Monday Q&A | Flour Storage and Single-Person-Produce
Every Monday I answer a few questions from my readers. If you have a question you'd like me to answer in a future Q&A post, you can leave a comment on this post with your question, or you can email me (thefrugalgirl {at} gmail {dot} com). If you choose to email me, just put "Q&A" in the subject line so that I can easily put it into my Q&A folder.
Calimama submitted this question.
What do you store your open flour in?
Even using the 5lb bag I always have some that stays in the bag. I love the idea of the 25lb bags but I just don't know what I'd do with it once I took out the 4lbs that fit in my jar!
I buy my white flour in 5 pound bags when it goes on a really good sale. I can usually get a 5 pound bag for $1-$1.50 around Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. So, I buy a LOT of flour then and store it on a shelf in my laundry room.
I've not had any problems with bugs or weevils or anything like that. If I had difficulty with those pests, I'd put my bags of flour in my chest freezer until I was ready to use them.
Once I open my flour, I just store it in a plastic bin (mine holds five pounds) with a lid. Because I use it so often, I hardly even ever bother to put the lid on (a habit which slightly annoyed my mother when I was baking in her kitchen!).
Though I don't have a pantry (boo!), I'm fortunate enough to have a cabinet with a sliding shelf, so that's where I keep my flour and sugar. It's really handy, and I'd think hard about installing one of these in my next kitchen if it wasn't already equipped with one.
'Scuse the flour and sugar mess in the bottom of the drawer. I do occasionally vacuum it all out, but somehow it's not long before there's more mess again.
I grind wheat to make my whole wheat flour, and so I buy 50 pound bags of wheat berries. Those I do keep in the freezer, mostly because it's an out of the way place to have them. 😉
This one is from Elizabeth.
I'm single and live alone (for now, my new roommate moves in August) and the bills have really started to catch up with me (which is why I started reading your blog!). I've started line-drying and conserving electricity, but I was hoping you might have some advice. I struggle mostly with saving money while shopping for food because its hard to buy produce for one without spending a lot of extra money for small portions and a lot of packaging. When I buy regular-sized things, they tend to go bad before I can finish it. I hate to waste food because it feels like I'm throwing money away! Do you have any advice on how to shop more frugally for one?
I'm most likely not the best resource for this question because I've never lived alone! I went straight from living with my family of six to marrying my husband, so I've never had to shop for one.
If I were living by myself, though, I would try to buy produce that can be used in several different ways. For instance, if you bought a bag of spinach, you could make a salad with it, use it in smoothies, put it in sandwiches, and throw it into the blender when you make pesto. It's much more versatile than lettuce, and more nutritious too.
I'd also buy loose produce whenever possible. That way you can buy one apple or three bananas. Apples might be more expensive per pound when you buy then individually, but you'll probably save money in the long run because you won't throw any apples away. Better to spend $2 on a few loose apples than $5 on a big bag if you're going to waste a bunch of the big bag.
You may already know this, but you can freeze some produce, which might be a good idea if you end up having more than you can use. Fruits are especially easy. You can slice bananas up, spread them in a thin layer and freeze them. These are great for smoothies. You can also freeze blueberries and strawberries whole and use them in smoothies. Frozen grapes make a tasty snack too.
Speaking of freezing, if you don't mind the taste/texture of it, frozen produce is a good way to go. It lasts for a long time and is often more nutritious than the produce you find in the stores. Frozen fruit is pretty tasty, and there are some frozen veggies that are decent tasting too (Cook's Illustrated says frozen peas are actually tastier than fresh, unless you are getting them straight from your garden).
Lastly, I would be careful to not overbuy on produce. I know it's easy to go to the store with great intentions of eating salads for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but you should be realistic about how much produce you actually are going to get through in a week. Nutritious as produce is, it's not nourishing you if you're throwing it away.
To help you avoid buying too much produce, I would recommend planning out your meals, including your side dishes, like salads, steamed veggies, or fruit salad. I've found that to be very helpful as I've worked on reducing my food waste. Knowing exactly what we're going to eat keeps me from being overzealous with my purchasing in the produce aisle. Planning ahead could also help you use a whole package of produce. If you decided to buy the big bag of apples, you could decide to eat apple slices in your lunch, have some in your salad, make apple muffins for breakfast, and maybe make some applesauce with the rest.
So, those are a few of my ideas. But I'm sure I have some single readers out there who have some actual experience with this! If you're single and have mastered the art of handling produce, leave a comment telling us what you do.
This comment is for Elizabeth's question: I try to get my extra produce from veggie stands. You can almost always buy in small amounts and the prices are good. Also, try the farmer's market - especially the small ones that only set up on Saturday morning in a parking lot. You can get lots of delicious produce for cheap!
I read regularly on herbs and I have found that if you put a Bay Leaf near or around the flour and sugar it helps greatly with unwanted pest. I even put a leaf in my containers just be careful not to bake it.!!
Kristen~~ I love your blog i read it every day and try to never miss. I am even trying to find new simple recipes tonight we are having gyros from the taste of home website. Thanks for posting.
Oh my gosh! I have the exact same slide out drawer in my kitchen with our sugar and flour there too! And I have the exact same flour container! That's SO weird! I keep my lid on though. 🙂
This comment is regarding bugs/weevils in flour. I used to have this problem quite a bit, then read advice years ago that recommended putting each 5-lb. bag in the freezer for about 30 minutes to an hour, after which the flour could be stored in the usual place. Since then, I've done that (often rotating newly purchased bags in my very small freezer) and have never seen bugs in my flour again.
Elizabeth, I feel your pain! I live alone as well, and dealing with produce can be tricky (wasting food sucks, but running out of fresh fruit is no picnic either). I agree with everything Kristen said, and I have a couple of additional suggestions:
- If you usually cook from recipes, don't be afraid to substitute produce. Like, a lot. Get a feel for which kinds of vegetables act the same when cooked, or whether they'll need a little more or less cooking time. This way you have more flexibility in your buying choices and it's easier to buy one thing and use it multiple times during the week. (This is also good for adapting recipes to use seasonal ingredients.) One thing that helps me is to focus on recipes that offer a forgiving template to build on. Egg dishes, pasta, stirfries, pilafs/grain salads, pizzas can be made with almost any vegetables, and they tend to be frugal meals as well. Plus, they're all amenable to being made in small quantities.
- Related to the above, avoid buying too many different *types* of fruit or vegetables each week. For me, this is the biggest source of overbuying, because everything looks so good or I have too many different ideas of what to cook. I may only use 2 or 3 main vegetables this week, in a few different dishes, but I can get different vegetables next week. The downside is that it's slightly repetitive, but not that much (its only a week), and you can get the benefits of saving on the bag of apples or whatever.
- Have a couple of techniques or recipes up your sleeve if you need to use something up in a hurry. This is if you bought too much and can't actually eat it before it will go bad. For example, I have onions and garlic on hand, and usually some kind of stock (but its not really necessary), so I can always make a quick vegetable soup with almost anything (Off the top of my head: tomatoes, cauliflower, zucchini, carrots, potatoes both normal and sweet all make great soups) Then it can go into the freezer where it won't go bad. Later this week I anticipate I'll need to steam & freeze some of the spinach I bought too much of. The soup thing is more useful in winter I guess, but the principle is there: get it into a freezeable form (either a full meal or a useful/flexible component) to avoid it going bad. Another idea: chopped vegetables (eg carrots, celery and onions) will lose their crunch in the freezer, but they'll be ok in soups, grain dishes, or casseroles.
- There are some things that just don't work out well. I don't eat many lettuce-based salads because it's hard to use up a whole head and cooked lettuce is Not Good. Trust me on that one.
Ok this is long enough so I'll stop. If I think of more things I'll add them...Hope it helps, and good luck! (and don't expect to get everything perfect right away (a horrible habit of mine.) It's more important to develop habits that can last)
I agree with Kate. I freeze and/or cook things immediately if I am pretty sure I won't get through them before they go bad.
I've been working on a $35/week budget and I would say that the last couple of weeks I've frozen several dollars worth of food.
Ditto to all the comments above on dealing with purchasing too much produce. My mother-in-law has had the same dilemma and here are a few of the solutions she has used in the past (I do most of her shopping nowadays due to limited mobility. 1)The salad bar can supply some fresh produce options. Cost is a factor but throwing away food can be offset by keeping the selections small. 2) Trader Joe's carries some produce in small bags (broccoli cauliflower mix comes to mind) which is just enough for two generous servings. 3) Sharing with co-workers who are also single. This was a tactic I used in college - who could eat a whole bag of grapes? (This was before I knew about freezing them which my kids love.) Being aware is the first step - kudos to you for that!
I agree with Theresa--- The salad bar at your grocery store can be a great source for produce if you live alone. I used it a lot when I was buying just for myself.
You can mix & match produce for one price, so you can get just a little bit of lettuce, veggies, sliced fruit, etc. It can help you from buying what you don't need and having it go bad in your fridge.
Plus, you can get a great variety instead of having to buy 1 pound of carrots and eating them until you are sick to death of them!
I am a single dweller and had to overcome the produce issue as well. The first thing I did was start buying frozen veggies for anything that will be cooked (i.e. soup, brocolli fettucine, etc.) Unless you're eating the produce raw you won't taste the difference, but it will be cheaper I promise. The other way I reduced produce waste to pick one to two fruits to purchase per trip and eat them up rather than buying some of everything that looks tasty, this is especially hard when a variety of yummy fruits are on sale, but i remind myself that trash is wasted money.
I lived alone for three years before I got married. I second Kate's suggestions with a couple of additions:
You can make applesauce very easily with the remainder of a bag of apples that are about to go bad (or even starting to mold, as long as it's only on the skin) - peel, core, dice, and cook in a pot with a splash of water and a stick of cinnamon.
Veggie soup is definitely a good way to use up leftover veggies. I also make fried rice and frittatas. Some of my best dinners have come from using up leftovers!
I think the best thing to do when shopping for produce is to figure you can consume 3-4 servings per day of fresh, raw produce (one banana with breakfast, a veggie and an apple with lunch, a veggie with dinner, etc.), and to buy no more than 3-4 days' worth at a time. That gives you flexibility and a little extra time to eat up what you've purchased.
My best advice for not letting produce go to waste is: BUY A JUICER! Juicing is not only fun, but it will ensure that you hardly ever waste produce again! I mean, if you buy a lot of broccoli or turnups, it might not be good to juice them, but any fruit and a lot of vegetables make great juice. Some of the combinations I like are:
carrot, apple, strawberry
watermelon, strawberry
apple, celery
cantelope, honeydew
apple, cherry
During the Summer, I drink a big glass of juice every day! I think watermelon juice is my favourite. I make this lemonade by combining 2C watermelon juice, 3/4C lemon juice 1/2C sugar and 4C water in a big pitcher. I own a champion juicer which costs about $200, but I've had the same one for 7 years and it still runs great.
I have the same problems! Cooking for one is a pain sometimes. I agree about buying the single pieces of fruit, I do that with bananas and apples. Then I usually will just buy one other type of fruit per week, like grapes or strawberries and then once I've finished them I buy something else. My ultimate fav this summer has been watermelon, which I have managed to finish by myself before it goes all mushy.
The frozen veggies are the way to go for single people. Just steam a small portion with your mean and voila! Yummy veggies within a couple minutes.
For the single person looking to get the most from the produce buck, I agree with the recommendation to plan your week's meals/consumption and buy frozen vegetables whenever possible (frozen broccoli, peas, etc.) for use as side dishes, stir-fry, etc. and eat the left-overs the next day. This cuts down on produce going bad before you can use it. Fruit that lasts, like apples, oranges, pears, tomatoes, etc. can go almost a whole week without going bad, so just buy according to your meal plan, but things that ripen and go bad quickly like berries, peaches, etc. need to eaten or stored frozen within 2-3 days of purchase (at least from my grocer). I totally agree with freezing banana bits and berries for smoothies, but bananas past their prime make awesome banana bread muffins that also freeze well. Man, I wish I knew what I know now back when I single! Congrats on your endeavors to be frugal! Hats off to you!
Thanks for all the great suggestions! I'm definitely going to start planning out my menu for the week and stick to buying just a few fresh fruits and veggies and eat on them all week. I've always been one to make a grocery list, but I'm really going to focus on sticking to it! I think as long as I spread out the fresh veggies during the week, I won't get bored with what I'm eating. I'm not a huge fan of frozen vegetables, but if I start incorporating things like stir-frys and some pasta dishes into my menus, I should be able to eat frozen ones without much trouble. Thanks again for all the great advice!!
This is for Elizabeth:
Produce is tough when you're just buying for 1-2 people. For fruit, I think of it in terms of bowls instead of pieces. When I buy fruit, I plan for how much fruit can be cut up and stored as fruit salad in my largest Tupperware container. For me, this means 1/8 - 1/4 of a watermelon, or any other small melon. Add to that 1-2 containers of berries, a supremed orange/grapefruit or two, plus 1-2 pears/peaches/plums/whatever that're diced. Occasionally some figs. Because the fruit is cut up and in a clear container, I actually see it so it gets eaten. Plus, I like knowing I have a little fruit salad daily.
If you have leftover fruit, don't hesitate to freeze it. I like to cut it into chunks and use those chunks when I get around to it for smoothies or protein shakes. Also, you can always make quick breads from leftover fruit (also from leftover carrots or zucchini). Oh, and if you have leftover pears, apples, etc., you can make apple/pear/whatever butter out of them. Additionally, if you have a little spare time, you can make jams and jellies out of produce that's not quite as fresh as you'd like. For jams and such, you generally only need water bath canning, so you don't need psecial equipment.
As for vegetables, I do a few things to avoid waste. I'm more of a loose meal planner (in that I have a general idea of what I'll make that week, but no solid plans) so I kind of guesstimate how much I'll need for the various things I intend to make. If you wrap your celery in foil, it drastically increases its shelf life. Also, sometimes I completely forget I have a bunch of stuff that's about to mold over. When I discover those things lurking about, I cut off just the bad parts of the foods (I don't tell my boyfriend I do this, because he'd have a heart attack), then roast ALL the veggies and either toss them into some pasta (great meal that can last a few days) or I roast them and puree them into a pasta sauce. Any leftover sauce can be frozen for a quick meal later. Or I make a soup, which also freezes well. Lastly, you can chop and freeze or dry loads of veggies.
I also agree about buying frozen vegetables. Most of them are texturally okay, so it can save you a lot of waste. For spinach, I think people should always buy frozen if they're planning to cook the spinach other than lightly wilting it. It saves a LOT of money and produces no textural differences.
Apparently I am more tired than I realized. I was catching up on your blog and linked to this post from the Glass Containers one. I read the question about flour storage quickly and then read your answer. I didn't read when it was posted or who the question was from. I thought it was interesting as I had been thinking about asking you this very thing. It wasn't until I got to the post again on the main page and read it thoroughly that I realized I HAD asked you the question! Wow. I hope you find this as amusing (in a "sad, she needs help" kind of way!) as I do!!
My eighty-some-year-old mom has always stored flour and sugar in open containers in her cupboard. She uses both ingredients every day so bugs have never been a problem.