Food care and preperation rookie here. Advice?

knighthood77

I'm trying to learn how to store and care for my food (mainly veggies) and how to prepare certain foods (like pinto beans). Do you have any advice? Are there any sites that are helpful? I've prepared lentils in a rice cooker and that seems to work well. Is there another way? Is there a better way to store cilantro, spinach leaves and ect? I'm trying to eat healthier, but sometimes I'm too overwhelmed with these questions and resort to grabbing junk food instead.

knighthood77

I just realized this should have been posted elsewhere. Be nice.

bethvandenberg

so much to answer here... ok lets start with cilantro. wash it and then stick it in a small cup with some water and keep in fridge. It should stay pretty fresh. For pinto beans, just sort them (make sure they're all beans and no rocks) rinse, then put in a big pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and then turn them off and let them sit for an hour. Then turn them back on (med) add whatever you want except NO SALT (if you add salt the beans will never get soft, you can add it later), simmer till they are tender. I don't find spinach keeps more than a couple of days. So just wash it and store it in some paper towels.

As for veggies, you can pre slice a bunch of things (peppers, onions, carrots, celery, etc) and keep them in baggies and use them as needed. If you can spend a couple of hours you can do a bunch of prep work and then as the nights come up you will have an idea of what you have and what you need to do to finish it up. Do you have a crock pot?

A lot of times I will think, I have chicken, peppers, ginger, mushrooms, and whatever else that I have, and then will goggle those ingredients and it will pull up some recipes.

Good luck.

squishysangel

Vegis I'm not so good at...and with a family of 5 they never last long enough to go bad so...

Pinto beans...if you have a slow cooker here's an idea....soak the dried beans overnight...in the morning drain off the water that is left...put them in the slow cooker...I'm lucky my hubby uses pork tenderloin to make no fat bacon for us but you can use lean ham cubed up...add an onion...a little pepper to taste...no salt it will make your beans tough and there is enough in the ham...if you like them a little spiceyer then add whatever you prefer... put enough water in with it to be about 1.5 - 2 inches above the rest of the ingredients and set it on medium heat...let this cook away all day...check it around lunch but it should be fine...then at supper time voila yummy beans without all the chemicals of store bought

knighthood77

Do you have a crock pot?

Nope. Not yet. It sounds like I should invest in one. Thanks for the veggie ideas and cilantro tip. That should help a bit.

knighthood77

Thanks for the advice squishy.