We seem to be in an era of throwing things out quickly – different times, different timetables, I guess. While I have to be conscious of histamine levels in food, I don’t have as much a compulsion as the interwebs say I should about shoving things in the refrigerator immediately.
I also think leftovers can be good for longer than 3 days. I’m not trying to promote unsafe food, but some households’ safety precautions seem to be based on the guesses of someone else rather than any solid science.
There are a few things we never worried about when I was a kid. Salted butter stayed on the countertop, not in the refrigerator. Bacon fat sat in a container, sometimes embossed with the word GREASE, on the stove waiting to be used again and again. Pumpkin pie sat out all afternoon without anyone thinking they’d die from eating a piece.
The other night, I accidentally left a small container of cooked rice on the stove all night. The next morning, I considered eating it for breakfast. I ultimately opted not to, but I’m still not sure why other than a lot of bot-delivered information is floating in my head. Sell by, best by, and use by dates have been so confusing and erring to the side of caution so common that we throw away lots of food that is most likely edible.
My grandmother was a stickler about foods containing mayonnaise, but fried chicken could sit out for a long time without her growing concerned. I say that, but even in her day we carried potato salad to the river for a picnic in an uncooled basket. That was a 30-minute drive in an unairconditioned car plus time to unpack and get settled. The amount of time the salad spent out in the elements given the conditions would send some of my current associates into panic.
Added preservatives give food a longer shelf life, but I suppose at this point they also serve to reassure the hypersensitive consumer. We no longer need root cellars or spring houses, but we have an increase in food intolerance.
We place food that’s been trucked around in all sorts of conditions in refrigerator containers designed to preserve edibility when something grown on the back porch would last longer without anything special. And I think that’s the crux of the difference between then and now.
In many communities, the fresh food available to us isn’t as fresh as it once was so we have to be more concerned about its condition once it’s in our hands. I’ve bought celery before its sell-by date, opened it immediately and been met with a foul smell. Grocery delivery often brings me meat that says to cook it by the next day.
These days, you have to be on your toes to avoid food spoilage. There are green boxes, produce life extender bags, and bluapple® freshness saver balls to help fruits and vegetables last longer. You can always throw meat in the freezer. Just be sure to note on the package how many days you have to cook it once it thaws.
Given the changes that have taken place in agricultural operations, food transportation, and food storage, we have less time to relax on the front end before using food and more time to be worried about food spoilage on the back end. It’s no wonder we waste food. Different times, different timetables.
Safety First & Forever – in thriver words (cooking2thrive.com)
Debbie Meyer Innovations | Official Site
Keep Produce Fresh, Reduce Food Waste, Save Money – Bluapple (thebluapple.com)
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