Any storage secrets?

ferry23

As many of you will testify, living alone frequently means buying food you know you will probably throw away. The world of food shopping is not geared up for single people.

I now have to rely on supermarket deliveries which is even worse as there is very little in "single person size".

The two things I struggle to store successfully are parmesan and garlic. I've tried double wrapping in foil and film, foil only, wrapping and putting in zip lock bags. I've kept in the door of the fridge, in the main fridge and for the garlic in the salad crisper.

The garlic isn't the end of the world as it hardly breaks the bank to buy a new bulb, and I accept no shop is going to sell half a garlic bulb! Even though I do hate the waste. But Italian hard cheeses are expensive and I have to shave or cut off mouldy bits every time I use them. Or sometimes they are just past redemption.

I keep hovering over the jars of garlic cloves but I'm not convinced.

Any foolproof tips?

What about the frozen cubes of garlic? I was sick of throwing garlic out.
Not sure about the cheese if you can freeze or not 🤔

Not if it’s a soft, soggy mess Grandmaofone

Slimy cucumber on my eyelids doesn't appeal to me.

MayBee70

I'm always throwing away cucumber..just going to check my latest one to see if it's survived.

I’ve started buying the mini cucumbers that are supposed to be for kids’ lunches. They last quite a while. Pricier, but if you end up binning half a normal cucumber, it probably works out the same cost.

I buy a block of Gran Padana cheese (cheaper than Parmesan but a similar taste) then grate it finely and put it in a plastic bag and straight into the freezer. It keeps for months and months, and I use it straight from the freezer for bolognaise, in sauces and on lasagne.

I grow my own garlic and either dry the plants, plait them and store hanging up in the garage or break them all apart when they have dried, separate and peel the cloves and freeze them as whole cloves, again in plastic bags. They last at least a year in the freezer. You can do this with shop-bought bulbs as well. they are easy to grate while still frozen, or thaw for an hour and them chop them as needed.

The frozen cubes of ginger and garlic are also very good and I buy them occasionally when I have run out of the frozen fresh cloves.

My DH grows the mini cucumbers and we have lots of them. I found if I put them immersed in water in a jug in the fridge they keep lovely and crisp for about a week.

I presume that is why they sell cucumbers completely wrapped in plastic in order to keep them fresh.

I have also frozen blocks of Parmesan, cheddar and Stilton very successfully in the freezer.

When we visit Costco I buy the goat cheese log and freeze it in handy slices, it works out much cheaper than buying small portions from the supermarket.