Proper Preservation Methods

"Great article in the times today about canning seasonal fruit and veggies at home. I'm dying to try it out; strawberries and artichokessound particularly appealing. Anyone with me?"

Above is an excerpt from our inferior sister site, Crows in the Kitchen. It is a terribly written piece and extremely dry but I was able to look past the obvious problems in syntax and lack of character development to pull out a useful topic for conversation on our blog; food preservation. It's important-- And, I'm not talking about preserving fresh fruits and vegetables here. That ish is easy. Jam some berries or fava beans in a mason jar and close that shit. Oh no, no, no, what I'm talking about here-- and guys out there, I know you're gonna wanna read this-- is what to do with those two extra slices of pizza or that recently opened bag of chips. Believe it or not, these are items that can be reused if taken care of properly.
There are two main methods of preservation that I'll go over today, refrigerating it and bagging it (note: you can also aluminum-foil-it, but that's advanced and is for another day.). Let's start with refrigerating it.

That last slice of pizza is sitting right in front of you, it's unwavering peperoni gaze staring you right in the grill. You want to eat it but you're too full, and on the other hand, you don't want to waste a specimen like that. Wouldn't it be wonderful if there were some way that you could save that piece for some later date? Well, the answer, my friend, is refrigerating it. First, grab the lid of the box and close it, encasing the slice on all sides. Then, open up your fridge and try sliding the box in the remaining head room between the items on the top shelf and refrigerator's ceiling. This is valuable real estate. Doesn't work, you say? Try jamming the box harder, shuffling the condiments around if you have to, but be wary of the Frank's Red Hot that's resting precariously on the edge of the shelf. And, if that doesn't work, the next step is to drop down another shelf and try that (note: this is usually a shorter shelf, good for jam, cream cheese and items like that, so there might not be much head room). And, if that doesn't work, then drop down yet another shelf and jam (note: try not to spend any time reorganizing the items on the shelf as that will take way too much time.) After that attempt, a lot of people make the mistake of believing that their fridge is full-- not true. Try moving the bottom "crisper" drawers, which are reserved for fruits and vegetables but are more than likely empty or filled with decaying fruits and vegetables. Take them completely out and jam your pizza box in the empty "crisper" slot. Now at this point you have properly preserved your remaining slice and have the option to access it at any time you so choose. On to bagging.

The verb to "bag" can mean to take a bag less or naked item and physically place it in a bag, but that's not what I'm talking about here. And, although it is an effective preservation method as well, it's a little more advanced a method to get into in this tutorial. To bag is a level 2 preservation method as is aluminum-foiling-it. The bag verb that I'm talking about here is to take an existing bag and to seal it through crinkling, rolling or folding. This method is especially effective on potato chips but can also be used on corn chips, breakfast cereals, Teddy Grahams, Triscuits and a whole host of other dry/crispy items. Once the item is opened and you want to stop eating and not throw the rest of the bag out, you have to 'bag it up' again so it becomes reusable. Take the bag, holding it at the opening, and slowly roll the top down towards the bottom, folding it at least a couple of times (note: if you don't stop rolling once you have reached the remaining contents of the bag, you may end up with little tiny crushed half or even quarter chips that aren't even worth eating and will most likely just get trapped in between your couch cushions.) And that's it, you're ready to put your dry food item back in the pantry, unless of course, your bag is in some kind of box-like enclosure. In that case, you will need to add a step to the process and push the bag back down into the box-like thing and close the flaps, minding the tabs and slots. Now you can put that shit in the pantry.

I hope that you found this post helpful. These methods help me avoid multiple trips to the store per day and make me feel just a little greener. I hope they do the same for you.