As the COVID-19 virus gathers momentum, and we are all in
self-isolation in our homes, my family and friends have been discussing how to
preserve fresh food. We are fortunate and able to stock up on food supplies. During this difficult time, we do not want to
lose anything. One thing I have learnt
in just a few days is how much we should value food. I am determined that not one piece of food will
spoil and be thrown out, due to my lack of planning.
One of the first things I did was pickle some carrots. I do not know why, but I had an inordinate
amount of carrots in the fridge. Please see
this link for my easy carrot pickling recipe.
Here are my other tips for preserving fresh produce.
1.
Freeze all your tomatoes. To use in curries or sauces, wash a frozen
tomato, peel the skin off and roughly chop or shave it into your cooking utensil.
2.
Peel, bag and refrigerate onions. These will last in the fridge for 10 – 14 days.
3.
Peel, wash, slice and bag onions. Freeze.
Use directly from freezer into utensil for cooking. There is no need to thaw frozen sliced onions
before cooking.
4.
Grind coriander leaves and green chilies into a
paste with a little salt and lemon juice. If you don't have lemon juice, just salt is fine. This can be stored in a jar in the fridge and used to flavor food when
cooking. A friend of mine just suggested freezing single use portions of this paste in an ice tray. Thank you Jaya.
5.
My son said that he saved his coriander leaves
by washing them, drying thoroughly and then freezing them. This method can be used for other herbs.
6.
Chop potatoes, coat with oil and salt and pepper
(or other spices). Roast in a 525F oven for about 20 minutes or till done, to
your taste. Cool, bag, and freeze. Roasted potatoes can be reheated directly from
frozen in a hot oven.
7.
Make jam with any extra fruits that you
have. You do not need pectin. Sugar is enough and maybe a dash of lemon
juice. Google for easy jam recipes. There are plenty. Google the frozen saucer method to check if
your jam has jelled and is ready to transfer to jars. I tend to refrigerate my home made jams.
Ju Juice all your limes/lemons. Freeze in an ice tray. When frozen, transfer the cubes to a container or zip loc bag.
T The same can be done with leftover cream. I buy cream to make desserts and invariably, whatever is left over, spoils and gets thrown out. Until I found that I could freeze cream in a ice tray. Transfer to a container when frozen. Cream cubes can be tossed into sauces or soups or defrosted to eat with fresh fruit.
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