"FoodStorage" news and stories

This picture isn't quite as delectable as some of the other images I regularly post in this space. However, it's such a great idea that when I saw it, I thought to myself, "That's just the sort of thing I have to share with the world of Slashfood readers."

From Biggie of Lunch in a Box, her image shows how she uses plastic water bottles to store frozen veggies like corn, peas and chopped onions. It makes it really easy to pour out a small amount, which is perfect for those times when you are pulling together meals for one. This not only works well for the prepacked frozen veggies that you buy, also for the veggies you freeze yourself. I imagine that the wider mouth bottles would work really well for frozen berries (great for when you make smoothies).

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How many times have you gone home with a bag of delicious cheeses only to discover a week later that they've all gone bad?

There seems to be a lot of confusion regarding how we should store cheese. While some people argue that plastic wrap (Saran, Reynolds, etc) suffocates cheese and distorts its flavor, others believe it keeps cheese fresh by containing its moisture. Cheese mongers highly discourage plastic wrap and promote wax paper, and sometimes aluminum foil. Similarly, in the 'NY Times,' Florence Fabricant wrote an article encouraging people to purchase cheese paper "with a sheer wax coating on the outer layer and a breathable film inside," from a company called Formaticum.

All of these methods (plastic wrap, foil, wax paper, and cheese paper) are excellent ways to store cheese. However, universally applying one of these tactics to all types of cheeses would be a haphazard plan of action. So, how do you know which type of wrap is right for which type of cheese? The good news is that you can determine the most appropriate wrapping and storing techniques based on just two characteristics of the cheese, mainly its texture and moisture. Here's our quick and dirty guide to the best storage materials for different types of cheeses.

The refrigerator in my apartment is a very bare-boned model. The shelves are bare wire racks, which means that if something leaks on the top shelf, it very quickly saturates the entire fridge. There isn't a cheese drawer (I have an old clear plastic shoe box on the bottom shelf that corrals the cold cuts and cheeses) and the space on the door is slim. The one thing I do have is two crisper drawers and I use them as much as possible, often stuffing them beyond a comfortable capacity. This does sometimes mean that I lose a green pepper or a head of broccoli, only to find it again when it is soft and brown.

Over at the Unclutterer, Erin has a similar problem with her crisper drawers and began to wonder if the crisper drawer was the best place to store her fruits and veggies. She has put together a list of produce and the storage recommendations for each item. It's a helpful resource and one that may save you a lot of money and pain, as it will teach you how to keep your apples crisp (keep in bags punched with holes on the shelf for good air circulation) and your corn fresh (keep in husk if you're going to use it immediately, otherwise remove the husk and silk, vacuum seal and freeze). She also says that bananas can go in the fridge to slow down their ripening, that onions should go someplace cool, dry and ventilated (not the refrigerator) and that potatoes can be stored in the crisper drawers, but should be given a day to warm up to room temperature before you use them.

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Last night I had some people over for dinner. Despite the fact that I got a late start on the main dishes, everything turned out perfectly and a good time was had by all. The only slightly-embarrassing moment in the entire evening came when, before I could stop him, my friend's husband opened my freezer in pursuit of ice for his drink (I had forgotten to put any out).

The door open, he stood and gaped for a moment and said, " Who eats all this food?" I quickly tried to explain that I like to keep a fairly stocked freezer so that I can pull meals together easily. I also tend to have three or four varieties of nuts, some summer fruit and homemade chicken broth stashed away as well. He shrugged and said, "Often when you open our freezer, all you see in there is a bottle of Skyy Vodka."

The picture above is my very own freezer, complete with half a bag of Trader Joe's string beans, a pound of chicken legs from Whole Foods and more frozen chicken broth than you can shake a stick at. In return, I want to know, what do the rest of you have in your freezer? Please share the mundane the quirks as inquiring minds want to know (and be assured that they aren't all that strange).