I have been craving ice cream the last few days so the Umpqua Chocolate Brownie Thunder has taken a hard hit. Which made me think of my ice cream hack. Do you ever open a carton of ice cream to find that it's full of ice crystals, or that the edges of the ice cream have gone all gummy? I think it is the exposure to air that makes the ice cream deteriorate quickly. A while back I figured out that if you keep the carton trimmed down at or near the level of the ice cream, and then replace the lid and put the carton in a sealed plastic bag in the freezer it stays fresh for many weeks-- even months. The other benefit that comes along with trimming down the ice cream carton is that it takes up less room in the freezer. Not that this method is for cardboard ice cream containers, which can be easily trimmed down using scissors before you put the lid back on
I LOVE my volunteer job at the food bank. I work two afternoons a week.
They throw away sooooo much food. Any canned/dry goods that are more than 6 months past their "expiration" date, goes into the dumpster. Prepared foods, frozen meat, etc from the grocery stores that looks suspicious or is three days past exp date - TRASH.
Weird looking produce? TRASH.
I take home so much food twice a week. Sadly DD and family won't eat anything within a month of the exp date.
Alot of the damaged or weird looking produce goes to us and if past our consumption, goes into the compost.
As we speak there are about 25 cans of '20, '21 and '22 food on my countertops. I end up opening a bunch of it for my chickens and compost bins. I have several cases of '23 food that I've packed, taped up and stored in my basement.