Tidy Tip Tuesday - Five Food Tips

To keep greens fresh longer (this could be kale, collard greens, lettuce or other salad greens, mustard greens, etc.), store them in a covered container along with a stainless steel utensil (fork, knife or spoon) in the refrigerator. Try this and see for yourself that it really does work!

Cream cheese melts in the microwave instead of becoming softened, so try this alternative. Place cream cheese in a zipper baggie and seal. Fill a bowl or other similar sized container with warm water and lower the cream cheese into it. Let it set in the warm water for about 4 minutes and it will be nice and soft and easy to work with.

To keep a block of cheese from becoming moldy, dampen a clean cloth with apple cider vinegar and wrap it around the block of cheese, seal both into a zipper baggie and store in the frig. Acid in the vinegar will prevent the growth of mold.

If you've run out of bread crumbs and need some now, toast fresh bread slices. Then toss them into the blender or food processor to crumble. If they are still not dry enough, lay them out in a thin layer on a baking sheet and pop into the oven at 350 degrees for a few minutes. Use as recipe directs.

To make ground beef lay flat in the freezer and save space, take the meat out of the original packaging, place in a plastic freezer bag and flatten it out with a rolling pin. This saves space in the freezer, plus the flat frozen beef will thaw very quickly.

That's all folks!