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What foods cannot be stored in the refrigerator
What foods cannot be stored in the refrigerator
Anonim

The author of Lifehacker studies the intricacies of food storage and conducts an audit in his kitchen.

What foods cannot be stored in the refrigerator
What foods cannot be stored in the refrigerator

It's not just stale foods that lead to stomach problems. We will tell you how to protect your body from food poisoning and what to do if it does happen.

It may seem to you that such attentiveness to the storage of food is some kind of corral. Why not just put everything in the refrigerator or scatter it on the shelves? The problem is that then some of the food will deteriorate, midges or dirt will fly into the open cereal, something will become tasteless, others hazardous to health, and the third will go to the trash. It’s not just the money thrown away that’s terribly infuriating. You begin to seem to yourself a barbarian who scatters food. I finally became imbued with this topic when I wrote material about perishable food and talked with victims of food poisoning.

At the same time, buying a little is not always convenient. For a long time I tried to figure out how to shop for future use and at the same time keep everything fresh. As a result, I came up with an unoriginal, but working scheme. In addition, I love order, so I was terribly pleased with myself when I brought beauty to the kitchen.

Content

  • Fruits
  • Vegetables
  • Meat and fish
  • Cereals and pasta
  • Dairy products and eggs
  • Finished products
  • Tea, coffee, spices

Fruits

Briefly: fruits and berries should be immediately sorted out, but not washed. Pack in paper bags or wrap with paper. Put everything ripe in the refrigerator, and leave unripe, tropical fruits and apples at room temperature.

I put the fruits in the bottom drawer of the refrigerator or in a dish on the countertop. Immediately after the purchase, I sort them out and throw away the rotten ones. This is especially important for apricots, cherries, strawberries and other berries. Mold grows faster than gas prices, so if there is even one moldy berry left, the entire package immediately becomes unusable.

But I do not wash the fruits in advance - it also speeds up their spoilage. It turned out that under the influence of water, the integument of the fruit begins to collapse and it rapidly loses vitamins.

How to store fruit
How to store fruit

All berries, ripe fruits, peaches, apricots, grapes, oranges, lemons, pineapple, tangerines, ripe kiwis are put into the refrigerator.

Recently I learned that the STORAGE LIFE OF ORANES ACCORDING TO GOST helps to increase the shelf life of oranges by alternating temperatures: they kept it in the refrigerator, took it out for an hour, put it back in the cold again. There is information that tropical fruits lose What products cannot be stored in the refrigerator vitamins in an unusual climatic environment. Surely you yourself have noticed that bananas turn black faster in the refrigerator - this is all the breakdown of carbohydrates in the fruit at a low temperature. I also try not to overcool juicy mangoes. Although I love mango so much that usually there is nothing to chill.

How to store fruit
How to store fruit

Apples, bananas, watermelons, melons, kiwis and all unripe fruits are stored at room temperature.

A moment of fun chemistry: fruits release ethylene, a colorless gas that makes everything around ripen. Especially in this regard, apples, pears, bananas are insidious. Because of this, fruits deteriorate faster in contact with each other. So I put them in paper bags or separate them with paper sheets. Cellophane is not suitable in this case - it does not circulate air, plus I try not to use disposable plastic when I can.

If I understand that the fruits are overripe, and we do not have time to eat them, I cut them into pieces and freeze them. And then I make homemade lemonades. I add very little ice, because the fruits are already cold. The main thing is to let it brew.

Overriding fruits can be frozen and then made into lemonade
Overriding fruits can be frozen and then made into lemonade

Vegetables

Briefly: keep vegetables in the refrigerator away from fruits, preferably in paper bags separately from each other. Potatoes, onions, garlic - in a cool dry place. The greens can be trimmed and placed in a glass of water.

Due to the notorious ethylene, it is better to store vegetables separately from fruits. Sneaky bananas can make your fresh cucumbers soft and your tomatoes rotten. By the way, tomatoes and peppers also emit a lot of ethylene. Compatibility of products during storage.

I send almost all vegetables to the refrigerator. Usually, the bottom drawer is already filled with fruit, so asparagus and zucchini go to other shelves. Eggplants, carrots, cabbage, radishes, beans, beets, mushrooms, lettuce, fresh avocado are also better preserved in the cold.

How to store vegetables
How to store vegetables

Here I also transfer everything with paper or use bags. If the salad is already in the package, I leave it that way.

How to store vegetables
How to store vegetables

It is better not to put in the refrigerator:

  • potatoes - it sprouts faster and turns green;
  • garlic and onions - rot and sprout;
  • tomatoes - lose their taste.

It is all better to store it in a cool dry place where the air circulates. But I still put tomatoes in the refrigerator because it pisses me off looking for a place for them. If you do this too, just take them out a couple of hours before eating. The tomato flavor will be restored. If I come across a green avocado, I leave it next to the bananas or apples. Hi ethylene.

A separate moment is greenery. I was always upset when I used a sprig of basil for a dish, and the rest of the bunch dried up sadly, so I got myself such a garden of herbs. I cut off as much as I need, and the rest grows further.

How to store greens: you can grow them at home
How to store greens: you can grow them at home

But the garden is still quite small, so the rest of the greenery needs to be bought. Usually I immediately sort through the branches, cut them and put them in a glass of water. In the refrigerator, you get such a bunch.

How to store greens: cut off the ends of the bunch and place in a glass of water
How to store greens: cut off the ends of the bunch and place in a glass of water

Meat and fish

Briefly: keep only in the refrigerator before cooking. At +7 ° C - no more than one day, at +3 ° C - about two days. Freeze if you need to store it longer. Monitor the expiration date of smoked meats.

I don't eat meat, but my husband buys himself Parma ham or bresaola - beef jerky. Sometimes he forgot to eat it - and all the packaging went to the trash. When the situation repeated itself several times, we started the ASAP drawer in the refrigerator! and put there food that will soon become unusable.

For products that will soon go bad, you can create a separate drawer
For products that will soon go bad, you can create a separate drawer

Fresh meat is much more whimsical. Bacteria multiply faster when exposed to air, so it is better to put meat and minced meat in an airtight container with a lid. But products cannot stay there for a long time either. Here are the approximate shelf life in a refrigerator at + 7 ° C:

  • chicken or rabbit - 12 hours;
  • beef and pork - up to 24 hours;
  • minced meat - up to 24 hours.

If the chamber is less than +3 ° C, add another day.

I love fresh fish and seafood and try to buy them right before cooking, as even in the refrigerator they keep fresh for about a day. I put the cut fish in a glass container with a lid or a mold, which I wrap with foil. I plan to switch to more sustainable alternatives to polyethylene: silicone reusable lids or beeswax cloth.

If you cannot quickly cook fresh meat and fish, it is better to freeze them.

In hot weather, food disappears much faster. In addition, there are dastardly products that spoil somehow imperceptibly. If you feel sick after eating, take an enterosorbent, which will help the body remove harmful bacteria from the intestines. For example, the drug "". It is a sorbent that can be mixed in water, fruit drink or juice. If your child ate unwashed berries while you turned away for a moment, Polysorb will also help - it can be taken by children and women during pregnancy and lactation. There are no allergic reactions or overdose from it. This is the best drug to take just in case you have eaten something weird.

Cereals and pasta

Briefly: cereals, pasta and flour must be stored hermetically - in a resealable jar or in the original packaging closed with a clothespin. If you throw away the packaging, stick a sticker with an expiration date on the new container.

It seemed to me that rice or spaghetti are products with no expiration date. But this is not the case. “Use before” is always marked on the packaging, so I prefer to keep them in their original package. I was not always so circumspect, but only since then, when I cooked a bitter paste three years ago.

There is a worse problem - midges. Did you know that they may not be visible in the rump itself, but they float to the surface during cooking? Now I know and dream of unseeing this picture. In general, I carefully close all the packs I have started with clothespins.

How to store cereals and pasta
How to store cereals and pasta

The best place to store cereals is a cabinet with a door, where it is dry and cool. Flour requires the same storage conditions. I often use different seeds for my meals. They do not have time to deteriorate, but they do not like moisture, so I keep them close at hand in such jars.

The seeds are conveniently stored in jars
The seeds are conveniently stored in jars

Dairy products and eggs

Briefly: store in the refrigerator according to the expiration date on the package. If bought by weight, eat eggs in 28 days, and cottage cheese in two days. Vegetable milk should also be refrigerated after opening the package.

These products are immediately sent to the refrigerator. The expiration date is always indicated on them, but if the curd is in the heat, it will deteriorate in a few hours. I'm sure you won't eat sour yogurt, referring to the date on the package. The cottage cheese that you bought on the market from your hands will be How to store cottage cheese in the refrigerator, the shelf life is fresh no more than two days. Open pasteurized milk has a shelf life of 48 hours, sterilized milk - 96. The pack usually says which option is in front of you.

Vegetable milk is also insidious. I have empirically found out that the shelf life - usually a few months - applies only to the product in unopened packaging. Leaving started soy milk in the kitchen during the summer will spoil it overnight.

How to store milk
How to store milk

Fresh raw chicken eggs are stored How long eggs can be stored in the refrigerator in the refrigerator 28 days, quail eggs - up to two months. Products from the store will have an expiration date. I wonder what the advice is to keep eggs Should eggs be stored pointed end down? blunt end up. This part contains an air bubble that expands as it is stored. When the bubble is on top, the internal structure is not disturbed.

I always wash my eggs before cooking because I like liquid yolk and I'm afraid of salmonellosis. Especially after I learned that it is really possible to get infected with it from an unwashed shell. Boiled eggs should also be refrigerated and eaten within two days.

I wrap the cheeses with paper and then with foil. I noticed that if the film goes on the cheese itself, its surface becomes slimy and unpleasant. On top I stick a sticker with an expiration date. In short, I sketched a list of 100 points here, why I'm not a bore.

Salmonellosis is an acute intestinal infection caused by the bacteria Salmonella. It can be infected in quite a few ways, but usually it happens through products: meat, milk, eggs. And unwashed hands are often the culprits of intestinal infections. If you feel unwell, have a fever, have diarrhea or vomiting, see your doctor right away. He will prescribe the correct treatment regimen. The most important thing in an intestinal infection is to keep the body hydrated and help it flush out bacteria and toxins as soon as possible. To cope with the first task will help glucose-saline solution, and with the second - enterosorbents, for example "". The recommended dose for an adult is 1-2 heaped tablespoons per 100-150 grams of water. You need to take the drug three or four times a day, and the duration of treatment depends on the exact diagnosis and the severity of the disease.

Finished products

Briefly: food can spend no more than four hours outside the refrigerator. Place leftovers in an airtight container and eat within three days. Reheat at 75 ° C or higher.

I try to cook at one time - made, ate fresh, and no problem. Naturally, this is not always the case. I immediately put the leftover food in a container with a lid and send it to the refrigerator. If the dish has spent more than two hours Here's how long food can be left out at room temperature on the table, it is better to just throw it away.

In a container in the refrigerator, cooked food can last 3-4 days. How many times can you reheat leftovers? and several times, but the temperature must exceed 75 ° C. Otherwise, you will simply be helping the bacteria to multiply.

How to store finished products
How to store finished products

I drip lemon juice on the cut fruits and vegetables - this way they do not turn black.

Throw away prepared food that has not been stored in the refrigerator for more than two hours mercilessly. It's better to take the time and cook something fresh than to suffer from bad health later. If you do not know when the dish was made or you still ate something by accident, do not wait until you feel weak and unpleasant in the stomach area. Take enterosorbent immediately. "" Is suitable, it begins to act in 1–4 minutes after taking it: it absorbs toxins and removes them naturally. And don't do that again!

Tea, coffee, spices

Briefly: store in an airtight jar with a closed lid in a dry place to limit evaporation and drying out.

To prevent these fragrant bulk products from fizzling out and becoming a home for insects, I poured them into jars and signed them. Such a container is very convenient when you use products often.

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The most popular drinks in our family

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Saffron and other spices

They are afraid of moisture and do not need cold, so a kitchen cabinet with a door is the perfect place.

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