Friday, May 31, 2013

Storing Dry Dog Food and Stocking the Refrigerator for the Summer

Today we are going to step out of the garden and into the kitchen.  I have two items to which I want to give attention.

First is storage of dry dog food.  I have, for sometime now, been concerned about how I stored Baxter's dry food.  Typically, I leave it in the bag and store it in the pantry closet.  No matter what brand of dry food you choose, they all come with an expiration date on the bag.  That expiration date is your assurance that the food will remain edible, when stored at room temperature, until the date stamped on the bag.


While I believe that to be true, I have decided to add an extra layer of assurance for my own satisfaction to make certain that the food remains as fresh as possible.  I place it in Ziploc bags and store it in the refrigerator.


These large one gallon bags hold 12 cups of food, leaving enough room to press out any existing air inside the bag and then sealing it tightly.


Here are several bags ready to be placed in the refrigerator.


I line them up in the bottom drawer of the refrigerator so they are easily accessed at meal time.  He gets a quarter cup of Blue Buffalo and a single-serving of Cesar wet food mixed together for dinner each day.  Some days he gets Cesar Filet Mignon flavor.  Some days he gets Porterhouse flavor.  He likes a little variety in his daily meals.


For his morning meal he gets a slice of FreshPet Select.  This week we are having Chunky Beef, Vegetable & Rice Recipe.  Next week will most likely be Chicken.  Again, he demands variety.  After all, he is a dachshund.


Once we got Baxter's nutrition taken care of, we moved on to other items that needed to be addressed in the refrigerator.  Warmer weather means more frequent visits from friends and neighbors.  You will want to make sure you have a well-stocked refrigerator with a variety of beverages to satisfy all.  So I have an ample supply of soft drinks, two varieties of beer, a cold bottle of Grapefruit flavored Perrier and at least one bottle of chilled wine.  Actually, inside the door I have another two bottles of wine and freshly made ice tea with lemon.  For those who prefer still water, I keep those in a separate refrigertor in the basement along with mixers and "coolers" of varying flavors.  I keep a wicker basket by the basement refrigerator which makes the task of bringing up additional refreshments a breeze.  We are a wine drinking bunch at Crest Avenue.  In particular, red wine.  So I make sure I have plenty of red wine on hand at all times and a suitable amount of white wine for dinners and for my friends who prefer white.

You will notice in the picture above that I have placed a ring with wine glass charms around the neck of the wine bottle.


This was a Christmas gift (the charms, not the wine.)  I have searched for a place to keep them where I would know where they were but where they would not get tangled up.  For a long time I hung them on one of the kitchen cabinet door handles.  In a moment of genius, I decided to put them on the wine bottle.  Now they are where I know to find them.  They are not getting tangled up with other things in a drawer.  It is the perfect spot.  Of course, if you are not a wine drinker, they could just as easily be placed over the Perrier bottle or a champagne bottle - whatever works for you.  Doesn't that bottle of wine just call out to you?  Come on five o'clock!

I hope you will put these ideas to use in your home.  Have a great weekend everyone!

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