From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

Greying_Pilgrim

You're right to suggest 'foreign bodies' Cherryfudge - but it always seems to start with any mere hint of a tint of pesto that is not covered in oil.

I had a feeling at the back of my mind that 'Pesto' means pounded - and the root of the word is 'to pound' so many things can be made into a version of pesto. I was walking along a path the other day, and I was trying to remember what the weed was at the side - I'm pretty sure it was ground elder. Too low to avoid 'contamination' so I wasn't tempted to pick any, despite it's frugal connections. There was what i think was wild garlic (in flower) at the other end of the path, but it was too near to the road, and it never smells - so perhaps it isn't wild garlic.

Thinking about what Nonnadiluca mentioned, I've never tried eating nettles, or any of the other weeds that are edible. Partially because I've not had access to stuff that hasn't been next to a road/dog pee height or zapped by the council spraying team.

Well, the weather here is far better than forecast. Although DH is washing the windows - so things may change….. 🤣 I have popped the workwear wash out on the line, so hopefully that will dry.

I will see if the couple of eggs I have left, that are just a day out of date, pass the float test, and may make egg salad sangers for lunch. We've not had egg for a while, and I intend to use cheese on the pizza for tea, so I'll try to 'mix' it up a bit. I haven't got any white wine (for risotto), so I think i will use the asparagus on pizza - it makes really luxurious pizza, and honours the season, as we have it so infrequently.

Greying X

KajiKita

The one thing I have noticed makes a difference with opened jars or other containers lasting well in the fridge, is to be absolutely scrupulous about how I remove a part portion. Always use a clean fork or spoon, never use my fingers (even for fiddly stuff like pre grated cheese), always leave the spoon or fork in the container until I have taken what I need, remove said implement, get the lid back on / sealed up and back into the fridge asap. Since starting this my failure rate has been a lot lower.

I suspect you do 99% of all of the above already, but it’s worth watching yourself as there may be one little slip that is increasing exposure of the contents to bugs just enough to tip it over the edge.

Oh, and the other thing to check is, is your fridge holding temperature properly. Again our spoiled food rate dropped dramatically once I sucked it up and bought a new fridge.

KK

themadvix

I make and freeze pesto using a silicone ice cube tray. I then pop the blocks out and keep them in the freezer to use as and when. I’ve not tried doing it with shop bought, so it might not work as well as it might be oilier, but worth a try. I wash and use the tray for other stuff and haven’t noticed a smell (I don’t think I’ve used it for ice, mind you - but I do freeze tomato-onion masala sauce in my silicone muffin tray and while it’s stained the silicone, no smells and I’ve used it plenty since for cakes).

Greying_Pilgrim

All valid points KK - thank you for posting. I think I do things that way BUT I'm always looking to improve, so you're absolutely right to point out that I need to ensure that what I think I do, actually matches what I do do. Thank you. Hopefully the fridge is still OK - it's only 30 months old, and if anything, it runs cold, rather than warm, but again, you're right to point these things out. I'm pretty sure - thinks hard🤔- that I only have this trouble with pesto……. but again, thank you for making me think about it, as I'm trying to avoid food spoilage/waste, but not ignoring culinary cleanliness either.

I tested the eggs. Both were OK to use, although one was clearly 'older' than the other. But I hard boiled them and ensured they smelt OK, as I chopped them up for egg mayonnaise. I made sandwiches using the eggs, green box salad tomatoes and the rest of the iceberg lettuce from last week's green box. I had chopped the lettuce up and not used all of it straight away, so it needed using. Again, it was perfectly fine, but some of the 'cut' edges had started to oxidise, so it was perfectly fine to eat, but wouldn't have remained attractive looking for much longer. But we polished it off on all our sandwiches.

Greying X

cheesymouse

I always freeze left over pesto in its jar. Never had a problem with this. Also works for half jars of passata, pasta sauces etc

badmemory

I no longer fridge things like this in the door, which seems to help. I also confess to sometimes using a small piece of cling film pressed down to exclude any air.

Greying_Pilgrim

Thank you tmv - I agree with your point about shop pesto being much oilier.

cheesymouse - do you freeze the jar with the intention of using all the l/o pesto in one go, or have you ever (for example), taken a couple of spoonfuls out to run through pasta - ie without finishing the jar. I should imagine that the pesto doesn't completely freeze, because of the oil?

badmemory - I see your point entirely. And 'being in the door' did wander through my mind as a possible issue, but I haven't had any other jar act like that ie Jarlick, Jaringer, chipotle paste, mustard………

I haven't got any pesto at the mo, as I threw the mouldy stuff out. But I will bear in mind what you've all said, and try harder with the next jar I buy. LG used to have pesto pasta quite often when they were at nursery - they've not eaten in years now, but I think they would like it if it was a featured 'salad' sometimes.

Greying X

rtandon27

@Greying_Pilgrim - We us the score & snap method for Pesto & in fact any large jar of sauce where you are meant to use a tablespoon or two - for instance thai curry paste or concentrated tomato paste.

Fill a Z1ploc bag with the pesto and seal shut. Use a rolling pin and flatten to about 1/4 inch thick - score the rectangle with a plastic spatula into small saltine size squares and freeze flat. (I use a small metal baking tray as it helps the bag freeze quickly) You can then stand the frozen bag upright as is and snap off what you need as needed. The thinner scored part makes the snapping off effortless. Another option is what I do, snap the frozen sauce into crackers right away and then stack on the thin end in 'tupperware' in our case reused 500ml yogurt containers as I don't have any square ones of the correct height. When ready to use, take one or two pesto 'crackers' from the freezer and use to stir through your pasta - being so thin they defrost really quickly. A trick to keep the pesto the correct colour - for us bright green, coat in olive oil - a very small amount - this works especially well for the homemade stuff which is a brighter colour than the jarred stuff to start off with.

Greying_Pilgrim

Thanks rt - another option for me to try 👍😁 Ta for posting 😁

Greying X

beanielou

Those egg sandwiches sound delicious. My maw used to make good egg mayo sandwiches with bacon in.