The bottom line is, I like to get the best bang for my buck, and my friends have encouraged me to share some of my tips. So I figure I'll occasionally spotlight a way I pinch pennies, just for fun.
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Americans are estimated to waste about 40% of the food we buy. (33 million tons every year!) Even if you're clipping coupons and shopping the sales, that translates into a lot of cash. Part of the problem is buying more than we need and not storing it properly. Freeze it, can it, dehydrate it, ziploc it... just don't leave it sitting to rot or go stale.
But what if you aren't sure if your food is already spoiled? Rather than just tossing it straightaway, take a minute to check. For example, a friend recently shared that her brand new ground beef was a little brownish in the middle and she thought that meant it had gone bad. Not necessarily!
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Thrifty Tip:
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Just type in the name of the food in question and it will tell you what's normal, what's rotten, the best way to store it, and how soon you need to do something with it. The site has thousands of different foods (raw & cooked, open packages & unopened packages) so you'll usually find what you need.
On the site, you'll find that in most cases, ground beef that's brown in the middle is just fine, as long as it isn't showing other signs of spoilage. It's just a lack of air that causes the color change in the middle. So by checking www.stilltasty.com, you can save the $15 you paid for the meat... and whatever you might spend eating out because you thought your ingredients were "bad."
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