I'm a crazy busy stay at home mother of a zoo in my opinion. I tend to suffer from C.R.S frequently and act dazed and confused other times. One thing I learned though over time, is that I cannot forget to keep an eye on my food!! It's really bad when you go to open the refrigerator with the dog following thinking he's getting a treat....when all of sudden, he tucks tail and runs away as you open that door. The unmistakeable smell of something gone bad emits itself from my cold storage box. Then I think to myself..."Christina, how in Hades did I forget to keep an eye on this?"
I know I've called my mother, even to this day, in the past to ask her how to tell if something I have opened can still be used or if something I forgot I even had and didn't open was still usable. Here's some general information I think all people should know....even the dog so they can help clean up sometimes....them lazy bums!!
Surprisingly enough, the government regulates almost nothing of what the stores and manufacturers put as expiration dates and codes on their products. Heck, most of the shelf life stuff is all a guessing game; about 70%. To top it off, not all labels are the same either. There are some that say "enjoy before", "sell by", "better if used by" or my favorite "use or freeze by".
Unfortunately, all of this is hard to decipher. Some food is good passed their due date while others, aka meats, go sour a few days before the label on the package says. So, Here is a list of the common foods we all buy and use and a general rule of thumb for them being stored:
Steak, veal, pork, lamb: 3-5 days in the fridge; 4-12 months in the freezer
Ground beef: 1-2 days in the fridge; 3-4 months in the freezer
Raw poultry: 1-2 days in the fridge; 9-12 months in the freezer
Fish and shellfish: 1-2 days in the fridge; 3-12 months in the freezer
Dairy products: Milk = 3-7 days in the fridge. There are no federal regulations for these also. Great rule of thumb? If it smells rank, toss it immediately! Supposedly, with blocks of hard cheeses, you can scrape away about 1/8" off it if there is just a small spot of mold instead of tossing the entire thing. If I had known this back in the day....oh who am I kidding.....if I had known the other day; I wouldn't have thrown out almost 2lbs of mozzarella cheese!
Eggs: 3-5 weeks in the fridge. In my house, they barely last a week though. I do such an extreme amount of cooking and baking that keeping a stock of eggs in my house has proven itself to be somewhat of a challenge. The only time I really toss these suckers is if the shell cracks or it's been exposed for a long time frame out of the cold fridge.
Canned foods: lasts up to 5 years!! Now I understand why people back in the "olden days" use to stock up on packaged goods and keep it in the bomb shelter under the homes. I think my grandmother still has some somewhere in her home that are that old.
So, if you don't want to waste countless dollars and cents trying to keep up with a label....try using the guides above. And, maybe if you stock up like I do every month, you can watch your food bill diminish. I go to an off brand store here in NC and I go to a local butcher shop/meat market for all my meats. The prices and deals I get are fabulous!!! I can walk out of one grocery store with 2 shopping carts FULL of food and only had spent less than $200. The other store, the meat market/butcher, I can walk out of there with a cart full of meats and spend about $150 but have enough to last me until the following month and then some. The best part about the butchers is that they package their own stuff with no chemicals added into the packaging to make everything last longer, and, they get all their meat in fresh every day. They never leave their products out on the shelves longer than 48 hours.
I know I've called my mother, even to this day, in the past to ask her how to tell if something I have opened can still be used or if something I forgot I even had and didn't open was still usable. Here's some general information I think all people should know....even the dog so they can help clean up sometimes....them lazy bums!!
Surprisingly enough, the government regulates almost nothing of what the stores and manufacturers put as expiration dates and codes on their products. Heck, most of the shelf life stuff is all a guessing game; about 70%. To top it off, not all labels are the same either. There are some that say "enjoy before", "sell by", "better if used by" or my favorite "use or freeze by".
Unfortunately, all of this is hard to decipher. Some food is good passed their due date while others, aka meats, go sour a few days before the label on the package says. So, Here is a list of the common foods we all buy and use and a general rule of thumb for them being stored:
Steak, veal, pork, lamb: 3-5 days in the fridge; 4-12 months in the freezer
Ground beef: 1-2 days in the fridge; 3-4 months in the freezer
Raw poultry: 1-2 days in the fridge; 9-12 months in the freezer
Fish and shellfish: 1-2 days in the fridge; 3-12 months in the freezer
Dairy products: Milk = 3-7 days in the fridge. There are no federal regulations for these also. Great rule of thumb? If it smells rank, toss it immediately! Supposedly, with blocks of hard cheeses, you can scrape away about 1/8" off it if there is just a small spot of mold instead of tossing the entire thing. If I had known this back in the day....oh who am I kidding.....if I had known the other day; I wouldn't have thrown out almost 2lbs of mozzarella cheese!
Eggs: 3-5 weeks in the fridge. In my house, they barely last a week though. I do such an extreme amount of cooking and baking that keeping a stock of eggs in my house has proven itself to be somewhat of a challenge. The only time I really toss these suckers is if the shell cracks or it's been exposed for a long time frame out of the cold fridge.
Canned foods: lasts up to 5 years!! Now I understand why people back in the "olden days" use to stock up on packaged goods and keep it in the bomb shelter under the homes. I think my grandmother still has some somewhere in her home that are that old.
So, if you don't want to waste countless dollars and cents trying to keep up with a label....try using the guides above. And, maybe if you stock up like I do every month, you can watch your food bill diminish. I go to an off brand store here in NC and I go to a local butcher shop/meat market for all my meats. The prices and deals I get are fabulous!!! I can walk out of one grocery store with 2 shopping carts FULL of food and only had spent less than $200. The other store, the meat market/butcher, I can walk out of there with a cart full of meats and spend about $150 but have enough to last me until the following month and then some. The best part about the butchers is that they package their own stuff with no chemicals added into the packaging to make everything last longer, and, they get all their meat in fresh every day. They never leave their products out on the shelves longer than 48 hours.