Safe Storage For Food Preppers

Food Storage

When I tell people what I cook for the week, often times people’s first response is “won’t it go bad?” If you don’t have a husband that eats your weight in meat, then you may want to divide your cook days up, freeze some of it, or trim down the food prep a bit. Below are some recommended storage times from Food Safety so you can determine how much you should cook at once.

Safe Storage for Cooked Food

Poultry: 3-4 days (4 months in freezer)
Poultry in broth or gravy: 1-2 days
Ham: 7 days for whole ham, 3-5 days for 1/2, 3-4 sliced
Fish: 3-4 days (4-6 months in freezer)
Smoked Fish: 14 days
Gravy or broth: 1-2 days
Left Over (carry out) 3-4 days if refrigerated within 2 hours of serving
Pasta: 4 days
Beans: Up to a week
Casseroles: 3-4 days
Rice: 3-5 days
Hard Boiled Eggs: 7 days

Food Prep

Ok, say this with me: “If you fail to plan, then plan to fail”. I know, I say this all the time, but it’s SO TRUE! If I want to eat healthy during the week, I have to shop and cook healthy on the weekend. The first thing on the grocery list chicken – and LOTS of it. We get a big family pack size of chicken from Sams and grill it with seasonings, light olive oil and either balsamic vinegar or lime juice. The next thing on the list is everything green. Salad greens, green beans, asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, brussel spouts and spinach. I always buy oatmeal for Steve’s breakfasts, and Greek yogurt with some kind of fresh fruit, like berries or mango, for my breakfast. Last up are all the “fillers”, fats and extras like creamer, coffee, avocado, almonds, popcorn, hot sauce, BBQ sauce and any other ingredients needed for cooking.

Prepare to Succeed

As many of you might have heard, Steve is doing an experiment where he is trying to gain weight. So, sadly, my pantry is stocked full of donuts, cookies, PopTarts, cereal and all kinds of crazy stuff. He just went through the drive through at Taco Bell while I waited it out until I could get home and eat clean. The only way I’m going to avoid weight gain is staying prepared. Luckily I had some low-calorie soup on hand to dive into so I didn’t cave and order tacos!

While it has been challenging to watch him eat cookies and ice cream every night, it has been a really good experience for me so I can better relate with all the people who have a spouse who is not on the same diet and fitness page. I look forward to stepping my own discipline up a notch over the next few weeks to see if I can indeed lose weight while Steve gains it. 🙂