6 quick and easy ways to ‘preserve’ food at home, without turning into a ‘Nanna’

When we think of ‘preserves’ it tends to evoke images of busy kitchens filled with vast steaming pots and masses of jars ready to be filled.

While that may be the case for jam making, the act of preservation need not be either time consuming or involve large quantities.

What is food preservation?

It’s simply any process which helps to prolong the shelf life of ingredients.

On one end there is the field of classic preserves like jam making. These have been covered in the Preserve Like Your Nanna class. So if you’re interested in larger scale preserving I recommend having a look at the class.

For now, we’re more interested in the quick techniques you can use at home to increase the life of your produce, without turning yourself into a grey haired, apron-wearing ‘Nanna’.

6 quick and easy ways to ‘preserve’ food at home

1. Freezing
The home freezer is a pretty amazing invention. It gives us access to a really effective food preservation technique right in our kitchens.

Freezing is great for things like meat, bread, cooked food like soups and stews, some vegetables like peas and spinach, pastry, fruit like berries, bananas.

The benefits of freezing is that it usually doesn’t change the flavour of the food. The downside is that it can impair texture, especially in higher moisture foods.

For more on freezing:
:: 7 golden rules of freezing food
:: 8 time-saving ideas using your freezer

2. Chilling
It doesn’t get much quicker than opening the fridge and popping something in. But in effect when we’re using the fridge we are doing a little bit of home ‘preservation’. That meat or cheese would certainly not last as long if you just left it out on the kitchen bench.

The most important thing to be aware of with refrigeration is that the air in your fridge is very dry. So if food is left uncovered it can dehydrate and spoil in that way. So to make the most of your fridge, ensure you keep everything covered, in containers, or wrapped in plastic bags or al foil.

A good experiment to demonstrate is to put a stalk of celery in the fridge uncovered and put another next to it wrapped in plastic or foil and watch the changes over time.

3. Heating
When it comes to destroying two of the biggest causes of food spoilage: microbes and enzymes, high temperatures are the most effective.

So if you have a piece of fish or meat that you aren’t going to eat in time, simply exposing it to heat – pan frying or poaching say, will deactivate any enzymes and heavily reduce the microbes. This means it will last for another week or more in the fridge.

Same goes for fresh veg. Once cooked, they will last much longer.

Cooked food can also benefit from a little heat treatment. If I have a soup or stew or some cooked lentils that have been hanging around the fridge for a while and getting a bit ‘iffy’. I’ll just bring them up to a boil for a few minutes then pop them back in the fridge. This brings the microbe population back to a low level and prolongs the life of my cooked food.

4. Reducing moisture
By either adding salt or sugar, we can reduce the moisture content of foods and decrease potential microbial growth. I tend not to use these at home, apart from making the odd batch of ‘gravalax’ or preserved salmon every now and then. But it is a technique to keep in mind.

Drying in the sun or a low temperature oven. Or a ‘dehydrator’ machine are other ways of reducing moisture. Again, I’m less likely to use any of these apart from the odd batch of oven dried tomatoes. But it is another home preservation technique we can use.

5. Reducing exposure to air
Exposure to air can increase browning through oxidation. If the air is dry, like in the fridge, it can dehydrate food and cause wilting. 2 good reasons to keep food covered.

Keeping fruit and veg whole, rather than chopping is the easiest way to reduce air exposure. But covering cut surfaces with plastic wrap is the next best thing.

For liquids or sauces like pesto, popping them in a jar and covering with a layer of oil to protect from air is another good trick.

6. Adding acid
Reducing the pH of food, or making it more acidic makes it tough for microbes to grown and for enzymes so it can be a win-win. Of course the acid will dramatically change the flavour and sometimes the texture of foods.

The most common example is pickling vegetables. Again, not a technique I personally use on a regular basis but a good one to be mindful of. A piece of fish given a squeeze of lemon, will last for longer than the same fish left untreated.

A final reminder

The trick is to pay attention to when food is in danger of going bad, and taking some action to prevent that actually happening. Remember you have the power to stop spoilage!

It comes back to making sure you have a good look in the fridge every day or so, just to keep in mind how everything is progressing.

For me ‘out of sight is out of mind’, so I’m always looking in my fridge to keep on top of it.

Note-to-self…a little extra ‘freezer inspection’ would be helpful as well.

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