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Cooking for the future: what food will last a week in the refrigerator
Not all of us have the opportunity (especially the desire) to cook every day. We figure out how to properly preserve what has been prepared in advance.
Finished products
Soup or borsch
What to store: leave directly in the saucepan – the soup is best kept in an enamel bowl. If there is very little left and the saucepan is too large, pour the soup into a tight-fitting container. Ideal – glass, like for a microwave.
Chicken broth soup spoils the fastest: it will survive in the refrigerator for only two days, no more. The fatter the broth, the longer it can be stored, but the maximum is 72 hours. Keep the fish soup in the refrigerator for no more than two days, and the mushroom soup will stand for only XNUMX hours without loss. But the champion in safety is borscht. He can last a week in the fridge without any problems.
Cooked meat
What to store: in an enamel bowl or saucepan with a lid.
Do not keep fried or boiled chicken (turkey, duck, any other poultry) in the refrigerator for more than two days. Then it will inevitably deteriorate.
Pork or beef will live longer in the refrigerator –
4-5 days, if they stand on the coldest shelf, usually the top one.
Garnish
What to store: boiled cereals and pasta are best stored in a container tightly closed with a lid, otherwise they will dry out and turn into trash.
Water-boiled porridge and pasta can be kept in the refrigerator for up to three days. But if sauces, cheese, milk are added to them, then the shelf life of the side dishes is instantly reduced to 24 hours. Pilaf is an exception. It can be stored for up to two days.
Important: put first and second courses you need to cool down in the refrigerator… If you try to put something hot on the shelf, you run the risk of ditching the refrigerator and ruining the dish.
Sliced vegetables and fruits
What to store: vacuum plastic containers or food bags.
It can be stored in the refrigerator for 2-3 days, but remember: the longer the sliced fruits and vegetables are stored, the less vitamins remain in them. In addition, harmful microorganisms spread much faster in crushed products.
But a salad dressed with sour cream or butter will last a maximum of a day. The juice that salted and seasoned vegetables secrete spoils much faster than they themselves. Therefore, it is better to keep the preparation for the salad separately from the dressing.
Eggs
What to store: it is best to leave the eggs in the same container you bought them in. It makes no sense to transfer them to the refrigerator door if you want to keep the eggs as long as possible: they will go bad there faster.
You can store chicken eggs out of the refrigerator for up to 25 days. Here you need to focus on the date stamped on the shell. In the refrigerator – up to 90 days, but if the eggs have stood in the store for a couple of weeks, then cut the shelf life in half.
Eggs should not be washed before putting them in the refrigerator. So they deteriorate even faster: the water washes off the protective shell on the shell, and the shelf life of the eggs is halved.
Hard-boiled eggs on the table will lie quietly for three days, in the refrigerator – up to 20 days.
What to do with the leftovers
If there is something left from the preparation of the first or second course, it is not necessary to freeze the food. For a while they will lie on the shelf of the refrigerator, and there, you see, culinary inspiration will appear.
Stuffing
What to store: vacuum plastic containers or any container covered with cling film.
In general, the shelf life of freshly prepared minced meat is only 12 hours, because bacteria multiply quite quickly in it. And he must spend these hours in the refrigerator at a temperature of 0 to 6 degrees. If you have to store the minced meat for a long time, put it in the freezer – there it can lie for up to 28 days.
Raw meat
What to store: in a bag or container. It is necessary that the meat does not leak, but at the same time it is not tightly corked, otherwise it will suffocate and acquire an unpleasant odor.
Red meat – pork, beef – can be refrigerated for up to five days. But this is provided that you bought it on the very first day after production.
Chicken will stay fresh for 2-4 days if it gets perfectly fresh in the refrigerator. By the way, in stores they often sell poultry “second freshness”, so be careful.
Dough
What to store: in a food bag, try to release the air from it as much as possible and tie it.
Unleavened and puff pastry can be stored in the refrigerator for 3-4 days, if longer, then it will have to be put in the freezer. Only then, when you take it out, be sure to keep it warm for at least half an hour – this will make it easier to work with it.
Sponge dough cannot be stored even in the refrigerator, it must be used immediately.
Yeast dough can be stored in the refrigerator for 2 days on the bottom shelf. If more, put in a bag and place in the freezer. And let it keep warm when you take it out. When you see that the dough begins to rise, start it up.
What to eat very quickly
Whipped cream
What to store: in the dish in which they were cooked, tightly covered with cling film.
The shelf life of cream is no more than three hours. Therefore, try to cook them just before serving and in strictly necessary quantities.
Fresh Juice
What to store: in glass, porcelain or earthenware. Never in metal or plastic.
Juice fresh is good because it is fresh, and therefore it is better to drink it right away, while vitamins and other useful ingredients have not lost their beneficial properties.
If for some reason the freshly squeezed juice could not be drunk immediately, add 3-4 drops of lemon juice to it – this will prolong the life of the product for several hours.
Cocktails
What to store: vacuum plastic containers or plastic food containers.
Milkshakes tend to turn sour, especially at room temperature. Therefore, they can be refrigerated, but not more than 5-6 hours.
Fruit and vegetable cocktails can begin to deteriorate within 10 minutes after preparation, because when processing vegetables and fruits, harmful bacteria inevitably enter the cocktail. So it’s better to drink this cocktail right away. But if you have to store it, then in the refrigerator and no more than 5 hours.