How to make your food last longer
Tips to extend the shelf life of popular staples, such as bread, flour and fruit.
Dealing with a bulging pantry? Here are our tips to get the longest life out of your cupboard staples and fresh produce.
Best-before and use-by dates: know the difference: Best-before dates give you information about food quality. Food can be eaten and sold after its best-before date. However, it may have lost some nutritional value and might not taste the best. If a food has a shelf-life of two or more years, it doesn’t need a best-before date.
As soon as you open any food’s packaging, its shelf life becomes the same as if the product was unpackaged. How long it’s safe to eat depends on several factors: its water and protein content, quality when you bought it, and how it’s been stored.
Use-by dates are usually on perishable foods such as poultry and deli foods. A food can’t legally be sold after its use-by date and shouldn’t be eaten because it can make you sick.
Bread: Bread keeps the longest in the freezer (though it’s not as convenient, as you have to wait for it to defrost). If you’re a pantry-only fan, it should be kept in its packaging (paper or plastic if it’s homemade) and stored in a cool dry area– ideally in a bread tin if you have one. A good compromise is the middle shelf of the fridge, but it will still get stale as it dries out.
If your bread’s stale, whiz it in the food processor to make breadcrumbs, which you can then pop into a resealable container for freezing. You can use it to crumb meat and fish or add it to dishes (for example, meatballs or pasta bakes).
Tip: Freeze half your loaf and keep the other half out. The half in the freezer won’t get stale or mouldy.
Eggs: Eggs keep longer in the fridge but they can be stored at room temperature (as long as it’s 15°C or lower). Either way, store your eggs in their original carton: it keeps them safe from cracking, slows moisture loss, stops them absorbing other food smells and you’ll know the best-before date.
Tip: Check eggs are safe to eat with the float test. Place the egg in a bowl or cup of water. If the egg sinks, it’s good to eat. If it floats, throw it away.
Flour and dry ingredients: Store your flour in a large, airtight container that your measuring cup can fit in. A container with a screw-top is best, but any well-sealed lid will be fine. Transfer other dry ingredients (for example, baking powder and baking soda) that don’t come in resealable packets to an airtight container. Or use a resealing bag clip.
This help prevents weevils getting into your baking stash. Some people swear that adding a bay leaf will keep weevils away.
Pantry moths are sometimes lurking in your dry goods – sometimes in new purchases. Freezing the ingredients should kill the moths and any larvae. Wrap the goods in a plastic bag and freeze for two days, before then storing in an airtight container.
Sugar: Sugar should be stored in an airtight container in a cool, dry place. It shouldn’t be kept in the fridge because this exposes it to moisture, which can make it go hard.
Sugar doesn’t have a best-before date because it doesn’t grow mould.
Keep reading: www.curtainclean.co.nz...
Poll: Should all neighbours have to contribute to improvements?
An Auckland court has ruled a woman doesn’t have to contribute towards the cost of fixing a driveway she shares with 10 neighbours.
When thinking about fences, driveways or tree felling, for example, do you think all neighbours should have to pay if the improvements directly benefit them?
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82.4% Yes
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14.9% No
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2.7% Other - I'll share below
Riddle Alert! Who’s Up for Some Brain-Busting Fun?
4-letter word, always done tomorrow,
We’re out of tea, the ultimate sorrow!
Without the eye, you owe me some money,
No sugar no nectar no sweetness no honey,
4-letter word, if by chance you choose,
You can never win, you can only lose!
What is the 4-letter word?
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scumbags
There are some really awful people around at the moment. This is what happened on Sunday.
We live in Hinemoa Street opposite the Waiwhetu Stream. At around 3.40 in the afternoon I was looking out my window and saw a car pull up and start to feed the geese and ducks out the window. Then The passenger an asian man jumped out and threw himself onto a goose. he picked it up and put it the boot of the car.
I immediately ran over and stood in front of his car to stop him moving I also called my husband to help. A lovely man was riding his bike and saw it and stopped to help me. The driver tried to drive into me but I didnt move. He tried telling us it was his pet. These are wild geese.
They had a cage in the boot and some wire all ready to catch the poor bird like they have done it before. My husband took the bird from the car and released it. I then moved out of the way and after lots of abuse from the driver they drove off threatening to come back and get more.
No one should be allowed to take these beautiful birds and certainly not like this. they are all starting to have wee babies at the moment the whole thing was so upsetting to me. Another neighbour further down the road also saw it all happen.
Please keep a look out for this car and if you see them by the stream go over and watch them lets all stop this happening.