Food Storage

Last night I wanted to steam some foods for my 7.5 month-old to try this week, but I knew they wouldn't keep all week, or even for several. So, how do I steam foods for my baby to try without wasting the extra?? I will eat some of the steamed foods, but I don't need to steam my pears to eat them!! Ick! Like anyone in a situation like mine, I did a Google search for "freeze sweet potatoes." And I stumbled across this amazing website called Still Tasty.

That's a snapshot of it just to give you an idea of what's there. Well, I did learn that I can freeze sweet potatoes and pears after steaming them. I think I'm just going to eat the leftover pear that's not steamed though. The sweet potatoes can be frozen and kept for up to a year in an airtight container or bag.

This site is user-friendly with helpful charts and easy-to-use, concise instructions. The "Keep It or Toss It?" section of the site is an alphabetical index of the information I've been describing, or you can search the site for a food you want to know about. Additionally, each food is broken down by whether it's raw or cooked. Below is an example of the storage information for fresh and cooked yams.

Additionally, I love the "Your Questions Answered" section of the site. It has quick answers to questions like: How can you tell if a watermelon is ripe? Should I store my bread in the fridge or on the counter? Do spices ever go bad? Can you freeze raw eggs for later use? Lastly, the "Shelf Talk" section has articles related to food and storing them, which I found interesting. Did you know that pure honey never goes bad?! And you can "thaw" it by running it under warm water. Too bad I just threw away some!