[nabs-l] Easy but Bad Re: Parishable Food Items

Sun Feb 27 23:16:44 UTC 2011

When I went to point loma in san diego we use to have something called a
micro fridge.  It was a frig and a small freezer and then it had a microwave
with a dial on top.  It couldn't store a bunchof stuff but it was nice for
small stuff.  You could put drinds n it and it was fine.  Now I live on my
own and do ok..
---
From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Nicole B. Torcolini at Home
Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2011 2:54 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Easy but Bad Re: Parishable Food Items

I'm guessing not. Most colleges do not allow cooking things besides
microwaves in dorm rooms. Some dorms have a dorm kitchen.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Arielle Silverman" <nabs.president at gmail.com>
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list" 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2011 12:21 PM
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Easy but Bad Re: Parishable Food Items

> The website
> busycooks.about.com
> has lots of great easy recipes, including a whole "microwave meals"
> section and a whole "five ingredients or less" section.
>
> I'm not sure if these will work in dorm rooms, but George Foreman
> grills are incredibly easy to use for cooking hamburgers or chicken
> breasts. Just plug it in, put the meat inside, put the grease tray
> underneath and take the meat out with a fork when it's done.
>
> Arielle
>
> On 2/27/11, Nicole B. Torcolini at Home <ntorcolini at wavecable.com> wrote:
>> Oh, and if you are cooking breakfast, eggs can also be cooked in the
>> microwave, but not the best idea for a dorm room. If you do cook eggs, 
>> the
>> best way is to scramble them and to keep stirring them. This is important
>> for two reasons. First, they sometimes tend to kind of explode if you 
>> don't
>> keep stirring them; very messy. Second, you end up with a ring of cooked 
>> egg
>> around the outside and raw egg in the middle.
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Katie Wang" <bunnykatie6 at gmail.com>
>> To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2011 10:53 AM
>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Easy but Bad Re: Parishable Food Items
>>
>>
>>> Hi, nicole,
>>>  That's a very good point. I'm in the process of learning to cook so
>>> any suggestions/tips about what to make in a microwave other than
>>> packaged food would be much appreciated. I'm sure others on the list
>>> will benefit as well. Thanks!
>>>   Katie
>>>
>>> On 2/27/11, Nicole B. Torcolini at Home <ntorcolini at wavecable.com> 
>>> wrote:
>>>> Just a friendly reminder that those easy-to-make microwave meals are
>>>> often
>>>> packed with sodium and other bad things. Not bad if you need something
>>>> quick
>>>> once in a while, but not the best thing to use as a main source of 
>>>> food.
>>>> If
>>>> anyone is interested in knowing how to make things in the microwave 
>>>> that
>>>> don't just come out of a package, shoot me an email.
>>>>
>>>> Nicole
>>>>
>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>> From: "Arielle Silverman" <nabs.president at gmail.com>
>>>> To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
>>>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>>>> Sent: Saturday, February 26, 2011 10:49 PM
>>>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Parishable Food Items
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Hi all,
>>>>>
>>>>> I don't think you need to worry too much about expiration dates. Dairy
>>>>> products will give a telltale smell and/or taste signal when it's time
>>>>> to throw them away. In my experience, if the milk smells and tastes
>>>>> fine, it won't make you sick. For uncooked meats and perishable foods
>>>>> like restaurant leftovers, my mother's rule that I've always followed
>>>>> is to eat it or freeze it within 3-4 days of getting it. I am not sure
>>>>> if this rule is too strict but I have found it pretty easy to follow
>>>>> with a little planning. Once food is frozen it can be stored safely
>>>>> for a long time; just Braille your freezer bag or remember what it
>>>>> feels like. Generally, I think just using some common sense like
>>>>> keeping track of approximately when you bought something and paying
>>>>> attention to the texture and smell of foods will prevent most
>>>>> problems.
>>>>>
>>>>> By the way, I just learned about a website called
>>>>> www.directionsforme.com
>>>>> which contains a searchable database of food package labels. So you
>>>>> can easily look up the preparation instructions for frozen meals, easy
>>>>> mac, Ramen, etc. or even read ingredient lists and nutritional info if
>>>>> you are so inclined. They also have package labels for
>>>>> over-the-counter medications so you can verify how many Advil or cold
>>>>> pills you need to take, how often you can safely redose and any other
>>>>> pertinent drug information.
>>>>>
>>>>> Arielle
>>>>>
>>>>> On 2/26/11, Cindy Bennett <clb5590 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>> I know exactly what you're going through. Mini fridges don't havev a
>>>>>> lot of space, and especially the mini freezers in the top of the mini
>>>>>> fridges don't always keep things frozen. And, being on a meal plan 
>>>>>> but
>>>>>> wanting to have food options for when the meal plan is not convenient
>>>>>> is hard to balance, because the meal plan was expensive, so you don't
>>>>>> want to spend a lot of money on other food let alone see that money 
>>>>>> go
>>>>>> to waste with food going bad. And that combined with the fact that a
>>>>>> meal plan causes you to eat your own food less often can make things
>>>>>> complicated. The previous advice is good. One thing that I have found
>>>>>> that might be unique to where I go to school is that the perishable
>>>>>> food found in the convenient stores on campus tends to expire sooner.
>>>>>> I think this is the case because it wouldn't be efficient to keep
>>>>>> ordering more stock when they don't sell it quickly, but purchasing
>>>>>> food at the convenience stores is convenient, because you can use
>>>>>> dollars from your meal plan. Like I said, especially at larger
>>>>>> niversities with more on campus students, this might be less of a
>>>>>> case, but if you've been having a problem with on campus stores, try
>>>>>> some off campus. Also, when you go shopping, you can ask whoever is
>>>>>> helping you to look for the latest expiration date available.
>>>>>> Sometimes stores will place food that is closer to expiration towards
>>>>>> the front of shelves which might hide longer lasting products behind.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> This might sound obvious, but if you bring home leftovers from a
>>>>>> restaurant, take it out of the crappy styrofoam and store it in a
>>>>>> sealable container. It will last way longer.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> And one thing that I have found for nonrefridgerated food such as
>>>>>> bread is that keeping it in cabinets helps. You can even keep bread 
>>>>>> in
>>>>>> the freezer for a while granted your freezer is big enough for a 
>>>>>> loaf.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> But I totally understand what you are going through, and for that
>>>>>> reason, I found myself not really buying fruit, but grabbing a few
>>>>>> extra pieces for the next couple of days when leaving the dining 
>>>>>> hall,
>>>>>> and mainly consuming nonperishable foods such as soup or easy mac in
>>>>>> my room.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> And you will probably notice that for money and/or convenience 
>>>>>> reasons
>>>>>> that you will become less paranoid about food. I'm not saying you
>>>>>> should do this with dairy products, but if pizza has been left out or
>>>>>> something, I definitely consider it a second meal before throwing it
>>>>>> out. I would have absolutely never done this before college. It is 
>>>>>> all
>>>>>> about judgment and your comfort level.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Cindy
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 2/26/11, bookwormahb at earthlink.net <bookwormahb at earthlink.net>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>> Chelsea,
>>>>>>> That is a little hard to know. If you're in a dorm, why not ask
>>>>>>> someone
>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>> expiration date?
>>>>>>> If you go shopping every two weeks, you probably have nothing to 
>>>>>>> worry
>>>>>>> about.
>>>>>>> Over time you'll sense when things go bad; as I haven't lived on my
>>>>>>> own
>>>>>>> much, living in the dorm with the new fridge was new to me too.
>>>>>>> Generally, things have a certain shelf life.
>>>>>>> Sounds like you mainly buy dairy products: yogurt, milk, etc. Maybe
>>>>>>> you
>>>>>>> buy
>>>>>>> lunch meat and bread and cheese to have in place of cafeteria food,
>>>>>>> sometimes.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Well for milk, I heard it lasts a few weeks.
>>>>>>> You can smell or taste when it goes bad.
>>>>>>> For yogurt, I imagine it would smell bad too.
>>>>>>> Yogurt should last a couple weeks provided you seal the container
>>>>>>> tight
>>>>>>> after using it.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Lunch meat lasts over a week.  Cheese sliced up lasts
>>>>>>> a week at least.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> One thing is I cannot tell if bread is moldy; it doesn't smell or 
>>>>>>> feel
>>>>>>> different, unless its real gotten moldy, but just a little bit I 
>>>>>>> don't
>>>>>>> know.
>>>>>>> So I've  just asked someone or relied on how long its been around.
>>>>>>> Like
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I
>>>>>>> had this bread six days, its still good.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hth,
>>>>>>> Ashley
>>>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>>>> From: Chelsea Cook
>>>>>>> Sent: Saturday, February 26, 2011 10:58 PM
>>>>>>> To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>>>>>>> Subject: [nabs-l] Parishable Food Items
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hi all,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> One of the coolest things about college dorm rooms is ... the mini
>>>>>>> fridge! However, the stuff I put into mine sometimes gives me 
>>>>>>> trouble.
>>>>>>> How do you guys manage milk and yogurt and stuff like that in terms 
>>>>>>> of
>>>>>>> expiration dates? Usually, since it's just me, I go shopping about
>>>>>>> every two weeks and try to get items that will expire in the same
>>>>>>> window, but it's still tricky and I haven't gotten it down to a
>>>>>>> science yet. (Play on words, haha!) Anyway, any tips short of 
>>>>>>> writing
>>>>>>> down everything would be helpful.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>>>> Chelsea
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>> Chelsea Cook
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Virginia Tech 2015; Physics Major
>>>>>>> cook2010 at vt.edu
>>>>>>> "I ask you to look both ways.  For the road to a knowledge of the
>>>>>>> stars leads through the atom; and important knowledge of the atom 
>>>>>>> has
>>>>>>> been reached through
>>>>>>> the stars."
>>>>>>> Sir Arthur Eddington, British astrophysicist (1882-1944), Stars and
>>>>>>> Atoms (1928), Lecture 1
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>> nabs-l mailing list
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>>>>>>> nabs-l:
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ink.net
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>> nabs-l mailing list
>>>>>>> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
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>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> Cindy Bennett
>>>>>> uNC Wilmington Psychology major
>>>>>>
>>>>>> clb5590 at gmail.com
>>>>>> 828.989.5383
>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>> nabs-l mailing list
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>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> Arielle Silverman
>>>>> President, National Association of Blind Students
>>>>> Phone:  602-502-2255
>>>>> Email:
>>>>> nabs.president at gmail.com
>>>>> Website:
>>>>> www.nabslink.org
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> nabs-l mailing list
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>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>
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>>
>>
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>
>
> -- 
> Arielle Silverman
> President, National Association of Blind Students
> Phone:  602-502-2255
> Email:
> nabs.president at gmail.com
> Website:
> www.nabslink.org
>
> _______________________________________________
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