I quickly realised that food gets off much quicker here than in England, so I tend to buy much less quantity and go shopping more often.
Not a complaint, however I need to find a good way of storing food.. from fruits and veggies to beans and cereals, and so on.
Some examples of unsuccessful storage:
-some lentils that were opened since few weeks - and even stored inside a glass sealed container - developed in early autumn some black very small insects! my mam she said no to worry, it is because they are organic so they don't last "so" long but I always bought organic lentil in England too..
-I have started the second morning of the new year enthusiastically making myself a fresh squeezed orange juice - it tasted off, I had to spit it away. In effect the oranges were slightly softy but not close to be mouldy.. they were bought only two days before!
-my minestrone soup made yesterday evening with fresh - and just bought - veggies, stored in the fridge straight after it cooled down, today at lunch tastes funny..
I know it happens to me too, what I do now is freeze stuff in appropriate tapperware. My mother in law showed me as this happened too often in NL as well .
Ah. You are the victim of what I call "Swiss Frau Syndrome" or SFS.
Simply put, all Swiss men have a Swiss Frau at home who makes sure that all food stuffs are bought fresh that day and cooked to perfection on his arrival home from work. That means that storage is not an issue here in CH, explains the very small fridges in Swiss flats and the fact that food goes off very quickly as it is "fresh and ready for immediate use".
Sorry that this doesn't help you with storage, but it is always helpful to name the problem you are facing.
Get a fridge thermometer. Our fridge is rather idiotically situated next to the oven so the temperature rises 3 or 4 degrees when the oven is on plus, because it is nearing antique status, isn't terribly reliable even when the oven is off. We found that certain foods were going off (milk was souring, for example) a lot quicker than normal.
@annas: I use up an open pack of lentils, pasta etc. - organic or otherwise - within about 4 weeks. If they start to move of their own accord, bin them and use a new pack.
I keep oranges, apples, clementines etc. either in the fridge or (now in winter) outside on the terrace. In the kitchen it gets too warm to be able to store them for more than 2 - 3 days and the dry air shrivels them up too fast.
Your minestrone should be fine after less than 24 hrs in the fridge Did you keep it covered? Were the veggies cooked through sufficiently?
Honestly, if you're cooking and refrigerating the way you're used to, there really shouldn't be any probs. After all, a fridge temperature of 4°C is 4°C in the UK, in Switzerland, everywhere.
i made beef soup just the other day. i froze part of it the day after, but otherwise left it standing on the hob (didn't bother to refrigerate) and drank most of it over 2-3 days. i just make sure to re-boil it to kill the nasties when leaving it overnight.
i think a bit of 'rot' can add to the flavour sometimes. oh, i'd check your fridge - once i found some mould in there which starting spreading to other food placed in there...
on fruit - i'm more careful when buying now. often i see mould already on fruit/veg when in the supermarket.
Wow, I need to get some kind of stickers to remember when I opened something! We're just two of us and we don't eat much.. but thanks, I will surely pay attention now!
I knew I had to change that! I would just keep them in the kitchen table as a decoration!
Yes, the minestrone was cooked fine, but it was not perfectly covered, just inside a glass soup bowl covered with a plate..
I am not sure about that, I guess it should be the same but somehow something works differently!
no cause I dont like soup seriously though it happened to me in NL I left some soup outside for one night and it had fungui on top! Gross!
i did not even know fungui can reproduce so fast. But as a previous psoter commented, check the temperature of the termometer as well. BTW my mother in law does freeze soup...I dont know....
Be careful what you rubbish . Many a true word is spoken in jest!
Another symptom of SFS is the rediculous school times, whereby the child is sent home for an incredibly long lunch hour necessitating a parent to be present, or the possibility that the school might close and send a child home early without warning... Said child is left on doorstep while social services are called as no one is at home... you may laugh, but it has happened...
Another SFS symptom is the whole laundry cleaning day shambles... when I first moved here (on my own), I was given a wash slot on Monday 12:00 hrs-16:00 hrs. Try getting clean clothes with a full time job on that slot! After much pleading with my housewarden she eventually relented and gave me Saturday 08:00-12:00 hrs. I wasn't sure this was an improvement... but try explaining "hangover" to my Swiss Frau housewarden. I would add that I was not the only single expat with that problem when I shared my woes with my friends and colleagues.
I've been considering investing in one of those vacuum pack machines. In a way, they come across as expensive, but as I have seen in use, the vacuum bags can be re-sealed, perfect for your dried goods, as it is air and airborne beasties that will spoil your food.
For your freshly made soup or whatever,I think the best thing is to cool it as quickly as possible, in a fresh container, then store it in the fridge, or balcony as is also feasible at the moment. Or of course freeze it.
I have noticed that, at this time of year, some things like onions/carrots/root celery/turnip etc (which will have been stored for some time by now), play a role in the end product as well.
It doesn't neccesarily mean that your food is "off", just there is a change in the chemicals of the veg, which may result in it tasting different.
I also do as PhilMCR does, just make sure to really heat it up thoroughly.
I also have the same problem and I agree, Swiss men have lovely great sweet Swiss wives who look after the kids and buy the veg fresh every day. What else would they do with all that time after scrubbing and cleaning and taking care of the kids. Ah, to be a good wife and mother, I am yet to learn! (read; never!!!!!!!!!!!)
Isn't the best way to get the food hot, stick it in a clean container that is air tight, while hot (i.e. steaming) and whack it in the fridge?
The hot air/steam from the food should mean that there are few live bacteria/fungi around. This should then cool down creating reduced pressure in the remaining space of the container. If this is a good airtight container, this negative pressure will act as a "lock" pulling the lid down further, ensuring the that seal remains tight.
Yours, in expectation of being shot down in flames...
If you do not see good looking fruit or veg, lift the crate up and get the fresh ones in the crate beneath or in the case of bags of potatoes, l always get the fresher potatoes a few bags down.. just watch out for the funny looks you get from the veg packers
Annas: have you got the radiator, heating on in your kitchen? If so, turn it off; could be too warm and damp in there. I never have the heat on in our kitchen and never have any problems with food.. tho' I must admit after reading your post, I went out to have a good look at my lentils
Also beware of leaving unsealed packages (or even sealed, but cardboard or plastic packages) in your larder: Cupboard moths get into everything, and there are few things less pleasant than getting to the bottom of a packet of biscuits to find you've been sharing them with little wriggly things.
Tupperware helps a lot, but also check anything that's in there a long time, as there are often eggs already in the packet when you buy them, so even a sealed container can contain a fascinating little ecosystem of its own within a few weeks.
Totally agree on making sure the fridge is cold enough - I realised after several weeks that the moving-out tenant had turned it to the 'warmest' setting, and we need it close to the coldest setting...
We keep almost all the fruit/veg in the fridge nowadays, and have a separate freezer...
On the 'up' side I have found lots of things that keep a lot longer than back 'ome' in Sydney - since the humidity is lower here, the breakfast cereals last for weeks without going 'stale', even if we don't bother to curl down the packets inside the box