So this is a pretty short blog entry but I feel like it’s important to share these things with all of you as they come into my head!
Staying organized and planning ahead in the kitchen is one of the best things you can do for yourself in terms of setting yourself up for success. Another way that I like to stay organized is labelling. Oh so necessary, oh so much fun! I love it, sad but true. I label all of my kitchen stuff: jars, bags and most importantly – food.
Whenever I make a dish that I put in the freezer of have as leftovers in my fridge I always label and put the date on it. I can’t even tell you how many times I have thrown something out because I forgot how long ago I prepared it. Who wants to chance possible food poisoning? And really, what’s grosser (I don’t think that’s a real word but I’m going to use it anyway…) than biting into something that has gone bad – nobody’s friend. What I do to stay on track in my kitchen is simple:
- Take masking tape and a sharpie and make sure to write the date down whenever you put something you have prepared in the fridge or freezer. Or write it directly on the container or box it doesn’t matter, as long as you do it. This goes for chopped up veggies and open cartons too. Make sure that you are aware of each item in your fridge and how long it has been there. This you will never waste money throwing away groceries again!
So simple, right? This one tiny tip is going to make sure a difference in the life of your food – I promise. I really feel like it’s the small but important steps that make the most difference.
Do you have a time or money-saving tip to share with me? I’d love to hear them! Comment below, on Facebook or follow me on Twitter @staceygliving
High five like you mean it!!
Stacey
Are those my Sharpies! Well how the heck am I going to do it now!
Hello my friend Stacy!! I agree it is very important to write dates on your items in the fridge and freezer, but to me the hard part is determining how long it stays good for. For example, when I make quinoa, and freeze it in portions, how long is it good for? That is the tough part for me.
A great receipt to if you like old fashion rice pudding is to replace the rice with quinoa, cook as you normally would then add cinnamin and raisins. let stand. Then add milk if you so desire. FANTASTIC!! and YUMMY!! I think what you r doing here is really a great thing and i find your topics very interesting!!
That sounds like an awesome recipe for rice pudding!
As for how long the foods keep I would use your discretion. In the fridge I keep things no more than a week but that may be just my own paranoia. As for the freezer, as long as the food is sealed tightly in a freezer safe container I would easily keep it 2-3 months. Judge by smell and look though, and make sure the food stays frozen in the freezer and the temperature doesn’t drop for any reason.
I hope that helps and thanks for reading!
Hello just wanted to give you a quick heads up.
The words in your post seem to be running off the screen in Chrome.
I’m not sure if this is a format issue or something to do with internet browser compatibility but I thought I’d post to let you
know. The layout look great though! Hope you get the problem solved
soon. Many thanks
Hi there!
Thanks for the heads up! I’m not sure why you’re having trouble with chrome – that’s the browser I use but it always seems ok for me. I’ll definitely check it out though – thanks for reading!!!
Stacey