Back to basics

[fudgemcknitty]

Can anyone suggest a really comprehensive guide to keeping food for a total idiot. i'm talking real basics . I am partially sighted and over the years have had so many mouldy in the mouth incedents that I have lost my nerve and now throw away what could be perfectly good food by being over cautious.

[Shirleymouse]

Funnily enough I was discussing this with a friend at the weekend who is a health inspector. She said that basically you should eat cooked left-overs within 2 days of cooking it or freeze it as soon as it is cooled down if you want to keep it longer than that. I risk some things e.g. yoghurt, cheese if there is no visible mould or obviously horrible smell but I never risk eggs as I'm a bit funny about them at the best of times.
My mum has a lot of old-school recipe books (e.g. Mrs Beeton, Hamlyn) that tell you about freezing, preserving etc. I expect you'd be able to track them down on the internet.
I find the freezer the most useful way to store food. Hope that has helped a bit

[Green Aura]

I depends what sort of food you're talking about. If it's the odd carrot etc that's going a bit mouldy then peeling it before use is enough. I've heard of this liner you can put in the salad drawers that help keep veg fresh for much longer. I've not tried it but it seems like a good idea.

As for cooked food, as Shirley said it's probably better to freeze anything you're not going to eat within a day or two. And make sure you reheat any leftovers thoroughly - then even if you do get the odd dodgy bit at least it will be dead

The other thing I would suggest is taking plastic off anything - even in the fridge food seems to get sweaty and go mouldy a lot quicker. And don't pack it up too full - both fridges and freezers work best when full but with plenty of space for air to circulate. That's often a problem for us - going shopping just once a month means that for a few days both are packed to the hilt!

[Millymollymandy]

I use my nose a lot! If it smells fine then I eat it.

[fudgemcknitty]

Thanks :0) I'm getting all my stupid questions out of my system.:0).

[boboff]

We keep our fridge at 1c rather than 5c, and that does seem to keep milk especially fresher for longer.
Cooked food lasts for a week easily, this is the minimum shelf life a ready meal would get from being cooked when bought in a Supermarket, provided its kept cool.
Yoghurts and fruit are the food we waste most, the OH always buys it, aiming to be good, and I always end up throwing it away. Sounds daft, but as I am at home and "house wife" I have started to refuse to buy these items until the last lot is finished. Its a shame as its not buying healthy food, but I hate the waste.

[Millymollymandy]

We often eat yoghurt which is at least a month or more past the sell by date - it's never off cos yoghurt is already off!

[Odsox]

We keep our fridge at 1c rather than 5c, and that does seem to keep milk especially fresher for longer

I have only just realised that you can freeze milk !!
I knew you couldn't freeze ordinary milk as it separates, and have had many a good moan since they started homogenising it without realising that homogenised milk freezes perfectly.
Similar to Green Aura we only shop once a week and by the end of the week the milk took on a definite "cheesy" taste, but not any more .. plus we have a couple of spares* now for days when I fancy a milk pudding.

* As long as you keep rotating them of course as I think their freezer life is only a month or so.

[Shirleymouse]

I've heard of this liner you can put in the salad drawers that help keep veg fresh for much longer. I've not tried it but it seems like a good idea.

My mum bought some reusable plastic bags from Lakeland that do this. They actually so seem to work. They look like green freezer-bags. They are especially good for cauliflower which I find goes manky quickly. You have to break it into florets and wash it before putting it in the bag but then it keeps for about a week in the fridge.

I save empty margarine containers for freezing things in portions. Even better are those plastic containers that some take-aways use with lids as they can be bunged straight in the microwave.

I find bread goes off very quickly. I bought some on Monday that had already gone mouldy this morning! I know I should freeze it but then I always forget to thaw it out for the OH to make his sarnies!

[Odsox]

I find bread goes off very quickly. I bought some on Monday that had already gone mouldy this morning! I know I should freeze it but then I always forget to thaw it out for the OH to make his sarnies!

I make all our own bread 3 loaves at a time, which then gets sliced and frozen.
The OH gets out 4 frozen slices every day for sarnies and stands them in a toast rack and they are defrosted in about 5 minutes.
You can also make sarnies with frozen bread slices if the filling is not too squidgey.

[grahamhobbs]

Sorry, but I have to comment, I love bread and to hear people saying bread goes mouldy in a couple of days and that you should put in the fridge or freezer is terrible. Properly made bread will last a week, it might start to go a bit dryish but it will not go mouldy. Putting bread in the fridge is absolutely the worst thing you can do to bread. Putting bread in the freezer is not so bad, but in freezing and defrosting it still passes twice through the same temperature range where most damage is done.

[Odsox]

Sorry Graham but you should have qualified that comment .."your bread will last a week"
Properly made bread will be hard pressed to last a day, ask any French baker. It all depends what you put in it in the way of preservatives, none at all like the proper French baguette and it's a solid lump the next day, bread made with fat or oil will stay fresh(ish) for 3 or 4 days properly stored.
I make 3 one pound loaves at a go as it's rather wasteful to fire up the oven to regulo 8 just for one loaf and as there are just the two of us they would end up like house bricks if we didn't freeze them (no fat in my bread, just flour, water salt & yeast)

[Millymollymandy]

I can't see any difference between the bread made in my breadmaker fresh or defrosted. As we don't tend to eat it the same day but the next because I put it on so that it is doing the baking bit at 10pm when off peak leccy comes on, it's identical. It does contain butter.

As for baguettes and definitely any 'rustic' french type bread....I think they put some kind of hardening agent in them on purpose!

[Shirleymouse]

Aah well I don't often have time to make my own bread although I would love to. Shop bread is rubbish! We have put a bread maker on our "list of things to buy with gift vouchers from our wedding" so by the end of October we can make bread as a married couple and hopefully it'll be nice and fresh!!

[grahamhobbs]

Odsox, reputedly the best french bread is made by Polaine, in Paris, and it lasts a week, a rustic type bread reputedly at its best after 3 days, it definitely does not have any preservatives or fats. Naturally leavened breads will generally last longer than those made with yeast and wholemeals better than white.