in your salt shaker. It keeps the salt from clumping together.
• Jan from southeast Alabama had this time saving tip: "I pre-season/marinade all my meat before I stick it in the freezer. Steaks, roasts chicken etc. By the time they have frozen & thawed out they're well marinated. This is great for those "Oops I forgot...." days! Ground beef gets your basic seasonings, then I make a few burgers out of it, split the rest into 1 lb. packages and freeze it. Then all I have to do is add the extras for chili, or meatballs, meatloaf. If I run out but still have the burgers, I use those instead."
• Thanks go to Pat Moore, the self proclaimed "Quen of Clutter," who sent in the following three tips: When you only need egg whites for a recipe, put the egg yolk in a small dish and freeze. After frozen remove from dish & store in a labeled zip top bag. Perfect for making mayo, etc.
• GP Maksym from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada says that if you store your onions in the fridge crisper drawer, you'll get less tears when slicing.
• Place bananas in a plastic bag--colored grocery bags seem to work best. Place in the fridge, and the bananas will keep up to a week without ripening further or getting black.
• Line your fridge veggie drawers with a newspaper section, wrapped in a kitchen towel. It will absorb any moisture, preventing your veggies from molding.
• Irene Lyman from Anaheim, California suggests a good way of preserving herbs that won't last in the refrigerator, like extra basil or cilantro, is to finely chop them and freeze with a small amount of water (just enough to hold it together) in ice cube trays. You can then pop the "herbsicles" out of the tray and store in a plastic food storage bag. When you need to add an herbal zip to soups, sauces or other recipes, just toss in a cube.
• To extend the life of cheese and prevent mold, Joe from Wisconsin (that figures) suggests wrapping the cheese in a piece of cheesecloth that has been dipped in vinegar before storing in a plastic food storage bag.
• Test baking soda for freshness by pouring 1/2 teaspoon vinegar or lemon juice over the baking soda. If doesn't actively bubble, it's too old to be effective. Pour it down the drain and buy a new box!
• Joan Presley from Fort Worth says "Keep your cilantro, parsley or even celery fresh longer by placing the stems in a cup of water, covering the leaves with a plastic baggy, and placing it in the refrigerator."
• Susie from Fort Worth, Texas says, "A better way to keep celery fresh (and it works for Romaine lettuce as well) is to wrap it with a damp paper towel and then put it in a plastic bag with as little air as possible and refrigerate. I eat alone and never throw any away when I do this.
• Storing a slice of raw apple in with your brown sugar will prevent it from hardening.
• Brown sugar that has already been hardened can be put through a grater for use.
• Placing a slice of soft bread in a package of hardened brown sugar will soften it in a couple of hours.
• After squeezing lemons for cooking, freeze the rinds. Whenever you need freshly grated lemon zest, you can grate it from the frozen lemons. Saves a trip to the store or buying a lemon just for a small amount of zest.
• If you have a recipe that uses just egg whites, you can refrigerate the yolks for later use by storing them, unbroken, in a small bowl, covered with cold water for up to two days.
• Maryann Bille from Barberton, Ohio says she keeps her brown sugar wraped in another plastic bag in the freezer to make it last longer without hardening. Take it out to thaw about 15 minutes before you need to use it, then return the remaining portion to the freezer.
• Kathy from Clearwater, Florida suggests if you have grapes that are starting to get soft, freeze them before they do - you'll have a handy snack, and you won't waste any. Freezing also works well if you get a batch of not-so-good grapes - they taste better frozen.
• Meriel Christensen from Milwaukee, Wisconsin says "Freeze your marshmallows after opening the bag. They will will be as good as new when they thaw. "
• If honey becomes crystallized, it is still good, just warm it up in a mocrowave or put in a pan of boiling water for a few minutes. A quick stir and it will be as good as new.
• Maryann Bille, Barberton, Ohio writes: "Keep brown sugar wrapped in another plastic bag in the freezer.Take it out for about 15 min to thaw, when done, put it back in the freezer. Keeps fresher for a long time."
• Reader SusieQ writes in with the following tip: "I have found a way to keep Romaine Lettuce, radishes, and celery fresh in the refrigerator for longer periods as well as recycle the plastic bags that fresh produce comes in. Wrap the Romaine and celery separately in a dry paper towel and put each into one of the plastic bags it came in. Get as much air out of the bag as you can, close and refrigerate until needed. If the celery is too long for one bag then I use a bag on each end. For radishes, dry with a paper towel, put into a plastic container with a dry paper towel, cover and refrigerate until needed. These items should keep for a couple of weeks or more."
  To extend the life of produce even more, store with a Mrs. Green's Extra Life Disc in the produce drawer of your fridge.
• Popcorn will keep longer if stored in the freezer.
• To prevent salt and pepper in shakers from caking, put an oyster cracker or two in the shaker.
• Store marshmallows in the freezer to keep them from drying out.
• To revive marshmallows that have become hard, place them in a plastic bag with a couple slices of fresh bread. Seal the bag and after a few days the marshmallows will be as good as new.
• Store potatoes in a cool (not cold), dry place. Refrigeration causes starch to turn to sugar.
• Reader L. Brown says: "Has your brown sugar hardened? Place your box of brown sugar in a zip lock bag. Place a small piece of bread inside the ziplock bag but outside of the box. Seal and let sit a short while (at least overnight). Use the softened sugar as needed. Replace the dried out bread (it dries as it remoistens the sugar) with a fresh piece as needed."
• Don't wash potatoes until just before you use them as this will shorten storage life.
• Bettye VanderVeen, Bentonville, Arkansas suggests opening cans of things that settle (like beans or chili) from the bottom. The ingredients come out much easier. If you have a can that can't be opened from the bottom, Bettye says that storing it upside-down will also help.
• Shirley K from Michigan says fresh ginger will last longer by storing it in a pot of sand. Shirley says this was a question on the game show Jeopardy a few years ago and the tip really works!
• Meriel from Milwaukee, Wisconsin has a frugal way of making use of lemons or limes that are past their prime. "Squeeze limes or lemons that are starting to get too old and freeze the juice in small containers. When you need a tablespoon of juice pop it into the microwave and you are ready to go."
• When cooking pasta or rice (brown, long grain or wild rice), cook extra. Freeze 1 cup servings in zip lock bags. It heats quickly in the microwave for quick meals. Submitted by wellness consultant Lori Thibideau.
• Grill or pan fry (in a sprayed, nonstick skillet), many boneless/skinless chicken breasts. Season them with seasoned salt and garlic powder. Cool and wrap individually in plastic wrap. Place wrapped chicken breasts in a large zip lock bag and keep in the freezer. These are great for a quick cesar salad, barbecue chicken salad (warmed in microwave with some lowfat barbecue sauce), or chopped for a cold chicken salad. Submitted by wellness consultant Lori Thibideau.
• When you have a jar that has a seal of paper across the entire top, (like instant bouillon, coffee creamer and others), rather than rip of the entire cover, if you cut a small triangle at the edge of the jar, it will act as a spout when you want to pour it out. Lots less mess than trying to put the spoon in the jar. Great when you have large jars of a product and want to pour some for immediate use into a smaller one. Tip submitted by Bettye VanderVeen of Bentonville, Arkansas.
• When roasting garlic for a recipe, do 10 or more heads at one time, cool, then squeeze out about 2 tablespoons purée at a time into "snack" size plastic zipper bags, says reader Nancy Mueller of Greenfield, Wisconsin. Place all the little bags into a larger one and freeze. Then you have recipe-ready roasted garlic on hand any time! Just be sure to label the bag because it resembles frozen mashed bananas!
• Lauren Vaughan, a Fabulous Foodie from Plano, Texas sent in this tip: For easy storage and thawing of ground meats, before freezing divide the meat into several equal parts and place between pieces of wax paper. Use a rolling pin to flatten meat into a thin, wide patty. Layer the wax paper and rolled out patties and store in a large freezer bag. Not only do the thin patties take less freezer space than the store wrapped heap of meat, they also take less time to defrost and you can defrost only the amount you need! Especially handy if you're buying in bulk and only cooking for two!
• Placing sugar cubes in cheese containers helps keep cheese mold-free.
• Storing a peeled, raw potato in the refrigerator for a couple of days helps eliminate odors.
• Storing whole onions should not be done in plastic bags. Lack of air reduces the storage life.
• Wrapping celery in aluminum foil when putting it in the refrigerator helps keep the freshness for weeks.
• Enclosing an avocado or banana in a brown bag containing an apple hastens ripening.
• Freshening dry and hard lemons is effortless by placing them in a hot oven for a few minutes.