4 Bad Habits That Can Reduce Food Preservation
Now due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many people feel that eating out has health concerns, so they think that cooking at home is the most secure. However, according to a survey of people’s habits in using the refrigerator, nearly 60% of the respondents have experienced food going bad after the expiration date, and 70% of people do not use the refrigerator properly. The following 4 wrong use of refrigerator habits, you also often committed?
1. often stuff the refrigerator full of
Refrigerator freezer need to have cold air flow space, if stuffed too full, will raise the temperature in the refrigerator, shorten the food freshness, so the refrigerator can only put at most 2 / 3, that is, about 70% of the capacity, in order to facilitate the flow of cold air to maintain the coldness.
2. Open the refrigerator frequently
Generally speaking, the refrigerator freezer about to keep in 3 ℃ ~ 8 ℃, if the room temperature of 18 ℃, for example, open the refrigerator door for 10 seconds, the temperature inside the refrigerator will rise 5 ℃; room temperature of 30 ℃ when open 15 seconds, the temperature will rise 18 ℃, the speed is very surprising.
In order to avoid opening the refrigerator to affect the freshness of the food, the best solution is to “sort”, put the same kind of food fixed on the same layer, before opening the refrigerator, think in advance to take which things, try to shorten the time and frequency of opening and closing the door, so as not to spend time and waste electricity to find things, otherwise it is easy to cause the refrigerator temperature is not low enough, and affect the freshness of the food.
3. Raw and cooked food is not placed in zones
Seafood and meat are the main source of E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Vibrio enteritidis, etc. Many people think that tying them up with plastic bags, or covering the soup pot with a lid and wrapping plastic wrap is a good way to sort food. In fact, if raw and cooked foods are not properly separated and sealed, and refrigerated and frozen separately, it will increase the chance of cross-contamination of bacteria.
In order to avoid food contamination, the principle of “cooked food on top, raw food on the bottom” must be used. In the case of “freezer”, things that can be eaten directly, such as popsicles and frozen products, should be placed on the top shelf, while raw chicken, duck and fish should be washed off the blood, dried up and sealed in a bag before being put in the bottom shelf of the freezer. This is not only environmentally friendly and prolongs food preservation, but also prevents blood from leaking out and contaminating other foods.
The “freezer” part is usually higher on the upper level, near the refrigerator door, where rice and eggs can be placed, and colder on the lower level, against the back wall, where uncooked ingredients are placed. In short, regardless of any food, before entering the refrigerator should be properly handled, re-wrapped in a clean bag or put into a sealed box and then refrigerated, should avoid directly into the refrigerator.
4. The refrigerator as a storage room
Refrigerator freezers are mostly kept below -18°C. At -18°C to -20°C, microbial activity almost stops. Although the food can be stored for a longer period of time, but does not have the function of sterilization, but also can not extend the preservation period. Basically, meat can be frozen for 1 month, seafood can be frozen for 1 week, and fruits and vegetables can be refrigerated for 3 days, but once the food starts to be stored, the freshness will gradually decrease, and in the end, even if it is heated and cooked, it is not easy to remove the toxins produced by bacteria.
In addition, many people put their fish and meat back on ice at room temperature, and then put them back in the freezer because they can’t use so many ingredients. In fact, this is the way to return the ice and freeze the food, eat it will easily lead to food poisoning. The safest way to remove ice is to put it on the uppermost layer of the freezer (cooling room), which can remove ice and keep it at a low temperature without freezing for 1 to 2 days.
5 management tips to keep your fridge in order
In addition to changing the above 4 bad habits of using the refrigerator, there are also ways to manage the refrigerator, follow the following 5 simple small steps, a small refrigerator can play a big role.
1. Pack large or large quantities of ingredients
Some people will buy a large package or several days’ worth of ingredients home, often the whole package from the refrigerator to use, and the rest of the ice back, in fact, this is very easy to spoil, especially the whole package of frozen meat food, from the refrigerator to take out, knocking in order to divide the pieces, need to spend more time at room temperature, more likely to spoil. Therefore, it is advisable to slice thinly when you buy it and flatten it into portions for each meal, “fill as many as you can eat”, and take only the required amount out each time to return it to the ice.
Special attention should be paid to ribs and chicken with blood and broken bones, so rinse them in cold water before freezing them. The seafood should be rinsed with tap water because Vibrio Enteritidis is the champion species of food poisoning in summer, and Vibrio Enteritidis is most afraid of tap water, so seafood can be frozen after rinsing with tap water and drying with paper towels.
2. According to the characteristics of food, choose the best location to freeze and store
The internal structure of the refrigerator is divided into “freezer”, “cooling room”, “freezer room” and “vegetable room” which looks like a drawer. Frozen food, fish and meat, and dry goods are mostly kept in the freezer (-18°C to -20°C); the high humidity “vegetable room” (8°C to 3°C) keeps vegetables and fruits fresh; the freezer is for general consumption; and the uppermost cooling room (2°C to 0°C) is most suitable for keeping yogurt, boiled toron noodles, soba noodles, fish plates, and dairy products. It is worth mentioning that many people will put fresh milk and soy milk on the side of the refrigerator door for easy access.
3. Use color or labeling to manage ingredients
Many housewives often forget what food is left in the refrigerator, so they often repurchase it, or find that there are still fruits and vegetables stored in the innermost layer of the refrigerator only after it has gone bad. If you want to improve this situation, you can use different colored containers, such as yellow containers for mushrooms and coffee containers for dried fish, to get a clear picture of what’s left in the fridge; you can also put a label on the outside of the food package, indicating when it was purchased, or post a list on the outside of the fridge, so you can quickly know which foods are in the fridge to eat first.
In addition, try to adopt the “first in, first out” principle of use, that is, the first food put in, should be cooked and used first, so as not to leave it too long and eat the bacteria, so housewives to go out to buy, it is recommended to first look at their own refrigerator, what is still in stock, make a list before going out to buy.
4. Use laundry bags, laundry clips to store small things
As long as the use of two S hooks hanging zipper ends, hanging on the refrigerator door shelves, laundry bags can be put into the small amount of ingredients that can not be squeezed, such as seasoning sauces, etc.; and the opened packets of seasoning powder, you can use the laundry folder to seal the opening, clip on the edge of the refrigerator door shelves, so as to avoid spilling the seasoning powder everywhere, or forgotten in the refrigerator, but also to clearly know what needs to be used up quickly.
5. Clean the refrigerator once a week
Even though you have already done a good job of sorting the space and ingredients, it is inevitable that there will still be some stains on the dividers where you put the food. When cleaning, remember not to pull out the plugs, but first clean the “freezer” and wipe the dividers, discard the food you can’t finish, then move the food from the “freezer” to the freezer temporarily, clean it quickly and then freeze it back to the freezer. In addition, regular cleaning and defrosting can also ensure refrigeration, freezing power, and the refrigerator is best placed in a dry place, if too close to the heat source, the surrounding temperature increases by 5 ℃, will increase electricity consumption by 25%.
Leftovers have low nutritional value
In order not to waste food, many people will be accustomed to not finish the meal ice up, to the next meal heating and then eat.
In fact, as long as properly sealed, reheated food can still be eaten, but never repeatedly thawed, heated and stored on ice several times, which can easily make the food spoil, triggering vomiting, nausea, diarrhea and other symptoms of food poisoning, which will increase the burden on the digestive system in the long run.
However, like vegetables, if reheated and then eaten, the vitamins it contains almost disappeared, leaving only fiber, not much nutritional value; as for braised meat, dried meat and other food, there is also experimental evidence that repeated heating, there may be carcinogens, swallowed not only can not absorb nutrients, but also eat bad health, it is not worth the loss.
In short, to have a healthy body, in addition to a regular routine and exercise, you must be careful about what you eat every day, the refrigerator is not a universal food storage cabinet, but as long as the correct use of the refrigerator function, proper preservation of ingredients, not only can retain more nutrients in the food, not afraid of bacteria breeding problems, but also make the refrigerator become a great partner in your diet and health care.
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