These are the ways you’re ruining your food!
You bought some veggies on Monday; now it’s Wednesday, and they’re already looking bad. Why? How you store your food in the refrigerator may affect it more than you realize. Common practices that can promote bacterial growth and increase the risk of gastrointestinal disorders include not washing foods or putting them in plastic bags before refrigerating them.
Two experts pointed out that one of the main causes of gastrointestinal problems and food-borne illnesses is food contamination. When bacteria grow in food products, contamination occurs. Wrong handling techniques increase the risk of contamination even though many households use refrigeration to prolong food shelf life.
But enough with the blah blah, these are eight ways you’re ruining your food in the refrigerator, and you might not realize it.
Forgetting to clean all the foods properly before refrigeration
One of the many ways you’re ruining your food without realizing it is when you forget to wash the produce you bought before refrigeration. Raw meats, seafood, and vegetables that have not been cleaned may contain harmful bacteria like E. coli, which can cause bloodstream infections, severe diarrhea, and urinary tract infections. Additionally, these foods may contain Salmonella, Clostridium, and Listeria, which can cause symptoms like fever, diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, headaches, and stomachaches.
To prevent this from happening to you too, make sure to use the storage bags and give everything you purchase a thorough cleaning before storing it in the refrigerator. Oh, and don’t forget to dry the food before storing it; otherwise, they may develop mold from the moisture.
Because they are simpler to use and can be reused several times, I suggest the Ziploc ones. A set of 68 bags that can hold up to one gallon of food is available on Amazon. They are sturdy, have an expandable bottom, and work well with a variety of foods, including cheese and meat. For these reasons, I suggest them. The cost of the pack is only $10.18.
Forgetting to cover leftovers
Dang! How many times have you put all your dinner leftovers in a bowl and by mistake forgotten to cover it? Probably very often. But believe it or not, this is one of the ways you’re ruining your food. How?
Food that is exposed or not properly covered is at risk for contamination, which makes it easier for bacteria to spread to nearby food items. It is advised to wrap the foods in airtight packaging or use containers made for food storage before refrigeration to keep bacteria out, preserve moisture in the foods, and prevent odors from absorbing from other foods in the refrigerator.
Never put leftovers in the refrigerator unless they’re cold! Many people are ruining their refrigerators because of this little detail.
Foods placed incorrectly in the refrigerator
If you’re a millennial, then you probably have this habit of storing your eggs on the door shelves of your refrigerator. While this is something that we learned from our folks, it’s a common mistake and one of the ways you’re ruining your food.
Why? Because the refrigerator door’s frequent openings and closings cause temperature problems at the door shelves, which makes the environment improper for preserving these foods. Pickle jars, peanut butter, jam, olives, maple syrup, chocolate syrup, and sauces like hot sauce can all be kept on the refrigerator’s door shelves.
Furthermore, the risk of contracting an illness linked to food grows when raw and cooked foods are placed close to one another. Cooked foods are easily contaminated by bacteria from raw meats, seafood, and vegetables.
To avoid getting yourself and your family members sick, stick to a refrigeration rule. Raw meats, seafood, and eggs should be kept in the coldest sections of the refrigerator to preserve their freshness for longer.
Storing the food in the refrigerator for too long
Remember what I said at the beginning of the article? About fresh produce bought two days previously, and it got spoiled? This happens because certain foods, like mushrooms or veggies, are the first to go bad if you keep them for more than a single night.
After 24 hours, their nitrite levels exceed 0.001 per liter in adults, which can result in poisoning. According to doctors, meals and salads that aren’t cooked at high temperatures can become contaminated by bacteria or parasites. Even when the food is refrigerated, these pathogens can multiply and flourish.
So be careful, and if you know that you can’t eat certain things on the day you bought them, better skip buying them altogether. Or store them in the freezer.
Refreezing thawed meat
You intended to defrost some meat to cook two dishes but realized there was too much thawed food. What do you do? I hope you won’t think about refreezing it! Refreezing thawed food (especially meat) is one of the worst ways you’re ruining your food. Food that has been thawed and then refrozen again fosters an environment that encourages the fast growth of bacteria. To lower the risk of bacterial growth, food should be portioned properly and used completely after thawing. Don’t worry about too many leftovers, because refrigerating them as mentioned above is still better than refreezing all that thawed meat!
It’s a good idea to put any leftover thawed food in a sealed container, designate a specific area of the refrigerator, and use it right away. Foods that are completely thawed to room temperature or that have been out of the refrigerator for more than two hours are considered unfit for human consumption.
I hope this article was useful, and from now on, you will know how to store your food accordingly. Until next time!
…psst! Before leaving, you might also want to read: Stay Away from These 6 Peanut Butter Brands.
