Many of us grew to be so dependent on the fridge as a 'safe' and 'warehouse' for everything. Cannot finish the pan of pizza you ordered? Into the fridge it goes. Leftover dishes from dinner? Into the fridge it goes and save for next day's (or till you feel like it) lunch or dinner. Often, we only declare the food inedible when it smells or taste funny. But are you sure the food is really edible as long as it look/smell/taste alright?
Invinsible Toxic: Bacteria
We cannot smell or see bacteria. Even if we store food in the fridge, bacteria do grow and multiplies, whether we like it or not. Fridge do not prevent or stop their growth. If we're storing things like veggies, meat etc. ideally we should finish it within 2 days. If there's fish, 1 day max. In realilty, we ain't too bothered about things like that. Even if we've kept it for 5 days as long as it taste/smell alright, we assume the food is ok. But how are you sure? We may not suffer from food poisoning, but the harm cannot be undermined, especially if this is done regularly on a long term basis. Imagine all the bacteria we are consuming and breeding in our body!
Storage Containers
Avoid using plastic containers to store your food to avoid BPA and phthalates that leech from the plastic containers. Again, another invincible toxic. Do not assume that as long as you are not heating the plastic in microwave, or you're just using it to save some food in the fridge, the food will not be contaminated by BPA and phthalates. These chemicals can be released when in contact with say the fats from the meat, acid from fruits stc. So to be safe, use glass containers. These innocent and very convenient plastic containers could be silently killing you slowly.
Reheating: Make sure your food is thoroughly cooked
I've seen my friends who simply put their food into the microwave for only 30 seconds and declare it ok! I don't think the food is properly reheated, and I'm skeptical the bacteria are killed. My dad always say "food you take out from the fridge, make sure you heat it up thoroughly, in and out".
I avoid microwave whenever I can and my little electric lunch cooker is my saver at work since I can steam and cook anything easily. But the point is not about using microwave or not. The point is to make sure that the food is properly heated up. I'm sure you may have experienced situation where the exterior of the food seems hot, but once you take a bite, it's cold inside. This is what we mean by not heating up thoroughly. If it's soup, make sure it boil for around 3 min before serving. Whatever it is, Let it cook a while before serving.
Thank you for reading. Hope this helps! :)
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