How to Elongate Shelf Life of Food 如何延長食物的保質期

Curbing food waste properly starts from the small details in everyday life.

While ordering food in restaurants in smarter ways and packing up leftovers are suggested by nationwide campaigns， for those who mostly cook their meals at home， there are also ways to make the most use of dried goods and fresh produce.

防止食物浪費從日常生活的細節開始。

在餐館適當點餐、把沒有吃完的食物打包，這樣的行為值得大力推廣。對于那些經常在家做飯的人 ， 也有方法讓干制食品和生鮮農產品得到充分的使用。

Ways to store dried goods

干制食品的儲藏法

When a new bag of rice， flour， oat or dried mushroom is opened， storing them to elongate shelf life can be a challenging task， especially in the humid climate in southern parts of China.

There are many food containers designed for storing dried foods to separate the air and moisture. In southern parts of China， if you are constantly opening containers to scoop out the amount to be used in cooking， it greatly reduces the storage time—there could be mould and small bugs that render the whole batch unusable.

Take rice as an example， the best way to avoid waste is to divide a large bag of rice， usually 5 or 10 kilos， into smaller portions of 500 grams to 1 kilo each， depending on how much is consumed weekly， and only open the second portion after the first one is finished. Vacuum sealing works best with dried foods.

當一袋新的大米、面粉、燕麥或干香菇被打開后，如何儲藏它們以延長保質期是一項具有挑戰性的任務，尤其是在中國南方潮濕的氣候條件下。

市面上有許多用來儲存干燥的食物的容器，它們可以隔絕空氣和水分。在中國的南方地區，如果你經常打開容器取適量食物烹飪，就會大大縮短食物的保質期——食物可能會產生霉菌和生小蟲，導致整袋食物都無法食用。

以大米為例，避免浪費最好的辦法是將大袋的大米進行分裝，通常把 5 或 10 千克的大米分成 500 克到 1 千克的小份，這需要每個家庭根據一周食用的量來分裝。在吃完第一份大米后，再打開第二份。真空密封最適合干制食品的儲藏。

Ways to store fresh produce

生鮮農產品的保存方法

Fresh produce like leafy vegetables， soy products? and? mushrooms? are? best purchased daily according to the recipe， but sometimes theres a need to store greens for longer time.

For example， kale is much cheaper when buying in bulk via online vendors， but storing it can be tricky. Here are two tips.Thoroughly wash a larger batch and dry completely with a salad spinner so that all the water? is? removed? to? significantly elongate the freshness （sometimes up to a week， minus the need to wash every time）， or make smaller portions and put them in the freezer. There are some vegetables that should be blanched before freezing， like beans， broccoli and asparagus.

Brown bags with holes punched in them can be used to store fresh vegetables and extend shelf life， but that doesnt prevent the smell from circulating? in the fridge . Vegetables such as tomatoes， eggplant， and green beans can be vacuum sealed， too.

像綠葉蔬菜、豆制品和蘑菇這樣的新鮮農產品，最好根據食譜每天購買，但我們也有需要將蔬菜存放更長時間的情況。

比如，從網上批量購買甘藍要便宜得多，但儲存甘藍就比較麻煩。這里介紹兩個小竅門：把它們洗干凈，然后放在蔬菜脫水器中徹底把水去掉，這樣可以長時間地保持甘藍的新鮮度（有時可以達到一個星期，同時每次烹飪之前不用洗）;或者把甘藍分裝到小袋子里，然后放在冰箱里。有些蔬菜在冷凍前應該焯一下，比如豆制品、西蘭花和蘆筍。

有孔的牛皮紙袋可以用來儲存新鮮蔬菜，以延長保質期，但這種方法并不能阻止蔬菜在冰箱里散發氣味。西紅柿、茄子、青豆等蔬菜也可以真空密封。