Many sources will tell you that one of the top staple items to keep in your pantry is flour. Problem is, you usually have to buy more than you need now and whether your flour of choice is all-purpose, whole wheat, cake, bread, almond, coconut or rye, the issue is storing and keeping it fresh. Keeping your flour fresh longer not only adds convenience to your kitchen and saves you money, it also helps with reducing food waste.
Want some easy tips for keeping flour fresh longer?
Use airtight kitchen storage containers designed to store
flour or other bakery ingredients - the key to keeping flour fresh is to use a tight sealing container to protect it from moisture and other bad things, like odors. Also, look for containers that are food safe and BPA free. Finally, we suggest using containers that are easy to open and close with enough room for scooping flour. We also recommend containers that are versatile, allowing for storage on the counter, cupboard, pantry or even the refrigerator or freezer.
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Know the shelf life of your flour - buy the freshest flour you can. Look for a 'best by' or 'use by' date on the packaging to get the freshest flour. Generally speaking, most flours will stay fresh if stored in a cool, dry location for 3 to 4 months. For storing flour longer or when you are unsure of when you'll use it, we recommend storing flour in the freezer, where it can maintain its freshness for up a year, depending upon the flour. Need to know how long you can store whole grains and flours? Visit the Whole Grains Council website for a handy storage chart!
Some additional tips? Try some we use! We make note of the purchase date of our flour and periodically review our supply. We also store our flour in the freezer either in its original bag with a food safe, tight fitting bag clip or in a KLIP IT Flour Container. We then keep smaller amounts in other KLIP IT Containers in our kitchen, so we always have fresh flour at room temperature at our fingertips. If we don't think we will use all of our flour while it's fresh, we will make breads, cookie dough and other foods and freeze them for added convenience on busy days.
Hopefully we've given you some great tips you can use. Have any you'd like to share? We'd love to hear from you!
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