Today I am sharing with you some food storage tips which will help you keep some of your food fresher for longer and therefore reduce waste.

Storing garlic

Garlic needs to be kept in a dry, dark place and it needs to breathe. I keep our garlic in the little mesh bags you buy them in and use a bull dog clip to hang it from the veggie basket so it has plenty of circulation.

Storing pine nuts

I don’t use pine nuts too often, but I like having some on hand to add a bit extra to a dish sometimes. I have however thrown quite a few out in my time as they go soft and taste funny even after being in an air tight container in the cupboard.

At a girlfriend’s house recently I saw that she kept hers in the fridge. Apparently you can also keep them in the freezer for up to 9 months according to this food website.

Storing feta cheese

I use feta cheese infrequently too, but like having some in the house. I now freeze it is small pieces. Defrosted this is perfect for adding to savoury tarts etc, but if I am going to use it for a fresh salad, I won’t use it from the freezer.

Storing brown sugar

Ever have your brown sugar go all hard on you? Try adding a couple of marshmallows on top.

If however your brown sugar is already hard, you can use the mircowave to soften it – instructions here.

Storing half eaten bananas

Not so common any more, but at their 2.5 year old peak, our kids would often request a banana to eat, only to have one or two bites and say they had enough!

To store the banana to use in a cake or muffin recipe later, I just cut the ends off, wrap in foil and place in the freezer.

I also do this with bananas that move to the overripe stage. They are the best for making a banana cake (seriously the best and easiest banana cake recipe ever!)

When it comes time to make the cake, I just defrost them in the microwave.

Then mash it up.

Storing a lettuce

I have a fab Tupperware lettuce keeper which I user for our lettuce, however there are times when I will have maybe half a lettuce in that and a fresh lettuce brought home from the market which I will need later in the week.

Thanks to a tip from my younger sister Cass, I will wrap the lettuce with paper towel, place it into a plastic bag, tie it up and keep it in the fridge. It stays fresh for about 5 – 7 days like this, rather than going limp 24 hours later after sitting in the fridge just as it is.

Do you have some nifty food storage tips to share to extend the freshness of food?

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