For a modern housewife, the issue of saving time is very acute. There is so much to do that there is simply no time to spend hours in the kitchen. Therefore, culinary and fast-food restaurant chains flourish, where you can buy semi-finished products and prepare lunch or dinner. But they are not cheap, and the body benefits little. Therefore, you need to come up with another way to speed up cooking. There is a simple option: cook the broth in advance, on the basis of which you can quickly figure out the soup or noodles and feed the family. There is only one question left: how long can you store chicken stock in the refrigerator?
Healthy lunch every day
An obligatory dish for every day is soup. And it takes so much time to cook it. Only the broth will cook for a long time, so it is prepared in advance. And how much can you store chicken stock in the refrigerator? It depends on many factors that we will consider today.
The first dishes based on chicken are very healthy and nutritious, tasty and aromatic. But such a soup is considered the most perishable product. But there are certain rules that will help you keep it a little longer than usual.
Who's guilty?
Why does a well-cooked broth deteriorate? The main reason is the bacteria that are contained in any product, but their concentration is so small that it does not provoke any changes. But, like all microorganisms, bacteria can multiply if conditions become favorable. And they do it very quickly. Therefore, the product begins to deteriorate. That is, it is not enough just to answer how and how much broths should be stored in the refrigerator. The conditions must be taken into account in each case.
How to make broth
Before deciding how much chicken stock can be stored in the refrigerator, you need to properly cook it. To make it successful, the chicken is laid in ice water. Do not miss the moment when it begins to boil. Be sure to remove the foam, otherwise the broth will be covered in cereal. He does not like strong boiling, so remove the heating power by half. So you get a nutritious and transparent base for the soup.
Shelf life
It depends primarily on the conditions in which you intend to place the product. Most often, we boil the chicken and after cooling down we put the pan at the bottom of the refrigerator. In this case, it will need to be consumed within 24 hours. But today we are trying to find out how much chicken stock can be stored in the refrigerator and how to increase the shelf life.
We follow the recommendations of technologists
In what cases is this dish prepared with a margin of several days? When at home there are babies or people suffering from chronic diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. You need to pour it into a glass jar. Leaving in a saucepan or metal cup is not recommended. Be sure to remove the spoons and ladle from the broth, they will only accelerate the oxidation process. In addition, they will not allow to close the lid.
It is imperative to choose a lid that will tightly close the dishes and reliably block air access to the product. In this form, the broth is stored for no more than a day at a temperature of 4-8 degrees.
Freezing
If you want to cook a convenient semi-finished product, on the basis of which soups and gravy are obtained at any time, then it is better to learn how to freeze the base. To do this, you need to follow these steps:
- Cook concentrated broth. You can dilute it with water in a pan, and less space will be required in the chamber.
- Remove the spices.
- Strain.
- Pour into molds and put in the freezer.
Now you get a semi-finished product that will be stored for 4 months. It is unlikely that several servings will be able to lie for so long. Some housewives note that if you have a large freezer, you can buy meat on the day of your salary and prepare the basis for soup for the whole month at once.
It is difficult to say for sure how much chicken stock is stored in the freezer. If the camera did not turn off, and the temperature regime is constant, then this time can last up to six months.
How to determine the status of the product?
You need to keep in mind how to properly store chicken stock and how long you can keep it in the refrigerator. It is also important to be able to assess its condition and decide whether it can still be consumed or whether it will be better to pour it. This is a very useful skill because it helps prevent food poisoning and illness.
The first step is to smell the broth. The nose is an imperfect device, but in most cases it allows you to fairly accurately assess the condition of the products. If a pleasant aroma is replaced by a sour and rotten odor, then you need to throw away the product without regret, it is no longer suitable for cooking.
Lift the container and evaluate its transparency. If you notice the formation of sediment in the lower part of the vessel, and in general the liquid has become more cloudy, then it's time to part with it. Answering the question of how and how much broths can be stored in the refrigerator, I would like to recommend using them on the same day or the next. And only in frozen form can they be stored for quite some time and serve as a convenient convenience food for preparing first courses.
Instead of a conclusion
Using the above recommendations, you can prepare the broth in reserve. This is very convenient because it allows you to serve a delicious soup for dinner in a matter of minutes. Do not forget about storage rules. Meat broth is a perishable product. And it is worth paying special attention to. If you master this simple technology, then greatly facilitate your everyday life.