The Best Way I Have Found to Store Food

For those of you who are my friends on Facebook, and who have seen my album called Raw Foods, you have probably seen this, but I wanted to go ahead and try to transfer most things to my blog, where they will be in a much more organized order. And hopefully others will see and benefit.

I live on an island in New York City, but the island is quite isolated. We have to go through a small forest to get to the urban area of the mainland. My husband and I don't own a car, and everywhere we go must be either by bus, train or taxi. Even to get to the train (subway) we have to take a bus from the island to get to the nearest station. The island we live on is one of the more desired areas of New York. Most people that live here are doctors, lawyers, judges, actors or are of some professional career. Somehow my husband and I were just blessed to live here, because we are none of the above. There are three small grocery stores here. One is a very small supermarket and two are kind of like small old-fashioned country stores, I guess you would say. Really, neither of the three carry much and all are very expensive, taking advantage of the people's income, being as most are pretty well off here. If my husband and I did much shopping here - we would go broke soon!

We have found a produce market we love to go to, called Lee's Lydig Pick and Pack. It's a few miles from our home, and we must take two buses to get there. This is it. Don't let the grafitti fool you. I love this place. They have lots of foods, very nice and of good quality, though not organic, (I usually can't afford organic anyway), but here are a couple of pictures of the place.

This, of course, is the outside.



Here is a shot looking in through the windows.




And here is from the inside.



A trip to the market is about $5.00 for my husband and I by bus, and the trip back home is usually about $15.00 or $20.00, because we take a taxi home. So, grocery shopping for us is a little expensive. For that reason, I buy alot while I am there, which brings me to the point of this blog.

A few years ago, my husband and I were at Kmart, and he found these plastic containers and wanted one to marinate meat in. They are called Lock and Seal. Kmart doesn't have them anymore. I have looked both in Tennessee and in New York, but Amazon and a few online places carry them. I don't know why Kmart stopped, because they are the BEST storage containers I have ever seen!

Anway, they have a gasket around the lid. This keeps air out and freshness in and if you put liquid in them - it is quite safe!



They have to large size, which holds ALOT of stuff.

In this photo I have a bag of spinach, a package of green beans, a box of organic salad greens, two red tomaties and a green tomato of some type just to show what the capacity is.



Sometimes I cut of a LARGE salad and store in a big box.





My husband got the one he wanted first (which I have now taken over) then I got two more kits, because I liked his so well. The kits come in all these sizes.





I am able to fits lots of stuff in them, and it keeps it fresh for a couple of weeks until I can get back to the store again! They are also good to keep bread fresh, as no air can get to the bread to make it hard and stale.

I really like these little individual sized ones. Talking about the smallest ones pictured below. I take the grapes off the stems and store them out of the air, so I used the individual sized ones for that, but what I really like is sometimes I cut up salads and store in them. You just have to grab one out of the refrigerator and eat. Love it - it's so easy!



Again, they are called Lock and Seal, and I know Amazon carries them, but if you can find them in a local store - that would be great. They are a little expensive, but worth it because they do keep food so fresh! One thing about them though - the foods in them condense, getting the interior moist. Every once in a while when I see condensation building up, I take a paper towel and simply wipe them out, taking everything back out and replacing it after.

Love,
Kimberly ♥