Smart Storage

With nearly 96.4 billion pounds of spoiled food tossed each year, that makes 122 pounds per family—edible food from restaurants, pantries, and refrigerators—left to rot in a landfill. Having been a champion "when in doubt, toss it out-er" I am tired of seeing my hard earned dough go to bacterial waste. In addition to tightening your shopping list, use these food storage tips to enjoy unspoiled food and keep your trash can waistline slim.

Fruit
Aside from pineapple and mango, most fruits last much longer left uncut and unpeeled. Seal in a plastic bag or wrap and keep them in a temperature-controlled drawer in your fridge. Don't put them on the top shelf if your fridge tends to freeze out the upper level (like mine). Keep cut melons separate from other fruits to avoid giving them too much acidity. Squash, tomatoes, and oranges actually taste better when stored at room temperature. Oddly enough, bananas don't spoil as quickly in the fridge—the outside may brown sooner, but they will be fine inside. Add several drops of lemon juice to cut fruit to avoid browning.

Meats
Freezer burn is my archenemy. I stare at the meat initiating a should I/shouldn't I debate that always ends with an angry Chipotle run. Separate the meat into family specific portions—this will help you buy in bulk and not waste. Vacuum seal unused selections and freeze. Fresh meat will remain edible up to 4-5 days in the refrigerator or 4-12 months in the freezer, depending upon your unit. Keep an eye on your deep freezer's temperature often if you buy in bulk. Still Tasty has a fabulous list detailing how to store all meats imaginable.

Bread
Ordinary sandwich bread, the soft-crust white or wheat varieties, is best kept in airtight containers on the counter for up to a week. Freeze for 3-6 months then dethaw on the countertop. When it sprouts a gray coat, it's time to go. I prefer to keep my bread in the fridge as it lasts longer and I don't mind it being a little harder. Plus refrigerated bread makes great toast.

Nuts
If you don't consume a lot of walnuts and pecans you may be surprised to know that they go bad more quickly than you'd think. Keep shelled nuts in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to four months or frozen for up to nine months. They will go soggy and rancid if you don't store them properly. Give them a little nibble before dumping into your chocolate brownie mix.

Keep the flours, crackers, sugars, and pastas in airtight containers in a low humidity environment. If the humidity exceeds 60% foods will absorb the moisture and you'll have stale goods. White rice will remain fresh for up to a year while wild and brown rice last only six months. Do a monthly check for stale foods to avoid a pantry of nonedibles.

To keep your leftovers as fresh as possible for longer, get creative with food preservation. If your cheese has some mold on it, rub it off with a cloth soaked in vinegar. The taste will be just as fresh and you'll avoid ingesting mold. Putting a bay leaf in pasta containers will ward off bugs. If your half loaf of bread is stale, sprinkle milk on it, wrap it in foil, and bake it at 350 degrees for 8 minutes to let it soften. And store brown sugar in a glass container in the fridge to prevent it turning into stone.

A word about expiration dates: we are a society of red lights, strict school grading scales, and instant information. Although little room is left for intuition, you really need to let your nose know when it comes to food spoilage. Take a whiff of a rotten egg or spoiled milk and you know what I mean. I find that eggs and cheese have premature expiration dates. Always mark your freezer bags with the date frozen or thawed for your own records. And, of course, the best way to keep more of your food is to buy only what you will consume before expiration. But you'll have nice, light bags on trash day.

Before requesting a styrofoam box for that last dinner roll, let's be honest about your leftovers. Do you always ask for doggie bags and then promptly leave them in the car over night? Or do they chill out in the fridge until turning gangrenous? Knowing that leftover food accounts for the largest source of waste by pounds, costing nearly one billion dollars to process each year, make wise decisions when it comes to next day cafe. While we can expect the trend to slow down a bit in these economic times, that amount is staggering. Only take or buy what you intend to eat.

The best food storage solutions are often the least expensive over time. You'll lose more than a chunk of change dishing out for plastic bags over the course of several years.

• Make your meals for the week ahead of time and store them in the freezer. Metal pans do fine in the freezer for the short term and you won't be stuck tossing plastic bags or the flimsy aluminum pans. Plus you can snag recipes that utilize the same ingredients, allowing you to use up the leftover half of an onion across the week. If you put a glass dish in the freezer, make sure it can withstand the cold. Most glass jars and containers will crack if kept frozen.
• Plastic storage containers don't have to come with a fancy brand name and matching lids. Many deli meat containers are perfectly reusable as are potato salad, plastic ice cream buckets, and relish jars. For short term refrigerated items, these are perfectly adequate and take advantage of recycling.
• If you use plastic freezer bags, continue to reuse them! Most of us toss them after one use, but the really thick kind can be washed and put back to work.
• Use sour cream containers with lids for separating and freezing single soup servings. Make sure your soup has cooled quite a bit before loading to avoid a freezer meltdown. Whipped topping containers similarly make super leftover keepers.

There is some debate over plastics co-mingling with food and the long-term health effects of eating from meals prepared, frozen, or served in them. Until more solid information convinces me otherwise, I can sleep with a clear conscience cooling with plastic and heating in glass. Keep a glass microwave dish available to heat your food and you should avoid most of the harmful affects of oozing plastic, should they exist. For more information on product reviews, Good Housekeeping has put 28 food storage containers through heating, cooling, and dishwasher tests.