Cherry Moriones-Doromal, Editor MB Online

As promised, here’s the second part of my article “Journal of a Practical Mom”. Thanks, guys, for reading it and for taking time to post up some of your insights.

Mommyruns, a reader, commented:

“I do hope you know the health risks and dangers of using microwaves for food preparation. This might be debatable but there's an exposed radiation using a microwave -- and that is obvious.

Using a microwave is so convenient but let's try not to expose our children everyday to microwave 'cuisines' as you've mentioned.

Try to cook the 'eggs' in even if it takes so much time because in the long run, it's more beneficial to our children.”

Dear mommyruns,

Hi!

Thanks very much for taking time in posting your comment. Yeah, I agree that we must "try", as much as possible not to (over)expose our kids (and even ourselves) to microwaved food. There is, definitely, no substitute in preparing our food the natural way, given the resources and luxury of time. These tips are only "alternatives" , based on my day-to-day experience, intended to help out men and women who might be too tied up with work and thinking of simple home solutions such as those suggested.

If I may add, I have been using microwave for 15 years now, and I feel blessed enough that no one in my family ever experienced any negative effects of microwave cooking, so far.

Please feel free to share your thoughts, again, next time.

Cherry Moriones-Doromal/ Editor, MB Online

FOR TODAY'S TOPIC:

Alright! After getting a bit  hot on our previous topic, here are tips which need cooling down and, in fact, freezing, as well.

To lengthen the shelf life of your food, freeze it! I borrowed this practice from a medical doctor friend back in Hollister, California. Unlike  here in the Philippines where convenience stores and food delivery hotlines operate 24 hours a day, in many parts of the U.S., Canada or  Europe , these sorts of pampering are not available.

Back to my story.  In the States , even if the grocery stores, supermarkets or bakeshops were not very accessible especially at night or in the wee hours of the morning, we could eat anything we wanted because we had frozen victuals.  Of course, I’m not referring to raw foods stored in the freezer.  I meant ready-to-eat chow like breads, muffins, burgers and leftover cooked Pinoy dishes like sauted monggo, kare-kare (oxtail in peanut sauce), mechado, noodles ,etc.  Amazingly, when these are reheated properly , the taste is as good as the freshly cooked ones.

The shelf life of foodstuff lengthens from one to three months depending on the quality of the food when you cooked or purchased it and how it has been stored, considering the  temperature and packaging. Accordingly, package foods correctly to lengthen their storage life. Use airtight containers in the freezer. Cool foods before freezing. Reduce freezer burn by wrapping foods in plastic wrap and seal them in an air-tight zip locked plastic bag.

Save your leftover pandesal for the  next two weeks. Freeze it!  You have too much adobo for today and would like to have an adobo “baon”  next month? Freeze it!

For frozen processed foods like hotdogs, know your terminology.  When you see "Best if used by" or “Sell by”, it is an estimate for how long the food is expected to retain its flavor, texture and freshness. It is not a safety date. For instance, you don't have to throw out the rest of the milk on the date stamped as “ best by”.  Follow your senses. If it still smells fine, go ahead, you can drink it. However, when you see expiration dates on foods, follow them. Throw out anything in your  refrigerator and pantry that is expired. If in doubt, call the customer care hotline of the manufacturer.

Store raw beef, pork, veal and lamb for up to five days in the refrigerator; four to twelve months in the freezer. Poultry and ground meats can be kept in the fridge for up to two days before cooking and up to four months in the freezer.

Also, check the bar code of packaged foods, which is not easy to interpret, I know.  It may be coded by month, day and year, such as YYMMDD or MMDDYY. Or it may be coded using Julian numbers (365 days), whereby January 1 would be 001 and December 31 would be 365. In even more complicated codes, letters A through M (omitting the letter I) are often assigned to the months, with A being January and M being December, plus a numeric day, either preceded or followed by the numeric year.

Last tip before we go. Pour your leftover fruit juice  (for instance, it's an orange juice) on an  ice cube tray and freeze.  The next time you make a glass of your fave  fruit juice, (mango,strawberry,etc.) use your  "orange ice juice cube"  to make your beverage extra special.

Again, creativity is the key. That’s it for now.  See you for more tips soon.