Keep bread in a cookie jar and wrap vegetables in a tea towel: Nutritionist shares the simple tricks to keep your food fresh for longer
- Leading dietitian Susie Burrell shared tips on keeping food fresher for longer
- Adding a pinch of salt to milk extends shelf life by as much as a week
- Wrapping ends of bananas in tin foil prevents them contaminating other fruit
- Storing a slice of bread in the cookie jar keeps biscuits fresh and crunchy
A nutritionist has shared the simple tricks to keeping food fresh for longer.
Sydney’s leading dietitian Susie Burrell revealed how you can cut down on your food bill by following some nifty household tricks.
Storing a single slice of bread in the cookie jar will help keep biscuits at their best, while wrapping the blackened ends of bananas in cling wrap or tin foil will keep your entire fruit bowl fresher for longer.
Wrapping leafy green vegetables in a damp tea towel and adding a dash of table salt to milk will extend shelf life by more than double.
Sydney’s leading dietitian Susie Burrell (pictured) said
1. STORE VEGETABLES IN A TEA TOWEL
Throwing vegetables directly into the fridge leads them to grow soggy and limp in a matter of days.
To extend the life of vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower, Susie recommends dampening a tea towel with water and wrapping it round your fresh produce.
‘It’ll give you a lot longer with leafy greens in particular, which can be quite expensive, so it’s a cost saving tip too,’ she told Channel Seven’s breakfast show Sunrise.
2. KEEP BREAD IN THE COOKIE JAR
While the biscuit tin may not be the usual storage area for loaves and baguettes, placing a slice of bread in the cookie jar will keep your favourite baked goods fresher for longer.
Cookies draw moisture from the bread, leaving them crisp and crunchy instead of becoming stale and soggy, just days after being removed from their original packaging.
In reverse, leaving a stick of celery beside bread will prevent a loaf from going stale.
‘Simply put some celery, which is very rich in fluid… in a bag with a slice of bread, the bread will take the fluid from the celery which helps it to become plump and soft again,’ she said.
3. ADD A PINCH OF SALT TO MILK
Adding a dash of table salt or bicarbonate of soda to milk will extend its short shelf life by up to seven days by reducing the bacterial activity which naturally occurs in milk, Susie revealed.
‘It’s quite a small amount you need to add, so don’t worry about it increasing your sodium intake,’ she said.
Storing bread in the cookie jar will keep baked goods crisp and crunchy, by allowing the biscuits to absorb the moisture contained in the slice
Wrapping the blackened ends of bananas in tin foil or GLAD wrap will trap ethylene gas which is naturally produced when they ripen, and causes other food to spoil
4. WRAP THE ENDS OF BANANAS
Bananas are notorious for causing other fruit to go bad, thanks to their high concentration of ethylene gas which is naturally produced when they ripen and speeds the ripening process of anything comes in contact with.
One of the easiest ways to extend the life of a banana, and everything around it, is to wrap the blackened end in GLAD wrap, tinfoil or sticky tape.
The wrap traps the ethylene gas, keeping bananas and the rest of the fruit bowl with a longer lifespan.
Once bananas are ripe, simply store them in the fridge to prolong shelf life.