Chicken is a product that is loved by both adults and children. Fried, boiled, smoked chicken perfectly complements any side dish. Since it is a frequently used product, storage rules must be followed. To ensure that the poultry dish does not harm the body. Therefore, let's figure out how to store chicken in the refrigerator.
Chicken
Refrigerator manufacturer
The first thing you should pay attention to is the manufacturer. It is the manufacturer that influences the quality of the refrigerator like nothing else. Of course, it is worth understanding that there are exceptions in good cases, but this is rather rare.
So, if you want to buy a high-quality refrigerator and do not limit yourself by price, then you are unlikely to find better than Liebherr (German company) or Sharp (Japanese company). According to consumer reviews, these are the best manufacturers in the business. Prices for refrigerators from Liebherr and Sharp start at an average of 25,000 rubles and often easily exceed 100,000 rubles.
The second place, according to consumer reviews, is occupied by refrigerator manufacturers: Electrolux (Sweden), Bosh, Hansa, Kaiser (Germany), Toshiba (Japan), Ardo (Italy), Vestfrost (Denmark), etc. Their prices are slightly lower.
Well, an honorable third place remains for refrigerators from the following companies: Nord, Atlant, Snaige (CIS countries), Indesit, Ariston, Zanussi (Italy), Beko, Vestel (Turkey), Fagor, Gorenje (Slovenia), Daewoo, LG, Samsung (Korea) ) – refrigerators from these companies, according to consumers, are somewhat lower in quality, but also quite good.
ADVICE No. 1 from ROS-POTREB
It is worth noting that Bosh, Zanussi, LG, Samsung, Ariston and some other brands of refrigerators have now begun to be manufactured at Russian enterprises, which somewhat reduces their cost and makes it more accessible to use service centers.
Shelf life of food in the refrigerator
A large number of people believe that the metabolic processes of products stored in the refrigerator stop, as well as the vital activity of microorganisms. Therefore, the quality of the products will not change after a week of storage or even after a month. It should be said that this is a rather dangerous misconception. In products of plant origin, metabolism occurs during storage in the refrigerator, and enzymatic processes continue in meat and fish . These phenomena not only deteriorate the original quality of the products, but can also lead them to a state where they become hazardous to human health.
Remember: a refrigerator is not an intensive care unit! Therefore, it cannot be assumed that the products stored in it, especially in a non-frozen state, are not subject to basic spoilage. The broth sours in the refrigerator just as successfully as on the kitchen table, only not in 6-7 hours, but in 3-4 days. The effect of enzymes and the development of microorganisms depends, first of all, on the content and state of water in the product. The more moisture in a product, the more active the destructive processes occur and the shorter its shelf life . Frozen foods in which the water is in a solid (crystalline) state can be stored for quite a long time.
Safe shelf life of various products:
| Product | Refrigerated storage | Freezer storage |
| Meat dishes | 3-5 days | 2-3 months |
| Bacon, sausage | up to 7 days | 1-2 months |
| Ham, ham | 4-5 days | 1-2 months |
| Minced meat and semi-finished products from it | 1-2 days | 4-5 months |
| Raw meat | 3-4 days | 4-6 months |
| Bird in pieces | 1-2 days | up to 9 months |
| Whole bird | 1-2 days | up to 9 months |
| Boiled poultry in sauce or broth | 1-2 days | up to 6 months |
| Boiled poultry without sauce or broth | 3-4 days | up to 4 months |
| Raw fish | 1-2 days | 2-3 months |
| Fried fish | 2-3 days | 2-3 months |
| Raw eggs | 3-4 weeks | don't freeze |
| Boiled eggs | 5-6 days | 1-2 months |
| Hard cheese | up to 3 weeks | up to 6 months |
| Soft cheese | up to 2 weeks | up to 4 months |
| Cottage cheese | 4-5 days | month |
| Oil | 3-4 weeks | 3-6 months |
| Milk | 5-6 days | month |
| Condensed milk | 4-6 days | don't freeze |
| Ice cream | don't store | 2-3 months |
| Cream cakes | 2 days | don't store |
| Vegetables and fruits | 2-3 weeks | year |
| Berries, fresh herbs | 2-3 days | year |
Energy saving class
The second thing you need to pay attention to when choosing a refrigerator is the energy saving class of the refrigerator. According to the accepted international standard, there are only 9 energy saving classes. Starting from G (lowest) to A++ (highest). In other words, class G equipment will run up your electricity bill several times faster, unlike A++.
Today, there are practically no models of refrigerators of the energy saving classes D or E, not to mention the lower ones F and G.
ADVICE No. 2 from ROS-POTREB
The most profitable purchase will be a refrigerator whose energy saving class is A or A+, even better if A++, but this is rare.
Refrigerator service life or warranty period
The next thing you need to pay attention to is the service life and warranty period declared by the manufacturer. During this period, if something happens to your refrigerator, the store and (or) the manufacturer (through the service center) will repair or replace spare parts for your refrigerator free of charge. For this reason, you should trust more those companies that provide a greater guarantee for their products.
For example, European manufacturers provide a 1-year warranty; a few of them provide a 1-year warranty on a refrigerator and a 3 or 5-year warranty on its compressor. Russian and Belarusian manufacturers usually provide a 3-year warranty. And only a few manufacturers provide a 5-year warranty on the entire refrigerator.
Dishes that last a long time in the refrigerator
The duration of keeping ready meals at temperatures from 0 to +6 0C is 18-72 hours. This takes into account the method of heat treatment and the presence of certain sauces and creams in them.
According to SanPiN standards, long-term storage is acceptable for the following dishes:
- confectionery without cream – 72 hours;
- fried, baked poultry – 48 hours;
- baked fish – 48 hours;
- fried animal meat in the form of large pieces – 48 hours.
Attention! In online publications you can find information that indicates the possibility of storing soups in the refrigerator for 4 days, but according to GOST standards this period is only 24 hours.
Freezing chamber location
When choosing a refrigerator, you need to decide how tall you want the refrigerator to be. Based on this, you can choose the location of the freezer in the refrigerator. For low refrigerators, the most advantageous location of the freezer compartment is at the top. This will allow you to put in and take out food faster and thereby waste less energy from the refrigerator.
If you decide to buy a tall refrigerator, then the best solution would be a refrigerator with a freezer located at the bottom. Because you will use the refrigerator compartment more often and its location on top is most convenient.
How to store cooked poultry meat
Chicken that has already undergone heat treatment is stored 2 times less than raw chicken. You also need to remember that cooked poultry meat can only be stored in foil. Under no circumstances should cooked meat be stored in a plastic bag. So it will start to rot very quickly. However, you can put your poultry dish in a special plastic container. Make sure the container lid closes tightly. Because if air gets into the container, the product will become saturated with foreign odors and will very quickly become unusable.
Chicken in foil
Boiled
Boiled legs, poultry fillets, etc. Can be kept in the refrigerator for no more than 1 day. After this time, the meat will spoil and you will no longer be able to eat it. Storage temperature should be +2+6 degrees. Chicken can last up to 2 days in soup. If you need to store the finished boiled fillet, then you need to place it in foil or a container.
Boiled chicken
Fried
The fried product can remain unchanged in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. The storage temperature should also be +2+6 degrees. The finished fried chicken must first be cooled, then wrapped in foil and placed in the refrigerator. By the way, you should not put fried food in a container, because the smell of fried food can permeate the container and other foods that are in the refrigerator.
Fried chicken
Smoked
Smoked chicken is a specific product. Therefore, if you bought it in a store, you should eat it immediately after purchase. After all, as you know, industrial smoking usually uses chicken, which will very soon become unusable. And if it sits in your home for some time, it will most likely deteriorate quickly. If you smoked chicken with your own hands and are sure that it is fresh, then you can store it for a long time. Smoked homemade chicken can last in the refrigerator for almost a whole week. If you freeze smoked chicken and then defrost it, you should eat it immediately after thawing.
Cooling system (method)
When choosing a refrigerator, it is also important to pay due attention to the cooling method. The first cooling method we will look at is:
- A natural way to cool down . Its principle is as follows: cooling occurs due to natural air circulation. This cooling method protects fresh produce, fruits and vegetables from withering and drying out. All moisture remains inside the refrigerator chamber and cooling food in this way does not require much electricity. Therefore, most refrigerators with natural air circulation have a high energy saving class, starting with class A.
- Second cooling method: forced cooling . The walls of the refrigerator and freezer compartments in refrigerators with such a cooling system are not covered with frost (snow), the so-called “no-frost” system. To prevent fresh food from drying out, it must be carefully packaged, otherwise the cold, dry air of the refrigerator will dry it out. Since such models of refrigerators with the NoFrost cooling system use a large number of mechanisms with moving parts, such refrigerators, as a rule, break down more often and are more expensive in terms of energy consumption, and are also more expensive.
In the freezer
When properly frozen, poultry meat can last almost a year unchanged. The freezing temperature must be at least -18 degrees. All that remains to be done is to defrost the meat and prepare any dish from it. By the way, the quality of meat remains almost unchanged after long-term freezing.
Frozen poultry
However, we managed to figure out whether it is possible to store chicken in the refrigerator. Remember that the quality of finished dishes depends on proper storage. Therefore, if you want to eat tasty and healthy meat, then buy only fresh poultry and store it in proper conditions.
Useful functions of refrigerators
Refrigerator manufacturers try their best to please the consumer. Today there are a huge number of advanced comfort functions, let's look at some of them.
- Refrigerator door opening limiters and clamps . Designed to limit the opening angle of the refrigerator door to prevent it from hitting kitchen furniture or other appliances.
- Possibility of reversing the refrigerator door . If you are not happy with which way the refrigerator door opens, you do not have to change the layout of your kitchen. If your refrigerator has this feature, you just need to move the door and the refrigerator will open in the other direction.
- Refrigerator shelf material . This is usually glass or plastic. Plastic is less preferable due to the fact that it can change color during use and absorb the smell of food, and then transfer this smell to other products. Glass is not inferior to plastic in strength, but it does not have all the disadvantages that plastic has, and glass looks much more elegant.
- Built-in refrigerators . This is only useful when it comes to built-in furniture.
Good luck in choosing a refrigerator, your ROS-POTREB.RU!
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