by Michael Smith
According to statistics households in Britain throw away about a third (if not more, I would say) of all food that is being bought.
At times this has to do with the fact that people seem to see the “best before” date as a “throw before” date or definitely a “throw immediately on or after that date” date and hence lots of food gets thrown into the garbage that is entirely safe to eat still.
In other cases it is food, such as fruit and vegetables, that have rotted due to bad storage, such as bananas having been put into the fridge or other fruit having been kept in the same place with bananas. Bananas give off a gas that causes other fruit top ripen too fast and causes rot.
Often though food gets thrown that is still entirely safe to eat and is not even rotten. Potatoes are a case in point here. Many people thrown them because they have formed shoots. So what? That does not affect the food safety of the potato at all and does not render it inedible, though it would appear that a great majority of people think so.
In order to avoid potatoes, for instance, from sprouting and also from rotting prematurely, they must be stored away from light (that turns then green and does make them inedible) and in a dark and airy place.
Lakeland in the UK has produced a storage bag that fulfills this requirement but for those that wish not to make such a purchase all that is required is the good old-fashioned Hessian, burlap or canvass sack where to store the spuds in. That does as well the trick.
Potatoes also must be stored away from frost. Hence the reason in the old days – and this is still done by many a homesteader – they are stored in clamps, that is to say, in special covered trenched in the garden or fields. Carrots too and other root crops were stored – and still are – in such a way.
The greatest problem is that too many people nowadays are so far removed from reality that they no longer know how to store foods and also, it has to be said, and we have visited this subjects before, no longer know how to cook meals from scratch and especially also from and with leftovers.
Food storage, proper storage of the various types of produce, may be something that a book should be written about or even little course held about.
There, no doubt, is advice on this subject our there somewhere on the Internet but many people just do not really bother either.
With the credit crunch, with the looming depression, this might change and it is here where the big changes of grocery stores could come in with some advice cards of the likes that Sainsbury's are doing as regards to “feeding a family for a fiver” and the “Love your Leftovers” campaign they had for a while.
While some folks might not go out and buy a book on this subject or even download material free from the Internet if it would be available as a little card collection at supermarkets then, I am sure, people would take them and read them and, hopefully, also implement the advice.
Government departments and quangos such as WRAP themselves could produce little ring binders with information cards on this – and other waste related subjects – and distribute them free to the public. It is not rocket science.
People, the majority at least, I would say, need to relearn the proper storage of produce and also need to understand what the dates on labels mean and that, mostly, the date does not mean that the food must be thrown on or directly after that date, especially as far as canned food is concerned and produce safely sealed in glass jars. Unless the seal is popped, be this on a can or a glass jar then, generally, it is safe to open and eat.
The one thing that needs to be taken heed of is the fact that, ideally, even if stored sealed in a new container – as far as canned is concerned, as produce in glass jars can remain in its own container – should be used up – again depending on the kind of product – within 3 days to absolute maximum of a week, depending on what is being kept.
Pickled produce in glass jars is generally safe for much longer periods than other goods simply due to the way pickling preserves the product, whether this be gherkins or cabbage or other pickles.
© M Smith (Veshengro), January 2009
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Love Food – Hate Waste (Food Storage)
