| healthy food |
To live a healthy life, healthy eating is necessary. Healthy eating requires well planning. It is essential to plan for your weekly meals, plan what you want to eat and develop a shopping list. When shopping, you need to take into consideration how quickly the food will go bad. The amount of storage space you have in the refrigerator and how quickly you will eat the food.
Perishable foods require regular refrigeration, and can easily go bad in a few days. Examples of this food include fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy products like milk, eggs, cheese, meats and cold cuts.
Non-perishable foods: These foods have a longer shelf life compare to perishable foods. Examples of this food include canned vegetables, pasta, peanut butter, canned tuna and dried beans and peas. These type of foods do have expiration dates which are usually in years.
When you are preparing food, it is very important to consider the shelf life, that is how long the food can stay safe in the refrigerator without being spoiled. Eating food which is spoiled can cause illness.
The following guidelines will help you ensure that you the food you eat is good before it goes bad. Temperature of refrigerator should be between 36 and 40 degrees, while the temperature for freezer should be between 0 and -5 degrees. Below are the standard time frames for freezing based on food, taste and quality, not food safety.
IN REFRIGERATOR
- Eggs, ham, Pasta salads 3-5 days
- Hamburger, meat 1-2 days 3-4 months
- hotdogs (opened) 1 week 1-2 months
- Fresh beef, pork or veal 3-5 days 4-12 months
- Hot dogs (unopened) 2 weeks 1-2 months
- Chicken/turkey 1-2 days 9 months
- Cold cuts (opened) 3-5 days 1-2 months
- Soups/stews 3-4 days 2-3 months
- Cold cuts (unopened) 2 weeks 1-2 months
LEFTOVERS
- (Cooked meat and poultry) 3-4 days
- Bacon/sausage (raw) 1-2 days
- chicken nuggets or patties 3-4 days
- bacon/sausage (cooked) 1 week
- pizza 3-4 days
WHILE IN FREEZERS
- Hamburger, meat 3-4 months
- Hotdogs (opened) 1-2 months
- Fresh beef, pork or veal 4-12 months
- Hot dogs (unopened) 1-2 months
- Chicken/turkey 9 months
- Cold cuts (opened) 1-2 months
- Soups/stews 2-3 months
- Cold cuts (unopened)1-2 months
LEFTOVERS
- (Cooked meat and poultry) 2-6 months
- Bacon/sausage (raw) 1-2 months
- Chicken nuggets or patties 1-3 months
- Bacon/sausage (cooked) 1 month
- Pizza 1-2 months
