Americans throw away 40% of their food every year, according to a study by Natural Resources Defense Council. Knowing how to preserve your food can help space out your grocery shopping trips and save the medical costs from food-related illness. Here are some quick, simple tips to keep your food safe for longer:
- Look at the perishable foods you have before making a shopping list
- Prefer the closer groceries stores
- During your shopping trip, put raw meat in a plastic bag and separate from other foods in the cart. Also, pick up dairy, eggs and meat last so they can stay cold for longer
- Look for and avoid dents and bulged or crack lids on food cans and jars
- Store ripe fruit and produce in the fridge instead of having them out in the kitchen
- Place items with earlier expiration dates in front in the fridge or pantry so you will use them first
- Wash produce before using
- Refrigerate perishable leftovers within two hours.
(See our other tips to save on food costs here.)
Do you have other food preserving tips to share?
While this blog has a lot of good information in it, I think most of the good ideas are hidden amongst nit-picky things that aren’t as important. It is rare that food is wasted because it was picked up first in a grocery trip. What happens far more often is food being wasted because of a lack of forward planning in scheduling meals. Foods that do not refrigerate well and are cooked in bulk should only be prepared when there are enough people to eat them, not just a single person. I find that food is often wasted because of a lack of impulse control in what to have on certain nights.