There is less than a month until the Christmas holidays begin. Days begin in which gift ideas, decoration, party management or menu selection come together. There is always a lot to do and it is easy for these dates to be for many people a real obstacle course, not only in planning, but also in saving when it comes to filling the table. And, according to 2023 data Collected by the OCU, food prices increased by 10% in the month of December, especially in seafood and fish such as barnacles and clams and meat such as lamb.
There are so many things to do that it’s easy to forget a key aspect beyond economics: the importance of storing and preparing food safely.
However, we can gain peace of mind and we can also save if we prepare the purchases of the food we need a few days in advance. Planning is a good idea for this twofold reason. Is it possible to do it with all types of products? What precautions should we take?
How far in advance can we buy food for Christmas
One of the tricks to not leave everything until the last minute is to keep an eye out for food offers that we can keep in the freezer. It is also important to know how to decide what and when we are going to prepare the food, how many people we need to cook for and if there are any restrictions due to food allergies.
Once these questions have been resolved, it is time to make a meal plan, check the dates when we shop to plan meals and freeze food in advance. When purchasing, it is key to choose good raw materials and make sure they are in good condition (in this article we explain how to know if the fish is fresh). The other step, storage, is as or more important because we are talking, in the case of meat, fish or seafood, of very perishable products.
And here, both the refrigerator and the freezer will be our great allies. It doesn’t hurt that a few weeks before Christmas we take a look and review the leftover food we keep, both in the refrigerator and the freezer, to clean it and leave room for these days.
Meat, one of the great protagonists
It is one of the great protagonists of many Christmas tables. We are talking about pork, turkey or beef, in any case, a very perishable product and vulnerable to microbial contamination due to its particular water content. Therefore, when we go to make the purchase it is important that we look at aspects such as that the surface is firm, a little humid and without dark areas. We will take special care with minced meat, which is highly exposed to possible pathogenic bacteria and much more vulnerable to contamination.
The average shelf life of a product like turkey is only two days after purchase. If the meat is not cooked before 72 hours, as is likely to happen to us, it is essential to freeze it, better if we cut it into smaller pieces and wrap it in film transparent. We must be especially careful with freezing large pieces of meat or whole pieces, since in this case the defrosting will be much slower.
Fish, another of the great presents and also one of the most perishable
It is also easy to find fish such as hake, sea bass, cod or monkfish on many tables during the holidays. But be careful with this food because it is one of the most perishable, since the microorganisms and enzymes adapt very well to low temperatures, which means that refrigeration is not effective in all cases.
With fish, as with meat, freezing once again becomes our great ally. And here we have two options: either we freeze the product raw or we cook it completely and freeze it later. Only in this way can we keep it in optimal conditions until it is time to cook it.
We must not forget that when we are going to defrost the already cooked product, it is important to do so in the refrigerator and reheat it thoroughly, at a temperature of at least 70 °C throughout the preparation and consume immediately – if we are cooking a previously frozen soup or broth , before consuming it is preferable to bring them to a boil. What happens if we don’t finish these preparations? In this case, it is better that we do not save the leftovers; we will have to discard them.
Seafood, can it be frozen?
Prawns, prawns, crabs, as well as crayfish and clams, razor clams or mussels are some of the foods that have a privileged place on the tables during Christmas and are also some of those that tend to increase in price as we approach the holidays. . Therefore, we already have a good reason to get them early, when demand is lower and so is the price. But can seafood be frozen?
It depends on the type of seafood. Treating a spider crab is not the same as treating a prawn or a prawn. These last two, for example, can be frozen without previously cooking. In the case of bivalves such as cockles or razor clams, although they can also be frozen raw, we must first check that they are dead and that we have washed them well.
If we talk about lobsters or crabs, they can be bought live, cooked and frozen. In all these cases, just as important as freezing is defrosting, which we must do in the refrigerator 24 hours before cooking or heating if we have already cooked them before.
Oysters or barnacles, on the other hand, do not allow freezing; It is best to buy them fresh and consume as soon as possible.
Also prepare the pantry
Not all forecasting has to do with freezing food. We must not forget some pantry products that we can buy and reserve now to simplify tasks later. Sweets such as cookies, nougat, marzipan, polka dots, chocolates, as well as dried and dehydrated fruits, and also drinks, can be kept in the pantry in advance until December 25.
It can also be a good time to review what we have stored and take out products, such as that can of pâté or preserves that has not yet expired, we have had for a long time and that we reserved for a special occasion. As long as they remain well packaged and have a distant expiration date, we can keep them in the pantry and save ourselves many last minute purchases.
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