Food Storage Tips to Protect Your Leftovers

With the amount of food we tend to serve regularly in the average Philippine household, leftovers are inevitable. Everything’s so yummy that there are times when we overestimate what our stomachs can accommodate. Of course, we don’t throw away leftovers; we store them away for the next day. We also have the option to give them away as alms or our pets’ food, but we must remember never ever to pests.

See, giving pests food only makes them come to you more. They’ll not only be outside your doorstep when you start giving them food, they’ll be inside your very home: under the floors, inside the walls, and up the ceiling. You don’t want that, it’s an invasion! And you can’t have that, they’ll be difficult to shoo away. You’ll have to call pest control in the Philippines just to give them the idea that they’re not invited in your walls.

Problematic, isn’t it? That’s why you’ll have to learn how to store your leftovers properly, if you’re going for saving on food. Here may be your ways to go:

Invest on clean and sealable plastic containers

When you don’t have plastic containers dedicated to storing your leftovers, your next option is to leave them in their bowls or plates. While this option is alright, it may not be the best when it comes to food storage.

See, leaving them in their bowls or plates, even though covered with plates, does not properly seal the container. And this calls for contamination. Now what’s worse about this is completely leaving your leftovers on the table, again, even if covered with a plate or a net. This is exactly the invitation that your pests are waiting for, as well as spoilage. So refrigerate the food, it is sure to last longer.

Now inside your ref, it’s your leftovers may spill if not placed in sealable containers. Plus, let’s face it, their plate covers tend to move around, so your leftovers may be left open and exposed inside your ref and you don’t know it. The next day, when you’re ready to eat, your leftover’s sure to smell like your ref and it may be unappetizing to eat now, which pretty much defeats the purpose, if you think about it.

Sealable plastic containers are your best bet if you want to organize the contents of your ref, and if you want to have ‘fresh’ leftovers the next day.

Don’t forget to use serving spoons

Pests are not our only problem when it comes to food and leftovers. Spoilage is one such concern we should keep in our heads. Now although you stretch the life of your leftover while in the ref, it may still spoil if you haven’t taken the precaution of using serving spoons while you were eating. See our saliva is not as clean as we think, and if we double-dip our spoons and forks in our viands as we are eating, we are much likely contaminating the food. If you want to escape early spoilage, be sure to go for the extra spoon, no matter if you’re going to wash an extra spoon.

Regularly check your fridge for old leftovers

Now even though they are kept in the refrigerator for a long time, food gets spoiled, still. They have certain life spans, if you will. That a food has been stored in the fridge for nearly a month makes you think of food poisoning, doesn’t it? Therefore, the longer your food is stored, the more unappetizing it becomes. In the end, you’ll just throw it away, which was what you avoided doing in the first place, correct?

That just means that it is best do not keep on just storing leftovers, you have to eat them, too. They’re still food; you only have to heat them up. This helps save you time in preparing meals, plus the money to dine out or buy groceries, and you didn’t throw away precious food. You’re already money-wise, you’re even considerate.

When it comes to food, you’re safest when you’re knowing. And when you know how to deal with not just your freshly cooked meal, but also your leftovers, you can best take care of yourself and avoid the little unwanted critters.