There appears to be some conflicting information on the length of time broth, broth with meat, and soups are good in the fridge. It appears that it should all be good for up to a week, and if you reheat it in the middle of the week it will last even longer!
I have now discovered that the beef broth itself is not a favorite for Elianna due to her sensory issues and the high fat content. Can't say I blame her! It may not have been rancid broth after all. The guessing game is the best part of parenting and FPIES...right?
Storing the broth continues to be a bit of a problem. As you may recall, I had an explosion of Mason jars in my freezers when I attempted to freeze broth in them. I now see on the Mason jar boxes and website that they are NOT freezer safe. I have no idea what makes them different than other jars I freeze in all of the time. And only certain sizes are not freezer safe. Unfortunately it would not be in my best interest to freeze the stock in pint size or smaller jars.
I also attempted to freeze the broth in ziplock bags after the broth was cool to try and avoid leaching. This seemed to be the only option after the jar explosion incident. However, when I thawed and used my first bag, I saw that all of that yummy, healthy, full of nutrients, gelatinous fat stuck to the inside of the bag. Bummer. That sort of defeats the purpose.
I then turned to the idea of pressure canning. That would take a little more time than freezing but would make it shelf stable and I have all of the tools. While investigating this I found two unfortunate facts. First, pressure canning kills some of the nutrients due to the elevated temperature. Second, traditional Ball canning lids that I have been using are lined with a layer of BPA that leaks badly when heated. UGH! And to think I had been canning my own foods to help avoid the plastic lined cans in the grocery store!
All of this has brought me back to square one, and examining the idea of glass or plastic containers. Solution? Not sure yet.
What if you defrosted it in warm water while still in the ziploc bag, then poured it out, rinsed bag w/ a little water to get the rest of the goodies out? Or Is that what you tried already? How about freezing in tupperware?
ReplyDeleteI tried the water rinse and there was very little that came out. Maybe I used poor quality bags? (they were ziplock). Looking into tupperware and plastic containers now.
ReplyDeleteoh - I was SO hoping you had good news for me ;) I think I am ready for 4 crock pots on the counter!!
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