‘Tis the season of over-catering, but I’ve been determined this year to not let much go to waste. I’ve been more careful with portion sizes, mindful of what gets opened and when, and tried to keep everything stored optimally to make it last as long as possible.
However, the truth of the matter is, despite my best efforts, I can’t extend a food’s shelf life by too much with these methods alone. No, I need some help, and the best kitchen appliance brands out there seem to have made it their mission in recent years to make our kitchens more sustainable in this way.
There are some brilliant bits of home tech out there, if only you know where to look and what they can actually do to help you. These five ideas not only aim to help you keep fresh produce fresh, but also give you the tools for preserving food before it passes its prime, so you can enjoy it for a much larger window of time.
1. Vacuum Sealers
Bora’s QVAC Move is a top-of-the-line take on vacuum sealed storage at home.
(Image credit: Bora)
Vacuum sealing is the MVP of extending the life of your leftovers, and it’s one of those pieces of kitchen kit that has so many more uses than just helping you not waste food. The form of a vacuum sealer can take many forms — from a budget-friendly John Lewis one that buyers seem to love to a top-of-the-range Bora one, which you can actually have built into your work surface for a cool, sleek design for your sustainable kitchen (though, they’ve got a portable option in the BORA QVac Move, too).
But, why does it work? “Vacuum sealing with the BORA QVac keeps fresh food edible for significantly longer: up to three times longer than with conventional storage without air extraction, which can actively help to prevent food waste,” Andy Cummings, BORA Head of Sales UK, tells me. “Mould and bacteria need oxygen to grow, so storing food without air helps to slow spoilage, therefore enabling the food to be kept for at least three times longer. It’s particularly good for things like berries, cheese, bread, or even if you want to batch cook food and store it in individual portions.”
“You can also store baked goods such as cakes and panettone in the vacuum-sealed container to prevent them from drying out. This allows it to be enjoyed for longer, and leftovers can be eaten instead of thrown away. Also, if you vacuum seal food into the bags for freezing, you do not get freezer burn, which is a massive plus,” Andy adds.
2. Jar Sterilizers
Making leftover fruit and vegetables into jams and preserves isn’t for the faint of heart. It requires a bit of skill, yes, but also the requirement to sterilize and seal the jars, too. If you’ve ever made jam before, you might be familiar with the oven method, however, brands such as Kilner don’t recommend it, for the reason that it can cause bacteria harboured in your oven to spoil your preserves. However, in the likes of the Bora X BO, jars can be sterilized in 10 minutes using the special “germ reduction” programme.
Back to vacuum sealing, Andy actually recommends using a vacuum sealer instead of the boiling method for your preserves. “Vacuum sealing the jam jars in the big QVac box instead of the historic hot-water-bath is much less hassle,” he says. “Plus, you can do this with any opened jars you store in your fridge such as pesto, chutney or pickles, which often get half used and then go mouldy before you have a chance to finish them. If you reseal them inside the big Tupperware container, they will stay edible for much longer.”
KitchenCraft
Jam Pan for Induction Hob
If you’re going to get into jam-making, a proper jam pan can help you get better results, too.
3. Climate Controlled Fridge Drawers
These food ‘safes’ let you store different fresh produce in different conditions.
(Image credit: Liebherr)
Your fridge might seem just like one entity of coldness, but actually, modern tech means that you have a little more control over just how chilled your fresh produce is. “One of the best ways to make food last longer is to invest in advanced refrigeration technology,” Tim Hutchinson, Divisional Manager at Liebherr UK, tells me. “Look to Liebherr’s BioFresh technology,” he adds, “innovation that helps keep food fresher for longer than conventional refrigeration alternatives.”
But what exactly does that mean? Well, it’s the brand’s way of organizing a fridge. For example, storage for vegetable drawers in modern refrigerators is usually set at 0°C, helping to keep fresh vegetables, meat, and fish for longer than storing them in the main part of the fridge. However, we can go one step further and find that vegetables like high humidity, while meat likes drier storage to help it last longer. Fish storage in a BioFresh fridge is at low humidity and -2°C, while the fridge also has a HydroBreeze function, which creates an icy cold mist that helps keep fine-leafed vegetables crisp, just like you’d see in a market.
“As different types of food have different storage requirements, BioFresh drawers can be adjusted to provide the optimum storage climate for different foods,” Tim says.
4. Steam Regeneration Settings
Miele’s steam ovens have settings for re-heating leftovers.
(Image credit: Mary Wadsworth. Design: Roundhouse)
You’ll either find yourself in one of two camps: team leftovers, or team not. For some people, leftovers are better the next day anyway, while for others, their texture, consistency, and taste are changed too much by the passage of time to really consider keeping food for the next meal.
What might be the game changer in this scenario? ‘Steam Regeneration’. It’s a function you’ll find on modern types of oven, including steam ovens from AEG, Electrolux, Gaggenau, Miele and more, and it’s designed to reheat your leftovers without drying them out. That means a gentle, evenly-distributed heat, so you leftovers look and taste as good as new.
