FOOD SAFETY TIP, #10: Storing Pies

Thanksgiving and Christmas seem to be the season for pies.

In fact, when I was driving for the food banks, I'd pick up truckloads of pies from a local Carrows to be donated to the (somewhat) nearby Marine base. They have a program where patrons can donate $1 with their meal to go toward the making of the pies. I don't know the details of that program because I spent most of my time going through the back door of that restaurant. It was a nice restaurant, it was just too far away from where I lived to go there except occasionally.

When you are getting 20-40 freshly baked pies a day but want to accumulate a hundred or more before making the run down to the Marine base, you have to figure out how to store them safely.

You can refrigerate them for three to four days (a little longer if you keep them just above freezing).

Freshly baked pumpkin and pecan pies can freeze for one to two months.

Any pies with a custard or chiffon do not freeze well. You can do it, and they will be safe to eat, but the texture can get pretty nasty.

We never messed with freezing them. We just kept them really cold and would coordinate with the restaurant to make our run to the base on the day of their biggest baking run.

FOOD SAFETY TIP, #9: Storing Items Containing Eggs

Since casseroles are a part of the holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas), many people are left with the problem of "What do I do with it now?" Well, a little bit of research on my favorite subject comes up with some storage tips.

You can store casseroles made with eggs and quiches (with fillings) in the refrigerator for three to four days.

You can freeze casseroles and quiches after baking them. Quiches will last one to two months while casseroles have a slightly longer lifespan of two to three months.

What this will do to the texture of the casserole or quiche really depends on the filling. If you are after al dente vegetables, this is probably not the best plan.

So, there you have it, you can now enjoy Aunt Edna's casserole for days or months after the holiday.

FOOD SAFETY TIP, #8: Frozen Egg Substitute

In FOOD SAFETY TIP, #6: Liquid Egg Substitute, I talked about storing Liquid Egg Substitute. That article assumed that the Egg Substitute was in liquid form. That brings to mind the question: how long can you store the Egg Substitute once you thaw it back out?

After thawing, you should use the (once again) Liquid Egg Substitute within seven days.

If you do find opened Liquid Egg Substitute that's been frozen and you don't decide to throw it out, try to use it within 3 days.

If you bought Egg Substitute that was already frozen then it was frozen in optimal conditions. You should use the "Use By" information on the package.

Tip: Freezing Egg Whites

In FOOD SAFETY TIP #3: Raw Egg Whites we indicated that egg whites can be frozen for up to a year.

For best results, put them in a paper cup, covering the top with foil. This keeps air off of the whites and keeps water crystals from forming on the egg whites

Be sure to mark on the outside of the cup the number of whites it contains and the date they went into the freezer.

The Scandal of Food Waste

It isn't as if we don't produce enough food to feed everyone. The main issue is that food doesn't reach the people that it needs to. Throughout my life, I've seen a number of cases where food is wasted. In some cases, I have solutions (either my own ideas or solutions I've witnessed). I'll talk about those afterword.

First, I don't really think that governments or large organizations are either the major cause or the solution to wastefulness. I think that individuals cause and can solve waste.

As I've mentioned in another post, my parents grew up in the depression and WWII rationing. I see wasting food (or anything else) as just... ...well... ...wasteful.

My earliest example that I remember is a relative who was on welfare. My family went over to his house to visit one day. They served steak (new york strip) and potatoes. While we struggled to eat everything on our plates, they simply tossed the half (or more) that they didn't finish. His response was, "it's not my money." I was flabbergasted. This willful wastefulness is one of the worst causes because they know that they are wasting and do so with glee. I was only about 12 years old (and not paying taxes yet) but I was, very quietly, livid. This formed my early opinions on welfare (I have since seen numerous examples of where it really helped someone get back on their feet). The main problem is that there is no down side to waste. I don't know if there is any solution to sociopathic waste.

My other experiences come from driving a truck for a food bank distributor. I spent almost two years driving a delivery truck for a food bank distributor. I saw a lot of waste and I saw a lot of solutions to waste.

We would pick up donations from stores and deliver them to various food banks (a different food bank each day of the week). We had three 14' refrigerated trucks. Around a holiday, three stores could fill the back of the truck. I don't mean that the shelves were full. I mean that the even the aisle was packed so high and tight that we had to open the door very carefully. Most days weren't nearly that full but it was still usually quite a load.

So, I know how much waste there is in a grocery store. Not all stores donate. Even here in southern California, there is a chain that mulches it's food rather than donating it. So, I know how much food is going to waste there.

Note that mulching the food isn't out of spite as some of you might think. Think about it from their perspective. What is their liability if someone hurts him or her self climbing in the dumpster. Even worse: what happens if someone gets sick off of a steak that's been sitting in the dumpster for 2 days. How does the store prove that the person didn't buy it? What will that do to the store's reputation, let alone it's court costs?

Another big area of waste is bread. In our area, at least, a single bakery has a monopoly on artisan type breads. They actually force the stores to order more bread than they can sell in order to get any bread at all. This results in 2-3 big garbage bags of that type of bread from each store. Even the biggest food banks have trouble giving out all that bread. If anyone knows what to do with this, I'm sure the stores would like to know.

The packing plants and distributors are even worse. They only send the "pretty" produce. Think about it, how many of you buy perfectly edible fruit or vegetables that have blemishes on them? That stuff gets tossed before it even reaches a store.

I'm not saying that this is necessarily bad (everyone should have the right to get the best food for their family) but that the food is out there. We just need to get it into the hands of those who need it.

So, what can we do? We can't force people to only buy/cook what they can eat. We can't force people to buy less than the best quality food they can for their family. We can, on the other hand, control what we ourselves do.

What can we, as individuals do? Here is what I came up with. Can you think of any others?

1. We can be careful to only put on the table what we can eat (or plan for leftovers).


2. Discover which produce is still perfectly good even when it isn't pretty looking.


3. Try to match up stores with food banks and figure out how to get the food from the store to the food bank. The stores don't want to throw away food but any other solutions are too expensive. What we can do is give them an alternative that doesn't cost them very much. The manpower needed to put food in bags or boxes isn't much higher than that needed to throw it in a dumpster (or mulching machine)


4. Find uses for non-pretty produce that is sorted out by farmers and distributors. Note that many of them already do something with it but I keep hearing stories of some new plan to deal with that waste so there must still be opportunities out there.


5. Find something to do with all that artisan bread!

FOOD SAFETY TIP, #7: Liquid Egg Substitute

It may surprise no one that unopened Liquid Egg Substitute stores much longer if it hasn't been opened.

Unopened packages of Liquid Egg Substitute can be stored fresh for up to 10 days and will last up to a year if you freeze it.

If the Liquid Egg Substitute package is opened, exposure to air (and the bacteria that the air carries) causes it to be unsafe to use after three days. Also, they shouldn't be frozen since the short shelf life means that it probably will not survive the thawing process.

FOOD SAFETY TIP: #6 Storing Egg Yolks

As mentioned in FOOD SAFETY TIP #4: Raw Egg Yolks, egg yolks can only be stored for a few days.

The best way to store intact raw egg yolks is to immerse them in cold water in a covered container and place them in the refrigerator.

This helps by keeping air (and the carried bacteria) away from the surface of the egg yolk.

This will extend the storage time from "a few days" to "several days". That's not much but it might be all you need. Also, even if you just need to store them for a couple days, storing them in water will keep them better and safer.

FOOD SAFETY TIP #5: Hard Cooked Eggs

Hard-cooked eggs can be kept in the refrigerator for 1 week.

Do not freeze hard cooked eggs.

OK, we've gone through a bunch of the variations of eggs. It turns out that nothing with yolks in it likes to freeze.

As it turns out, the egg white of hard cooked eggs isn't so great after freezing either. It has a major texture shift that isn't unhealthy, just unpleasant.

FOOD SAFETY TIP #4: Raw Egg Yolks

Raw egg yolks, once they have been exposed to the air (and the bacteria it contains), can only be refrigerated for 2 to 4 days.

The yolks do not freeze well. I suspect that the yolks are the reason you should not freeze whole eggs either (as mentioned in FOOD SAFETY TIP #1: Freezing Eggs).

FOOD SAFETY TIP #3: Raw Egg Whites

Raw egg whites, once they have been exposed to the air (and the bacteria it contains), can only be refrigerated for 2 to 4 days.

They can be frozen for 12 months.

FOOD SAFETY TIP #2: Froze Your Egg Accidently?

In Food Safety Tip, #1, I warned against freezing whole raw eggs. However, life doesn't always work out as planned.

If an egg is frozen accidentally, keep it frozen until you need it.

Thaw the egg in the refrigerator and use it immediately after it thaws.

FOOD SAFETY TIP #1: Freezing Eggs

Never freeze whole raw eggs.

You can store them in the refrigerator safely for 3 to 5 weeks. So there should be no need to freeze them.

If you do need to freeze them for long term storage, beat yolks and whites together; then freeze.