Tips for buying and preserving Tet food

Most Vietnamese people have the habit of buying a lot of food to store for eating and receiving guests during Tet. Therefore, people often buy too much Tet food compared to their needs and store it in the refrigerator for dozens of days, sometimes several weeks, without realizing some of the health risks. So, what foods should we buy and how should we preserve them scientifically, ensuring health and necessary nutrition? Let's find out the secret to buying and preserving Tet food with Career

General principles when buying Tet food

You should map out an appropriate spending plan within an allowable amount of money to avoid waste and shortages after Tet.

Accordingly, you should not buy too much Tet food, you should only calculate the amount of food enough for 2-3 days because from the 2nd day of the Lunar New Year, supermarkets and markets will be open. Buying just enough helps us avoid waste, ensures we can eat fresh food, and ensures food hygiene and safety.

Next, choose Tet foods with clear origins, origins, and expiration dates. Limit the purchase of processed foods at small, unlicensed production facilities to minimize the risk of food insecurity.

Also remember to clean, classify, preserve, and process food scientifically, and follow food safety rules well.

To properly preserve leftovers, you need to prepare glass food containers. These types of boxes will help you store leftover food without causing waste.

Tips for buying and preserving Tet food

Tet foods you should buy

During Tet, the traditional dishes that every family buys are: chicken, pork, banh chung, sausages, spring rolls, frozen meat, melons, onions... However, to balance your diet and be healthy, you should You should still buy some other foods for Tet meals such as:

Red wine

Red wine has several benefits such as anti-aging, immune boosting and heart health. Grapes - the main ingredient of wine - are high in antioxidants such as resveratrol, catechin, epicatechin and proanthocyanidin. These antioxidants help reduce the risk of heart disease and fight free radical damage.

Tofu

During the Lunar New Year, we often have to eat chicken, banh chung, sausage, fried spring rolls... To avoid boredom, add tofu to the Tet menu to change the taste. Tofu helps keep skin elasticity, tightens facial muscles, thus preventing aging.

Salad

Salad provides a lot of potassium and fiber, which is not only good for heart health but also has the ability to reduce high blood pressure, help limit fat absorption into the body and effectively lose weight.

Fish

Fish is a valuable source of protein, containing all the necessary amino acids. Fish fat is rich in vitamins A, D and unsaturated fatty acids. Fish meat is easier to digest and absorb than meat from other animals.

Yogurt

Yogurt is not only a snack, helping with good digestion but also good for bones, controlling blood pressure, preventing infections... thanks to the nutrients and minerals it contains.

Vegetables

In addition to providing vitamins, minerals, fiber, vegetables are also very good plant antibiotics. Green vegetables (cauliflower, celery, leeks, tomatoes) and fruits (oranges, lemons, tangerines...) provide a lot of vitamin C.

Egg

Chicken eggs are an excellent source of protein, and also contain many essential amino acids that humans need.

Nuts

Tet is indispensable for seeds and fruits such as pumpkin seeds, melon seeds, sunflower seeds, raisins... These seeds are not only fun to eat but also have very good effects on our health.

Tips for buying and preserving Tet food

How to preserve Tet food

How to preserve banh chung

Many people refuse to store banh chung in the refrigerator because the rice easily hardens. However, if it's hot, you can put banh chung in the refrigerator, cut until eaten, and cover the rest with plastic wrap.

Note that when taking banh chung from the refrigerator, you need to boil, steam or fry it before eating. However, you should limit frying cakes because this increases the amount of fat (oil/fat) in your daily diet, which is not good for your health.

Sausages, spring rolls

Store sausages and patties at temperatures below 25 degrees Celsius. When stored properly, we will keep sausages and patties for 4-6 days (if kept in the refrigerator), even 10 days (if kept in the freezer).

When taking pork sausage out of the freezer, leave it at room temperature for about 4 hours or transfer it to the refrigerator 8 hours before using. If you want to use immediately, defrost quickly: wrap in plastic wrap and soak in cold water for about 1 hour.

Frozen meat

With frozen meat, you should divide it into small boxes just enough for each meal to store in the refrigerator. This way, you both retain the unique flavor of the dish and help preserve it longer.

Meat, fish and seafood

You should put the meat in a vacuum bag or regular plastic bag and store it in the freezer. When you use it, defrost it naturally in the refrigerator. This will be more convenient than putting a large piece of meat in the refrigerator. Furthermore, this method also helps fish meat retain its natural flavor, without unpleasant odors.

Vegetables, tubers, fruits

Unlike meat, vegetables cannot be stored in the freezer, nor can they be kept for a long time.

Therefore, when buying, you should choose fruits with hard shells, avoid choosing fruits that are easily crushed. Then wash, dry, store in the refrigerator or in a dry place outside (for fruits waiting to ripen naturally).

Melons, onions

You should store melons and onions in a cool place. When eating, use clean chopsticks to pick out the melons and onions, wash them with cooled boiling water or diluted salt water, then peel the outer skin and take the white part of the pickled onions to eat.

Tips for buying and preserving Tet food

Other cooked foods

You should not put vegetables in the refrigerator until they are not used up, because the nitrate content in green vegetables is quite high. If left for too long after cooking, bacteria will decompose, and the nitrate will again form nitrite - carcinogen.

Processed foods should be eaten immediately. Cooked foods should not be left at room temperature for more than 2 hours. Food left over after a meal should be reheated, cooled, and then placed in the refrigerator. When eating, you must re-cook food before using it because the temperature in the refrigerator only limits the growth of bacteria and cannot destroy it.

For recooked food, bacteria will be destroyed at a temperature of 100ºC, but the toxins produced by the bacteria remain intact and can cause poisoning to the user. So it's best to prepare just the right amount of food, don't cook too much. Not to mention leftover food that is cooked over and over again will lose nutrients.

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