Storage & Preservation of Produce & Cheese

Last week, a reader asked about veggie and cheese storage, expressing the concern that these perishables often spoil before they can be used. That concern is shared by many. Annually, in Canada and the U.S., several million tons of food is thrown away. At a cost of several hundred dollars, on average, per household, these statistics are alarming. Two rules of thumb can alleviate much of this waste.

1. When it comes to shopping for perishables (particularly produce,) buy only what is needed and can be consumed in a few days. This may mean more frequent visits to the grocery store, but you'll enjoy fresher produce and avoid spoilage of a stockpile. Most produce requires a cool atmosphere and a fridge not filled to capacity actually works more efficiently, allowing internal air to circulate better and preventing pockets of cooler or warmer air from forming. Those over-chilled or -warm conditions can be very detrimental to the longevity of both produce and cheese.
   

   
   

2. When storing perishables, avoid washing them until they are to be used. Many vegetables and fruits have natural oils or have been sprayed with protective (and neutral) waxy coatings which help preserve them. Washing removes those oils and/or coatings, making the produce much more vulnerable to spoilage. If the product has excessive dirt on it, simply brush the soil from it with a soft cloth and then store. When ready to use, the produce can be washed. Check out this very informative article Fruit & Veggie Washes by "The Grocery Bags," Anna Wallner and Kristina Matisic. Their findings support my own experience.
   

   
   

Though these two rules will help avoid most produce spoilage, there is another concern when storing fruit and vegetables and that is whether the product needs to be stored in the fridge, at room temperature, with ventilation or without, or in darkness. While researching this, I came across an excellent article on SparkPeople which included this comprehensive and easy to read chart: Fruit & Veggie Storage Chart .

When it comes to cheese, the situation is not as clear. Some argue cheese needs an airy environment, while others argue ventilation is death for cheese. It turns out, both are true. It depends on the cheese, which is a living food, much like yogurt. During research, I found an article – directed towards food service professionals (recommendations by The Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board and Wisconsin Cheese Makers,) – which answers this question, in all its complexity: Cheese Storage Tips.

I've heard other tips on preserving foods, but none of them have proved successful for me. One such recommendation says: to preserve bananas' freshness, they should be separated from the bunch. I ran three experiments on this suggestion, using three different bunches of bananas in varying weather conditions. In each experiment, I separated a few of the bananas from the bunch, and left the remaining bananas attached. Each time, all bananas, whether separate or attached, appeared to mature at the same rate, and their taste confirmed this. We do live in a very arid climate, so I'm not sure if this skewed the results or not. You might wish to perform your own experiments.

One handy hint I learned from my mother is to freeze produce that is deteriorating, but not yet spoiled, and use those veggies in a stock. The flavours may not be as high as fresh vegetables would produce, but those wilted products won't be thrown into a landfill where they'd be completely wasted. A compost pile is another good place for (most) produce that has passed its prime.

If you have ideas or suggestions you wish to share on this subject, please leave a comment.

Burnt Offerings

You're cooking dinner when your child falls, the phone rings, or someone knocks at the door. Distractions happen and meals get scorched. It's frustrating but, most times, unavoidable.

What really rankles, though, is when nothing diverts our attention and still supper becomes burned. For someone as thrifty-minded as me, it's intolerable. Throwing food out is entirely contrary to my notions of economy.

So what's a frugal person to do?

I suggest giving a critical look at the quality of your pots and pans. Cheaper is not always better, nor more economic. For instance, I once bought the cheapest can opener thinking I was saving money. After two years, however, I had bought three of those cheap openers, and about to buy the fourth. Irksome, to say the least. The next opener I bought was about five times the cost of the inexpensive opener and I worried I was spending too much on it. That "expensive" can opener has lasted (dare I say it!) about thirty years. If I'd continued buying the cheaper openers, at the rate they were wearing out and/or breaking, I would have bought approximately twenty of them during that time, and spent four times the money! So, value is often found in the pricier make, and cost can be greater with the cheaper model.

Pots and pans are a good case, in point. When I first moved out on my own, all I could afford was the cheapest aluminum and stainless steel. With those pots and pans, I managed to scorch and burn countless meals. Food stuck. Cleaning was a nightmare of cleansers and scrubber pads. Sometimes, they even required special treatment. (How to Treat Burned Pots and Pans)

Then, about fifteen years ago, my hubby and I received some higher quality pots as a gift. Lo and behold, our meals stopped charring. Could it be I wasn't an abominable cook after all?

Over the next few years, we slowly replaced all our cookware with high quality (mostly 18-10 stainless steel,) pots and pans and, now, the only meal disasters happen when those aforementioned distractions occur. The new pans clean up easily, too; usually with a cloth only.

Now, given my proclivity for avoiding waste, many of those early meals, though scorched, were trimmed and eaten. So, not all the food was wasted. But they weren't enjoyed, either. I also discovered, years too late, that burnt food can be bad for you. (Why Is Burnt (burned) Food Bad For You?)

Now, our meals cook beautifully and are delicious. Best of all, the trash no longer devours burnt offerings. We've saved a good deal of groceries simply by upgrading our cookware. In fact, I would hazard to say the savings are nearing the price we paid for the good quality pots and pans.

So, if your meals are singeing and you're tired of scouring burnt rice from the bottom of the pot, consider buying better quality cookware. Your grocery budget, your health and, most likely, your family will thank you for it.

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Whole Goodness

Whole foods are generally considered to be foods which have not been chemically or genetically treated, foods that are natural and in the raw state, and have not been pared, polished, or otherwise processed. While organic foods are becoming increasingly popular, I have not included that criterion in the following article simply due to their greater cost. Some may argue (as I have with a certain cheese) that organic foods have value and thereby bridge the cost-to-savings ratio.

Perhaps one of the best ways to save money on the grocery budget is to buy foods whole. Savings are only part of that equation, though. Whole foods, in many cases, offer better flavours and, in some instances, higher nutritive values and/or improved quality over their processed alternatives.

Here are some examples:

• Spices: Nutmeg, peppercorns, coriander, mustard and allspice are a few examples of spices that can be bought in their whole form. The seed is nature's way of sealing in essential oils and flavonoids. By grinding or grating them, as needed, fragrance and flavours are significantly enhanced, and that does wonders for any dish they're seasoning. Some roots (e.g. licorice) and barks (e.g. cinnamon) also retain more of their goodness but can be hard to process without an electric grinder. A mortar and pestle work well for most seeds, nuts, and leaves, though, and allow you to control the grinding process for the perfect texture and/or consistency.
  
• Ground Meats: With all the recalls and salmonella scares over the last few years, we've begun buying whole cuts of grass-fed, free-ranged beef (and fresh turkey) and grinding at home. Our savings aren't significant, but we have greater peace of mind knowing the ground beef comes from one animal and does not include questionable-meat "trimmings." ('Grassfed' beef article & recipes) To save on the purchase of suet, we buy whole chuck, which has a good amount of fat. Any excess can be trimmed, but we seldom find that necessary. Another benefit of buying whole meats and processing them at home is that it allows you to apportion package sizes to suit your family's needs.
  
• Cheese: Pasta and pizza just wouldn't be the same without Parmesan. The popular processed varieties are easy to use, but their flavour, smell, and texture can be off-putting. We purchase blocks of Parmigiano-Reggiano – the "King" of cheeses – and grind or slice it as needed. Much like spice, this fresh-grated cheese has better flavour and fragrance. There is little, if any, saving when buying this brand over the processed but the culinary value, for us, is significant. That and fresh Parmesan actually melts on a pizza!
  
• Fruits and Vegetables: Probably one of the best ways to economize a grocery budget is to buy produce whole. Pared fruits and vegetables cost much more, suffer vitamin degradation, and many are chemically treated to enable longer shelf-life as most processed produce will spoil faster. (Ontario government: Minimally-processed fruit & veg, risk assessment) Processed fruits and vegetables are more susceptible to pre-purchase contamination, also. Whole produce may require a little more preparation time (re: paring and/or peeling,) but their trimmings have value in a stock pot or compost pile. Both "free" veggie stock and rich loamy soil have real worth, too.
  
• Coffee: Budget may be the last thing on your mind when reaching for that morning cup o' Joe, but this is another way to stretch your grocery dollars. Pound for pound, coffee beans are (generally) less expensive than most ground varieties. As with spices, the coffee bean is a tidy little flavour packet that, when ground fresh, offers significantly enhanced flavours...not to mention, caffeine punch.
  

Aside from budgetary issues, we buy whole foods because we prefer the taste and aroma. Purchasing fruits, vegetables and meats whole has also spared us from many of the Salmonella, E. coli and Listeria outbreaks in recent years.

If you're concerned about your food's goodness, consider purchasing whole foods. The economic gain will be a cherry on top!

Containment

One bane of shopping, for me, is packaging. Whether for food or household, need or want, nearly everything comes bagged, bottled, canned, clipped, encased, or otherwise contained. Usually in plastic and often excessively.

It's the plethora of plastic packaging that has me worried. Recent studies on the endocrine-disrupting chemical bisphenol-A (BPA) – used in plastics and for coating the inside of many cans (Toxic Nation article) – heightened consumer caution about certain plastics. Yet, even with this new restraint, bloated landfills still suffer daily infusions of plastic. Their durability is daunting, but the propensity for them to leach toxic chemicals is downright alarming, particularly when those plastics lay in landfills where they're sure to get plenty of sun and hostile weather. I wonder how much BPA already infuses water-tables.

In an effort to contain the problem, to apply thrift to this (largely unavoidable) consumerism, our household has adopted new purchasing habits, one of which is to scrutinize packaging. The less of it, the better. Un-packaged products get priority consideration but, sadly, that opportunity seldom occurs. Quantity and type of packaging material are then taken into account. Paper, glass and metal are preferred to plastic for both re-usability and recyclability.

Paper has many reuse options. Tissue paper is ideal for wrapping delicate items. Brown-paper, grocery-store bags are not only excellent insulators for frozen and refrigerated foods in transit, later they become "biodegradable" trash bags. Boxes can be used for storage or shipping. Cardboard is great material for certain crafts and easily recyclable. Over-sized department store bags, cut open, make good wrap for parcel shipping. I've even created a few sewing patterns with this sturdy paper product. Small bags work well for food ripening and storage. Contaminated paper, such as used butcher's wrap, is thrown away like its cellophane counterpart but, unlike plastic wrap, will eventually decompose. Computer paper and flyers, used on one side, is saved, cut into strips, and becomes "scratch pads."

When I was young, paper bags were commonly used in kitchen waste-baskets, with "sloppy" things flushed, or stowed in tin cans (which weren't recycled then) or empty dairy containers. Store-bought, waxed-paper bags were my mother's first choice, but brown-paper bags came in a close second. When I have them available I use the latter, but the former are no longer sold. Yes, our week's refuse would still go to the curb in a one large plastic bag – civic regulations insist they be used, even in curb-side garbage cans – and, yes, the kitchen waste-basket needs cleaning more frequently, but these factors don't diminish the possibility that, once a week, 6-10 plastic bags (the usual liner for household waste-baskets,) aren't exiled, evermore, to a refuse site. Unfortunately, paper bags are not used by many stores today, so it's difficult to keep enough on hand for regular use.

Jars are exceptional packaging with good re-use and recycling potential. Glass makes the perfect food storage container because, being inert material, it won't impart synthetic, "acquired," or metallic flavours like plastic or tin often do. They also make great vessels for reheating food: in a conventional oven on moderate settings; on stovetop in a saucepan of simmering water; and, in the microwave without the metal lid. Occasionally, "re-sealable" jar lids retain odours from their original contents and won't be viable for food storage...unless you like pickle-infused rice. I don't, so those jars are used for miscellany purposes: storing screws, string, socket safety-plugs, collections of unidentified keys, copious rubber bands and twist-ties, or just something to clean paint-brushes in.

Tin cans are especially useful for hot or cold items. If you save bacon or other meat drippings for cooking or bird-feeding purposes, and store it in the refrigerator, food-grade cans handle the dramatic fluctuations of temperature the best, and hot fats won't shatter or melt tin as it might do with glass or plastic. Just make sure the can's interior isn't plastic-coated.

When re-use isn't possible, most paper, glass, and tin are recyclable. There are a few municipalities which offer recycling for some plastics but, where we live, no plastics are recycled so we avoid them as much as possible. Sometimes, they're inescapable, though. That's when we look for re-purposing applications. The travel-sized shampoo and conditioner bought years ago were consumed long ago, but those bottles have been refilled, time and again, from our home supply. Dairy containers keep craft supplies sorted and dry. Remember, when reusing plastic containers, it's advisable they do not store edibles. Though it may seem impossible, our household has gone without plastic wrap for two decades. Paper, cloth, or glass has been used instead.

Bulk shopping is another way to reduce plastics. For example, buying meat in economy packs rather than two-portion packs saves more than money. Six (or more) Styrofoam plates and their wrapping are reduced to one platter and its wrap which are composed of significantly less plastic. Re-packaging at home will, of course, require other packaging material, but we use freezer wrap (a heavy brown paper, wax-coated on one side) which will decompose when discarded. We don't purchase any "individual-use" packets, preferring instead to buy full- or bulk-sized packages and apportion servings ourselves, thus eliminating the extraneous wrapping.

Ultimately, there are some products we won't buy due to excessive packaging. It's obscene to see a couple square-feet of plastic encasing a finger-sized thingamajig. Security and shelving efficiency are two reasons offered for this packaging trend. Whatever the reasons, our household boycotts these superfluously-encased items. If those doodads are too fragile, perilous, or costly, then I suggest putting them back into showcases. And, please Mr/s. Manufacturer, spare us the farce: don't boast about environmentally-friendly production plants and procedures while continuing to package merchandise in ominously enduring plastic.

And that's a wrap on my packaging rant!

What are your views on retail packaging? Do you have unique reuse ideas? Have you any empowering observations to share with fellow consumers?

Summer Cooking

Okay, call me crazy, but summer isn't my favourite season. I don't suffer scorching days and humid nights easily, and get especially frazzled when they stretch, one upon the next, for weeks on end. It's because of this, cooking – which I normally love doing – becomes a dreaded chore. Standing over the stove, adding even more heat to an already over-warm house, ratchets up my level of exhaustion. Hours later, that heat still lingers, too. I'd fast if summer didn't last so long.

For this reason, most of our summer cooking is done outdoors, on the barbeque. It's surprising just how much of the day's meals can be prepared on an outdoor grill. Ours is a propane model, which is not a favourite amongst many grilling aficionados but it works fastest and easiest as stove-top replacement. Even without using the side-burner, the grill top can function well as a cooking surface. Cast iron pans, grills, and griddles, as well as heavy-gauge metal pots and pans (with heat resistant handles) work well on the grill top, which happens to also be one of the best places to cook pizzas, in my opinion.

An added bonus of cooking this way is the economy of it. I stumbled upon this saving when comparing our household energy costs for the same months in other years when the stovetop was still being used. Energy costs had changed, obviously, so I evaluated the savings by kilowatt hours. The difference was significant. Then, I calculated the dollar savings and compared that with the total cost of propane refills over the same season, and found using the barbeque cost us about half of what our energy supplier would have charged us had we cooked indoors on the stove. The difference was so stark I actually did the calculations twice, just to be sure.

Not everything needs cooking, either. One of my favourite summer drinks, homemade iced tea, would normally require making fresh, hot tea, but can also be made using the sun's heat. Here's my version of "Sun Tea":

• In a 2-quart glass jar, use two (or more) teabags, depending on desired strength, immersed in a gallon of tap water (or filtered water, if necessary.)
• Add to this, half a lemon, sliced thinly.
  
• After sealing the jar, place on a doorstep, porch, or sunny window ledge, to "steep" under a hot sun for about five hours, minimum.
  
• When the tea has reached its desired strength, remove the lemon and teabags and add sugar, to taste, while the fluid is still hot.
  
• Stir until sugar is dissolved and then chill the tea thoroughly before serving.
  

Cheers to staying cool!

Road Trip Anyone?

With summer solstice just around the corner, vacations come to mind. Times being what they are, road trips may just be the thriftiest option for a summer getaway, too. They're wonderful adventures with many opportunities to stretch your travel dollars.

For us, savings begin before leaving home. About a week before any trip, we begin emptying the refrigerator of all fresh foods and leftovers – a sparsely packed fridge uses much less energy and we don't come home to UFO's (unidentifiable fungal organisms.) When leaving the house, we also close drapes and blinds on south facing windows; the house remains cool enough to allow the air conditioner to be shut off during our absence. In seasons when heating is necessary, the thermostat is turned down to the usual overnight minimum (approximately 15 Celsius.)

Once we're ready to hit the road, hubby checks the vehicle's fluid levels (engine oil, windshield washer, brake and transmission fluids,) and ensures the tires are at their correct pressure. The latter is particularly important for achieving good fuel economy. Running the vehicle's air conditioner will affect mileage so, when the heat isn't too intense, we roll down windows – lowered a few centimetres this cools the vehicle effectively with slightly better fuel efficiency than when using the air conditioner.

Aside from lodging, meals are often one of the most costly aspects of the road trip. With a little planning, this can not only be easier on the pocketbook, but offer great flavours and good nutritional value. Picnic lunches are fairly easy to scrape together: veggie and cheese sticks, simple salads, nuts and seeds, fruits and juices, all are easy to pack and prepare on the road. Bring a cooler to help keep food fresh and beverages cold. Ice can be bought at most gas stations. I bring along a small cutting board, a paring knife and a plastic bowl so I can wash and cut finger foods for each day's journey.

Another handy item is a water filtration jug, a spare filter and a sealable water jar. Keep the sealable jar filled with the filtered water and snuggled up against the ice pack so you'll always have cold water on hand. Insulated cups will keep beverages cold or hot once they're out of the cooler or thermos. Morning coffee, for us, is a must, so we pack a full thermos from home, which can then be refilled at most restaurants and some gas bar convenience stores, with more volume for less cost than two large cups. I also bring a small container of sugar and cutlery from home, so we have coffee for a few hours without having to stop.

Packing a picnic lunch really adds to the whole road trip experience, too. Those gorgeous highway "lookout" views can now be enjoyed with a nice meal. No waiting for restaurant service or food prep. A stunning setting and a good lunch quicker than any fast-food outlet can produce. And, if destination is more important than journey for you then, by packing a lunch, you don't have to stop at all to eat. The driver may snivel while others partake but, after a brief stop to rotate drivers, everyone gets to eat while safe-driving is maintained.

The only drawback with packing food is the possibility of spoilage. When travelling in a hot vehicle, even with the best cooler and ice, it's good to avoid certain foods which can easily spoil and cause serious illness or death. Salads with a mayonnaise-based dressing should top the avoid list. Salads with oil and vinegar base dressings travel much better. Eggs and meats can also cause dire sickness unless freshly cooked, specially packaged, dried, cured, or pickled. Though, you certainly won't catch me bringing pickled eggs on any road trip!

Once you've finished lunch you'll want to clean up. I bring a damp facecloth, one per person, and each in their own sealed bag. Some rest stops have water taps but, if none are available, the filtered water can be used to re-moisten the cloths as needed. I also pack a bar of laundry soap so the cloths can be cleaned each night. These cloths also come in handy when it gets too hot. Simply dampen and drape it around your neck to stay noticeably cooler.

If a limited budget is driving your road trip, remember that frequent stops gobble more fuel. Fluctuating speed, slowing for municipal speed-zones or simply leaving your vehicle idling while stopped, consumes more fuel. So, if you're looking for the best fuel economy, try keeping "pit-stops" to a minimum, and maintain a steady highway driving speed whenever possible.

Rags to Niches

The debate still continues over the use of rags versus paper towels. In our home, it's not a case of either/or. Both are used; rags far more often than paper towels, but the latter is on hand for specific purposes.

Sometimes, it's more cost-effective to dispose of towelling. For instance, I use paper to soak up oil from fried foods, or "mop" fats from stock – as we seldom fry foods and only occasionally make stock only a few towels per week are required. To use rags would mean washing them separately to avoid oily stains on other clothing – not very economical, nor environmentally friendly. At other times, is just safer using paper to clean up raw meat juices or spilled egg. Rags could easily contaminate other surfaces prior to their laundering, possibly causing dire illness. Disposing of an occasional towel lessens the risk so I'll continue using paper for this purpose.

Rags, however, are my first choice for most other household applications. Some people feel the "environmental cost" (EC) of laundering rags negates any advantage they might have over paper towels. In our home, rags are never washed separately, but with other "like" items (per their colour and/or soiling,) thus making those loads closer to capacity and thereby saving EC in the long run. It should also be noted that saving cloth from ending up in a landfill before it's been fully "consumed" must also have some merit.

All rags are not created equal, though. I once cut up an old sweatshirt to use for rags. The material – a poly-cotton blend – only pushed fluids around but wouldn't soak up anything...except oils. A-ha! I thought. Now, polyester blends are kept in a separate pile and used anytime there's a greasy mess to clean. Old towels and washcloths are perfect for polishing glass and plastic surfaces – after all, kitchen linens were made for this purpose. Old bath towels make the best soakers, for those larger spills like the dreaded toilet or bathtub overflows. Cotton-blend socks are fantastic additions to the rag bag. Worn on the hand(s), they work well for dusting or polishing small items. They're ideal shoe buffers and, when too soiled, instead of washing and perhaps ruining other laundry items, can be used as campfire "starters." Just make sure to store them in a closed tin, in a cool place, until needed. Just don't cook over that campfire until all trace of the "starter" has been burned away.

Second-hand cloth can be used for more than merely rags. I take old jeans apart and use the salvageable cloth to sew tote bags. Old pillowcases are used as storage bags and are particularly good for foods which require ventilation (e.g. onions.) "Retired" sheets could produce a dozen rags, but are used for another purpose. I cut them, across their width, into one-foot strips and then sew those strips onto the foot end of new sheets to extend their length – most sheets are just way too short for my liking! Nobody sees the mismatching foot end, and we end up with sheets long enough to fold over the top blanket.

As someone who sews, I also have a collection of remnant cloth. This doesn't go to waste either. Quilting is a possibility, but I've yet to learn that craft. So, to use those fabrics I recently made cosmetic pads with some leftover fleece sandwiched between two layers of poplin. Using a zigzag stitch, I sewed rows and columns, approximately 1-1/2 inches wide, separated by about 1/8 inch to allow cutting between them. These cosmetic pads have lasted several months now and launder well (though I put them in a "small-garment bag" to ensure the washer won't eat them.),

Ultimately, even rags become too threadbare for practical use. Don't throw them out yet, though. Laundered, they make excellent packing material.

Over time, this has become like a game: How else can second-hand cloth be of use? Do you play the Rag-time game too? Please leave a comment and share your cloth-recycling ideas.