 Hey guys, welcome back to Six Sisters Stuff. Today I'm going to talk a little bit about how to make your food last a little bit longer and how to save you more money. So I'm Kristen. I am sister number two out of the Six Sisters. So a lot of times food goes bad in the refrigerator. And so these are a few tips and tricks to help your food not go bad and so they'll last a little bit longer through the week or a few weeks. Before we get started, don't forget subscribe to our channel and push that little bell so you can get all of our notifications on YouTube. Alright, on to the hacks. Number one, make sure that you separate your fruits and vegetables. There are some enzymes in your fruits that can make your vegetables go bad and same with your vegetables to your fruits. So always make sure that they are nice and separated. Number two, milk actually has a spot in the refrigerator. Although they have made a spot that will actually fit your milk in the fridge. That's not where you want to put it. You want to put your milk in the very bottom shelf of the refrigerator. It will stay colder and last longer. Believe it or not, bread is not supposed to go in the fridge. Despite everything that you've heard, it actually is supposed to stay in either a bread box or on your counter somewhere cold, somewhere dark, but not in your fridge. When it gets too cold, the yeast in there makes it go still a little bit faster. So if you're not going to use your whole loaf of bread, which as a family of six, believe it or not, we're not huge bread eaters, so we don't eat the whole loaf in one week. So I will take half of the loaf, put it in a Ziploc bag and shove it in the freezer. And then the rest of the loaf I'll put in the pantry so we can eat it later throughout the week. Clean your refrigerator. Now as silly as that sounds, if you think about it, your fridge is kind of a disgusting place. And if you're like me, there's usually crumbs, leftovers, all kinds of stuff that can easily leak out or spill. And if you're not cleaning those up quickly, they can grow mold, they can grow stuff that you don't even know is there. So be sure to do a good cleaning of your fridge every few weeks so that the food in your fridge can actually stay fresh longer and won't go bad so quickly. Number five. You're not necessarily going to make your items last longer, but they might save some of your food. So be sure to always put your meat in the bottom level because one, that's where it's the coldest, just like the milk. And two, just in case, I mean, you've had it happen that the meat drips down a little bit, it won't drip on all your other food making you get rid of everything. So make sure meat, bottom level. There you go. Number six. Check your refrigerator and freezer temperatures. Now if your fridge is too cold, lots of times you'll have frozen items in the back of your fridge, such as lettuce, that kind of stuff. Once those go frozen, you got to chuck them, which is horrible. Be sure to check your temperature. If it's not cold enough, you'll notice that your food is getting moldy or going bad before it's supposed to. So always be sure, check your temperature, see how it is. Number seven. When you have leftovers, be sure that you use ziplock containers or airtight containers. Many times, you'll get a plate, you cover it with saran wrap or foil and just like that, you have stuff leaking out. So just to make your life a little bit easier, ziplocks and airtight containers will be lifesavers for you. Just like your milk and your meat, you never want to put eggs in the side door because that's an uneven temperature, your eggs can go bad rather quickly. So be sure that you keep those on your bottom level or second to bottom. The closer they are to the bottom, the better. But make sure they're not in the door. Number nine. Watch your expiration dates. So when you're shopping, be sure to make sure you're getting the expiration date that is the furthest away. Your food will last a little bit longer and also when you're buying dry items, if you have multiple items, say in your pantry or in your refrigerator, be sure that you're using the expiration date that will expire first. So the other ones that are going to be waiting, they won't expire while they're sitting on your shelf. Number 10. Don't overstock your refrigerator. Your refrigerator needs room. It needs air to keep everything cold. It's kind of like your dishwasher. If you fill your dishwasher to the max, it actually, they don't get cleaned very well. Your refrigerator is exactly the same. So say that your mayonnaise is stuck in between tons and tons of stuff. Well, guess what? Your mayonnaise is probably going to be a little bit warmer, making it go bad faster. So make sure when you do a grocery haul or anything like that, be sure that you have room in your refrigerator. Over the years, I've looked at a ton of items, a ton of things, a tons of tips and tricks, and I'll be honest, some of them don't work for me, such as putting plastic on the end of your banana. I'm sorry. It just doesn't work. They still go bad the same amount of time, but there is one that does work and it's wrapping your celery or your broccoli in foil. Many times your broccoli is all flimsy by the time you get to it. But if you put it in foil, it actually makes it crisp and good by the time you get to it. Number 12, these are your berries. Now I've done a lot of research on it. I've seen some people that they take out their berries out of their containers and put them in Ziploc bags, but then I've also seen other research that shows, no, that doesn't work. So I tried it myself. I had two bags of raspberries. One I kept the container that had the air holes and the moisture pad at the bottom of it. And I put one, dried them off, put them in the Ziploc baggie. I'll tell you what, the Ziploc baggie got moldy so much faster than the one with air holes. So I highly suggest when you get your berries, just leave them right there. Stick them in your fridge. Or if you're not going to get to them in a few days, throw them into your freezer. Put them in a Ziploc bag and put them right into your freezer. And then when you're ready to eat them, let them thaw out. We've all had the browned avocado or guacamole because they just don't last. They last as soon as you cut them open. But there are a few tips and tricks. I use Pam. This is a canola oil Pam. The olive oil one works a little bit better. But you can either spray your guacamole with a little bit of Pam. Or if you just have an avocado, make sure your pit is in and you can do a brush a little bit of lemon juice on it and it will help it stay greener much longer. Now I know a lot of you don't like mushrooms. My husband doesn't like mushrooms, but that is one of my most favorite foods. So number 14 is pack your mushrooms correctly. So they come in these little, for me, blue or brown plastic container covered with plastic on top. Well, the mushrooms actually need some air to breathe. And so when they're covered with plastic, they can get slimy and moldy pretty quick. So they suggest using a brown paper bag. I'm kind of weird about brown paper bags, not my favorite. So I put mine in Ziploc baggies, zip them up and throw them in the freezer until I'm ready to use them. They work perfectly. Number 15. If you have salad that you would like to keep through the whole entire week, sometimes two weeks depending on when your expiration date is, make sure you put a paper towel down first and then put your lid on top of your salad. It will make your salad last a lot longer because it will be sucking up the moisture. Number 16. There are certain fruits and vegetables that can be left out on the counter. Now I highly suggest putting your tomatoes and your cucumbers on the counter. They will last so much longer and they will actually hold their flavor and texture like they're supposed to. If you stick them in the fridge, especially the tomatoes, their texture just goes horrible. And last number 17. I just want to share with you my list of all of my favorite things to freeze. Here they are. So this is the fruit that I love to freeze. Now I usually peel them, slice them, put them in a plastic baggie and freeze them. So you can see strawberries, blueberries, bananas just for smoothies because they go brown, kiwis, peaches, plums and apricots. Now these are the vegetables I freeze. There are other ones you can do but these are the ones I use. So I just freeze my mushrooms and onions, my corn and peppers I just put in a zip lock baggie and throw in my mashed potatoes. I put in an airtight container, put the lid on and stick that in the freezer. Thank you so much for stopping by today on Six Sister Stuff. If you love my tips and tricks, be sure to give me a big thumbs up and I would love if you could share it with all of your friends. Alright guys, I hope you have a great day. I'll see you later.