primitives discuss food storage

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=236x84510

Oh my.

hippywife  (1000+ posts)        Sun Jan-23-11 12:18 PM
MRS. ALFRED PACKER
Original message

Food storage solutions.

There are a few things I was having problems storing for very long, one is ginger and the other flat leaf parsley. I even read an ATK on the different methods they tried for storing ginger, but I've accidentally found one that works.

I have an old vintage bread box like this:

after which a photograph of one of those old metal containers that hoards germs and gets rusty

I keep potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, shallots, garlic and ginger in it for a really long time without any problems. Weeks and weeks, into months, the ginger, shallots and garlic keep so well.

As far as Italian flat leaf parsley goes, another accident came out of my laziness. LOL I find it keeps better loosely wrapped in the plastic produce bag on the door of the fridge rather than in the crisper. Also lasts for weeks and weeks.

I wanted to share these with you all just in case anyone else needed them. Anyone else have any solutions they've found to classic food storage problems?

japple  (1000+ posts)      Sun Jan-23-11 01:09 PM
Response to Original message
 
1. Thanks for the tips, HW. I usually put ginger in the freezer, which ruins the texture of it, but not the taste. Nice to know about parsley. Wonder if that would work for cilantro?

hippywife  (1000+ posts)        Sun Jan-23-11 01:11 PM
MRS. ALFRED PACKER
Response to Reply #1

2. You're welcome.

I don't wrap it or anything (the ginger) just throw it in there with everything else.

I've not tried the cilantro yet as I haven't bought any for a while, sadly.  I need to try that, too.

grasswire  (1000+ posts)      Sun Jan-23-11 07:18 PM
Response to Original message
 
3. that's what I do for parsley, too

I keep it in the plastic bag, stored upright in the fridge door tucked in among the condiment bottles.

And I also throw ginger in the freezer but it's not my favorite thing to do.

I love your vintage kitchen things. I recall that the other day you mentioned a vintage cannister. Do you find much at tag sales 'round there?

In case one's not aware of this, the grasswire primitive, like the vindictive primitive, is a notorious re-seller.

Buys things for a quarter at garage sales, eBays them for ten bucks, and then whines about "windfall profits" of petroleum and pharmaceutical corporations.

hippywife  (1000+ posts)        Sun Jan-23-11 07:37 PM
MRS. ALFRED PACKER
Response to Reply #3

4. Most of the things I find at work. When people pass away, their families tend not to want all the stuff they leave behind. Sometimes they leave behind good stuff. Other things I've bought at goodwill.com or etsy.com.

Uh oh.  I thought nursing homes had a code of ethics about employees not taking things, even if offered them.

[The Hollywood NeoCon]

You're right, Frank....slow day today on the Island.

It's like watching flies ****.

[franksolich]

You're right, Frank....slow day today on the Island.

It's like watching flies ****.

That it is, sir.

Of course, I've been ignoring the campfires indignant about Mike Mal--er, Eric Slobberman.

[Ballygrl]

In case one's not aware of this, the grasswire primitive, like the vindictive primitive, is a notorious re-seller.

Buys things for a quarter at garage sales, eBays them for ten bucks, and then whines about "windfall profits" of petroleum and pharmaceutical corporations.

Uh oh.  I thought nursing homes had a code of ethics about employees not taking things, even if offered them.

A lot of people on ebay charge outrageous prices on S&H, of course though it's up to the buyer if they want to pay that high S&H before they bid.

[GOBUCKS]

What a DUmbass! Parsley and ginger are easy. You buy them dried, in little glass jars, at the grocery store. Then they last forever, and not one soul on earth can tell a difference in the taste, though many may think they can.

[franksolich]

What a DUmbass! Parsley and ginger are easy. You buy them dried, in little glass jars, at the grocery store. Then they last forever, and not one soul on earth can tell a difference in the taste, though many may think they can.

You know, when I moved out here from town in 2005, the place had been unoccupied for ten years.

But there were still things laying around, including foodstuffs, among them being those old miniature white metal canisters of herbs and spices.  Many of them still have the old-fashioned grocery-store ink-stamped price, "19 cents" or "23 cents" or 12 cents," those sorts of prices.

Some of them are so old the address of the company is something like "New York City 2, New York" or "New York City, Grand Central Station," rather than a zip code.  And no UPCs either, nowhere.

Because I don't like things to go to waste, for almost six years I've been using these herbs and spices as directed from various recipes, and thus far everything's turned out excellently, even though some of them are possibly older than I am.

[franksolich]

Uh oh.

So as to not hijack this thread, our colleague vesta111 has started a new thread elsewhere, castigating franksolcih for not liking old-fashioned metal bread-boxes, such as that Mrs. Alfred Packer showed off.

http://www.conservativecave.com/index.php/topic,54498.msg616591/topicseen.html#msg616591

[AllosaursRus]

A lot of people on ebay charge outrageous prices on S&H, of course though it's up to the buyer if they want to pay that high S&H before they bid.

I won't buy anything from the crooks on Ebay or CraigsList unless they're in my neck 'o the woods, and I can pick the stuff up myself.

You'd be surprised how many times I've had people turn me down or ix-nay the sale because I was willin' to show up on their doorstep! lol!

Many of them will let ya buy stuff cheap just to tack on some outrageous shipping and handling fee. If you're in their neighborhood, they start back peddlin'. Only those that are legit and are afraid you'll screw with their rating don't balk.

I've heard way too many horror stories about people coughin' up thousands of dollars and gettin' burned to do anything else.

Just last month my daughter had a friend that paid some guy to buy and transport a car for her and lost close to 5 thou. She lucked out as she reported it and some good Samaritan reimbursed her.

It was really strange! She figured she had lost the money, and one day right before Christmas a couple of guys showed up at her doorstep, asked her her name, and handed her an envelope. They quickly just left and when she opened it, figuring it was some kind of summons, everything she had lost was included in the envelope in ****in' cash!

Needless to say she was completely flabbergasted! The guys left so quick, she didn't even see what kinda car they were driving. Turns out, after a little research, the guys father who's son had screwed her was runnin' around returnin' the money his son had swindled out of everyone. It was his own money too, as the son had already blown the dough on drugs!

And DUmmies think there is no GOD! If it hadn't been for that money, her kids would have done without for Christmas!

TRUE STORY!

[Ballygrl]

Uh oh.

So as to not hijack this thread, our colleague vesta111 has started a new thread elsewhere, castigating franksolcih for not liking old-fashioned metal bread-boxes, such as that Mrs. Alfred Packer showed off.

http://www.conservativecave.com/index.php/topic,54498.msg616591/topicseen.html#msg616591

I think the old fashioned metal bread boxes make the bread smell.

[Ballygrl]

I won't buy anything from the crooks on Ebay or CraigsList unless they're in my neck 'o the woods, and I can pick the stuff up myself.

You'd be surprised how many times I've had people turn me down or ix-nay the sale because I was willin' to show up on their doorstep! lol!

Many of them will let ya buy stuff cheap just to tack on some outrageous shipping and handling fee. If you're in their neighborhood, they start back peddlin'. Only those that are legit and are afraid you'll screw with their rating don't balk.

I've heard way too many horror stories about people coughin' up thousands of dollars and gettin' burned to do anything else.

Just last month my daughter had a friend that paid some guy to buy and transport a car for her and lost close to 5 thou. She lucked out as she reported it and some good Samaritan reimbursed her.

It was really strange! She figured she had lost the money, and one day right before Christmas a couple of guys showed up at her doorstep, asked her her name, and handed her an envelope. They quickly just left and when she opened it, figuring it was some kind of summons, everything she had lost was included in the envelope in ****in' cash!

Needless to say she was completely flabbergasted! The guys left so quick, she didn't even see what kinda car they were driving. Turns out, after a little research, the guys father who's son had screwed her was runnin' around returnin' the money his son had swindled out of everyone. It was his own money too, as the son had already blown the dough on drugs!

And DUmmies think there is no GOD! If it hadn't been for that money, her kids would have done without for Christmas!

TRUE STORY!

I've gotten some really great things on ebay and Craigslist and at great prices, I don't think I'd buy a high priced item unless it was local and I could look at it.