How to store perishable food safely?

Ever read a text on the Internet claiming that you have been doing a certain everyday thing incorrectly? Something along the lines of ”You’ve been peeling bananas wrong your whole life!”, or ”This is how you properly wash hair”. We’ve never been a fan of those. Besides often falling victim to the Appeal to nature fallacy, there is also a certain arrogance in claiming that your way is the only proper way. Having said that, some things can be done in an objectively superior manner. One of them is the way you store perishable food safely. Luckily, the following text will address this matter in detail.

Causes of Food Poisoning

Poisoning or foodborne sickness can result from eating contaminated food. If you’ve ever had food poisoning, you know how terrible the symptoms may be. Knowing how to treat perishables is your best protection against foodborne infections because many occurrences of food poisoning occur at home. Fortunately, we live in an era where two of life’s most helpful inventions—fridges and freezers—exist! They aid in the preservation of food and the extension of the life span of numerous substances.

Top Food Storage Suggestions

• Make sure your hands, utensils, and surfaces are clean at all times. Before handling food, wash your hands thoroughly with warm soapy water.
•  When you arrive home from the grocery, wash your hands for at least twenty seconds with soap and water. Make it a practice to wash and wipe all fresh fruits and vegetables under cold water before storing them.
• Slowly defrost food. Remember to prepare ahead of time and set aside enough time to prevent hazardous bacteria from forming. Allow 24 hours for every 5 pounds (two and a half kilos) of beef or chicken to thaw.
• Cook meals until they reach a safe temperature.  A food thermometer is a simple and trustworthy way to verify, but if you don’t have one, you can carefully inspect raw food: Meat must no longer be dark red, chicken must be white rather than pink, and fish should be transparent.
• When in doubt, toss it. When bacteria from raw meat, chicken, or seafood are handled, they can quickly transfer to prepared or cooked food. Just as long distance movers Brooklyn know how to move people in time, so you should know when to throw away spoiled food. Throw it aside if you feel it was not correctly stored or kept apart from raw ingredients.

The best location for the packed goods

Just like storage NYC operates under certain rules, to keep everything safe and in check, and so does your refrigerator. To store your perishable food safely, utilize your fridge as follows:

• Meat, poultry, fish, and eggs are all at the top of perishable foods. Hence, you should keep them in a refrigerator all the time you are not consuming them. Raw meat ought to stay on the lower shelves, neatly covered, in a bowl or tray to catch any leaks. Separately cooked meat from raw one. Eggs go inside the main part of the fridge where the temperatures are cooler.
• Dairy products (milk, cheese, yogurt, etc) should share a place next to the eggs, causing them to last longer, due to the favorable temperatures.
• Condiments can go on the door shelves, being that this is the warmest part of the fridge.
• Vegetables and fruits ought to occupy the space in the bottom drawers.

About your container choices

Plastic or paper shopping bags or plastic trash bags should be avoided when storing your food. Certain harmful chemicals or dyes from these bags can leach into the food, contaminate it, and cause undesirable issues. If any way possible, try to stick to the food-grade containers exclusively.

Of course, you need to know how to store perishable food safely and moving boxes Brooklyn knows how to pack your boxes when you move. Such containers are designed specifically to hold food and do not contain any malevolent substances. Also, if it ever crosses your mind, stay away from reusing food containers that are hard to clean or may contaminate stored items. Plastic water bottles and yogurt containers are good examples. Even though they are designed for storing food, re-using these tough-to-clean items is not advisable. Any kind of single-use item should be treated as such and thus be used only once. The same goes for single-use wooden items.

Protect all foods

Keeping these foods in the refrigerator or freezer doesn’t mean you don’t need to cover them. All food goods should still be stored in sealed containers or firmly sealed storage bags. Furthermore, to be cautious, you should inspect each food product regularly for deterioration.

Take note of the storage instructions

Not all perishable foods have the exact storage requirements. You offer preserved food, and storage companies NYC offers quality service. Because certain perishable items must be stored in more relaxed environments, you must discard any food item that was not adequately refrigerated or frozen from the start. Any type of rotten food might cause major health problems.

Store perishable food safely for the move

These guides are fairly easy to follow on a day-to-day basis. However, how does one store perishable food safely at times that differ greatly from your average week? Say that you are relocating to a distant location. Eating all the perishable food you have in store might pose a challenge to most individuals. Sure, renting storage in Brooklyn is great for your furniture and fragile items, but storing foods is highly unadvisable, and often prohibited. Still, this is no reason to despair.

Few following steps will give you valuable ideas regarding your state of affairs:

1. Use or toss

To be clear, taking perishable food with you while moving is possible, but it comes with limited space. So, you should choose what you want to carry with you before the moving day. Items close to the expiration date or nearly empty should be used to avoid wasting them. A simple rule of thumb you can follow: only unopened, costly, or fresh food is worth the trouble of transporting.

2. Ship via UPS or FedEx

Or any other company of the sort. Just be aware that they are not liable for spoiled products. Pack the chosen food in an airtight container or sealable plastic bag. Proceed by placing the containers inside a foam box with thicker, insulated walls to maintain the temperature. This is a great time to use those gel coolants or dry ice (for frozen products) to keep the food cold. A word of caution: dry ice placed inside an airtight container can rupture or cause an explosion. The foam box should go inside a larger box, ready for shipping. Fill the extra space with bubble wrap or packing paper.

When packing for a move, you are bound to have some leftovers. Seal the box with a quality ducktape and leave a clear label saying “perishable” and “keep refrigerated”. If you so can, pay the extra fee for fast delivery to ensure your food won’t spoil.

3. A convenient cooler

A cooler might be your go-to option if you plan on having a local move. The order by which you store perishable food safely in a cooler is as follows:

1. first, go with bags of ice or ice packs
2. refrigerated items should go next
3. finishing up with the frozen products on the top

Contrary to some people’s beliefs, the more items you pack – the better.  Pack the cooler last so you can reach it promptly after your arrival. Safe trip and bon appétit!

In conclusion

Perishable foods have a varying shelf life. Thus it is critical to prepare or consume perishable goods before they spoil. Keep note of how long goods may last in your refrigerator, and wash it out regularly. Now that you’ve learned how to store perishable food safely, nothing’s stopping you!