Write the Date on Everything in the Fridge
Most leftovers last four days in the fridge , but do you really remember Friday or Saturday? Here are yesterday’s meatballs – or wait, are they from the batch you made last week? Get in the habit of dating food and you will no longer be surprised.
All you have to do is write today’s date on any leftover food that ends up in the refrigerator. After four days, you know it’s time to quit. For products sold in sealed packaging, include the date you opened the packaging.
I even meet with food, such as seasonings, which I know will last for a long time. StillTasty tells us that mayonnaise is good for 2-3 months after opening , but when the hell did I open that half-used can? If I write the date on the cover (with the year!), I will automatically find out.
For clarity, we are writing today’s date , not the expiration date. Save your StillTasty searches for the day you puzzle over your food. If you want to calculate the date first, you put it off and pretty soon you will have a refrigerator full of undated food.
And for added clarity, this is not related to the expiration date on the package. The expiry date is valid for unopened products. I have almond milk in my closet that will expire sometime next year, but if I open it today, I have seven to ten days to drink it .
How to label food
This topic has caused a lot of controversy among Lifehacker employees, but in the end it will all work:
- With a felt-tip pen . Yes, even on reusable containers: the dish sponge washes away the ink immediately.
- With dry erase marker .
- Using masking tape or blue painter tape, and then write to that using a pen or Sharpie.
- Lab tape , if available. It peels off easily, even after washing in the dishwasher, and you can write on it with anything, even a pencil. In my opinion, this is the holy grail of kitchen labeling, although it has been many years since I had access to any laboratories from which it could be done. (I currently use masking tape or the Sharpie only method.)
Whichever you choose, make sure your labeling method is always at hand when you put things in the refrigerator. Glue a magnet to your Sharpie baseball cap, or store your essentials in the handy kitchen waste bin.