Tips for Saving Food

With prices rising and food budgets shrinking, it's always frustrating to have something go stale or otherwise spoil before it's used up. Here are some tips for avoiding needless waste of perfectly good food:

If you get a whole head of iceberg lettuce, immediately unwrap it and rinse it under cold running water. Then wrap it in paper towel and put it in a zipper bag in your refrigerator. If the stem starts to show rust (reddish spoiling), immediately trim it back and remove any leaves that show rust.

If a loaf of bread starts to go stale on you, slip a piece of fresh celery into the bag and tie it back up. The moisture will restore the flavor of the bread.

If you burn gravy when you are making it, transfer it to a clean pan and continue cooking. Add sugar by the pinch to cover the burned taste.

To keep cookies fresh, crumple a little tissue paper in the bottom of your cookie jar.

Some of these ideas are taken from the March 2009 SHARE Food Peoria newsletter.