What is your favorite part of the holiday season? Among the presents, the holiday spirit and spending time with family, there is always one thing everyone can agree on: the FOOD! Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukah, and Kwanzaa or any other holiday, each one usually has some awesome dishes associated with it. And whether you make those dishes yourself or are enjoying ones that someone else made, you will want to know how to keep them fresh without fear of spoilage.
When it comes to those wonderful holiday foods, enjoy them safely by remembering to always prepare, cook and store them properly. It starts at the grocery store when you place those items in your cart. Keep meats, poultry and fish separate from the other foods when bagging them to take home, too. Once you get home, keep them separated in the fridge until you are ready to use them. And again, keep those raw foods away from the cooked ones once you start preparing.
While cooking foods, make sure they reach the proper internal temperature so that bacterial growth doesn’t happen. Serve your hot foods as soon as possible and be sure to promptly store them after your meal. Rule of thumb: Keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold.
If you are giving food as gifts this year, let your recipients know when you made it and how to properly store it. If the food has a short shelf life, you wouldn’t want your loved ones to eat it after that date has passed.
There are a lot of great food safety tips at www.foodsafety.gov for you to check out. Of course, if you have any concerns about food safety and/or how your insurance will help during a food borne illness, you can always give us a call.