If you remember two basic rules for yourself, then you will be able to avoid such a large amount of discarded products.
The first rule is - do not make excess reserves for future use, in case "tomorrow is a war". No matter how long these or other products are stored, each shelf life has its own limit. Stocks are in store for future use, but you must know all about everything. Now open your fridge and check to see if there is anything stuck in there from the New Year's holidays.
The second important rule - you need to cook as much as you can eat. If you have a family, then, naturally, there must be other measures for calculating the food prepared. Food should be prepared for a day, a maximum of two days. Saved time is, on the one hand plus, but how would you react if you had a warmed yesterday's soup in a cafe? Speaking about food, one should take into account the fact that everything that gets into our body affects our physical condition and health.
With long-term storage of vegetable dishes, soups, side dishes, they greatly reduce the content of vitamins. For example, fresh cabbage soup is known to be rich in vitamin C, did you know that after three hours of storage the soup loses 80% of vitamin C. After 6 hours of storage, only 10% of vitamin C. remains in soup. Hot vegetable dishes, thus , should not be stored for more than an hour, or even better to use immediately after cooking.
Many people believe that vitamins in cooked dishes are preserved if you store the dish in the cold. In fact, this is not so, because vitamins are rapidly destroyed by the impact of not only high, but also low temperatures.
Long-term storage of foodstuffs occurs mainly during their freezing. In the refrigerator freezer you can store the following foods: meat, poultry, fish, vegetables, etc. Do not store jam or canned food in the freezer. When freezing for a long period of meat, it should be put in enameled dishes and covered with paper or cloth. Freezing berries, do not wash them. Ideal packaging for frozen berries, vegetables and fruits - a plastic bag.
To avoid the appearance of an unpleasant odor in the refrigerator, once a week check the storage time of its contents, wash the refrigerator with water with the addition of baking soda.
To ensure that all products are well preserved in the refrigerator, do not overload, overfill it. Products with strong odor should be stored in plastic bags.
Those products that are stored not in the refrigerator, just do not tolerate bright light. It is best to store them in a dark place, which does not get direct sunlight. Especially it concerns those products that contain a lot of fats: vegetable oil, mayonnaise, chocolate, halva, etc. Also under the influence of light in the products, vitamins of group B are destroyed. Vegetables under the influence of light have the ability to accumulate harmful to human health substance - solanine , especially it accumulates a lot of potatoes. Therefore, vegetables are best kept in a dark place.
Do not make large stocks of cereals and flour, they can start a variety of pests. Cereals in the home should be stored for no more than a month. Flour should be stored in linen bags so that the necessary amount of air flows to it. If you have large reserves of cereals, you should put a few cloves of garlic in them so that pests do not multiply in croup.
To preserve longer fresh milk, it should be boiled with the addition of sugar: 1 st. l. for 1 liter of milk. Boiled milk should be poured into glass or enameled dishes.
Cottage cheese will last longer in the refrigerator, if at the bottom of the dishes, where it will be stored, throw a few slices of sugar.
Cheese should not be stored in the refrigerator for a long time, because, under the influence of cold air, it loses moisture and becomes dry and stiff. To protect the cheese from premature drying, put a piece of sugar next to it and cover it with a plate. The parched cheese can be freshened by holding it for a while in the milk, so it will become as fresh.
Greens and radishes should be stored in water. The greens can be wrapped in foil. Dill and parsley will be kept as fresh if you put them in a dry pan and close the lid. Green onions will last for a week if you wrap your roots with a wet cloth and leave the feathers dry. Onions should be put in a plastic bag.
If you need to keep a cut bulb for a couple of days, lubricate the cut with margarine or butter, so the bulb will not lose its flavor.
If you need to store lemons, they should be put in a jar with cold water, and the water should be changed to fresh daily. To keep the cut lemon, put it in a saucer on a saucer, drenched in vinegar, and then wrap it in a napkin soaked in vinegar. To make the lemon smell more aromatic, before using, pour it with boiling water.
Fresh mushrooms are kept at home for only 3 hours. If you do not have time to clean and cook them, pour the mushrooms with cold salted water. If there are few mushrooms, put them in the refrigerator.
Meat before long-term storage is better not to wash. Pork absorbs odors, so it should be stored in a sealed container. Cooked meat should be stored dry. The cut sausage will not quickly deteriorate if its cut is greased with egg white or a slice of lemon.
Tea brewing is best stored in tightly closed glass or metal jars. Do not leave tea leaves in an open pack so that it does not lose flavor.
Store the products correctly and stay healthy!