Keeping Your Summer Perishables Cool

Spring has sprung or at least it soon will, and with it comes warmer weather. Some of us at the Wedge thought it would be a good time to provide a few tips on safe food handling during the warmer months of the year.

Most Wedge shoppers know that purchasing the highest quality food possible is a good first step, but that's not enough - it has to make it safely home with you that day. Here are some tips to ensure that your food stays fresh. If you are traveling a long distance (even as short a distance as Eden Prairie), or are not going directly home, bring a cooler for your refrigerated items. If that's not an option, try to pack the cold items together. During the hottest days of summer, those items should be packed in ice to ensure they stay cool. Milk, for example, left in an 80 degree-plus car for one hour will lose 4 or 5 days of its shelf life, tofu would lose one week. Poultry and seafood could become potentially dangerous.

It's important to refrigerate food promptly when you reach home. Your refrigerator's temperature should be between 34-40 degrees. If you don't have a thermometer in your refrigerator, get one, and check it often in multiple locations in your refrigerator. Most refrigerators have places inside that never hold a consistent temperature less than 40 degrees. The door storage is a good example of this. Store your more shelf-stable products here: soda, water and condiments rather than the milk, butter and juice.

Next, remember that refrigerated items have a limited shelf life once brought home. Here are some examples:

• Milk/Soymilk - 7 to 10 days after opening
• Eggs (in shell) - 2 to 3 weeks
• Eggs (hard Boiled) - 5 to 7 days
• Fresh Meats - 3 to 5 days
• Cooked Meats - 2 to 4 days
• Fresh Poultry - 1 or 2 days
• Mayonnaise - 60 days after opening
• Deli Salad - 3 to 5 days
• Tofu/Tempeh - 7 to 10 days after opening

These shelf lives are a bit on the conservative side, but are still helpful. They can be found on the Minnesota Department of Health's website with the exception of the soy foods. Information about these products comes from vendors and from experience working with these products.

We hope these tips will ensure the quality of the food you purchase here at the Wedge.