Today is Thanksgiving, and that means company. Company, of course, means food and cooking. Back when I reviewed Jonathan Bloom’s book American Wasteland, I mentioned his contention that large refrigerators lead to more waste. I agree that large refrigerators tend to be wasteful. Not only because you end up storing more than you need, and […]
August 18, 2011
How to Cool Food Quickly for Storage
My mother used to cool off food before refrigeration. But the safety guidelines have changed. Thanks to better refrigerator efficiency, and concerns about food spoilage, it’s best to refrigerate foods immediately after cooking. Apparently this poses no danger to the rest of the food in your fridge. But there are times when you will still […]
February 3, 2011
Salvaging Food During an Electrical Outage
Despite living in a major American metropolis, Cooking Manager reader Miriam has been suffering from electrical outages on a regular basis. The most recent one lasted 52 hours, forcing her to evacuate to a friend. She brought along some cheese and other delicate items, but wondered about the rest of the food in her fridge. […]
August 13, 2010
Things I Learned from My Appliance Repairman
Long-time readers know I enjoy learning the ins and outs of appliances. So whenever a technician visits, I talk to him (so far all male) and ask lots of questions. Of course, you have to take their advice with a grain of salt as you never know when they are trying to make you feel guilty for doing something wrong, to justify an unnecessary repair. And sometimes they are just mistaken.
Most of us have a few different types of appliances in our home, and repairmen generally specialize in one or the other. The repairman I called claimed that he worked on refrigerators, but in the end called someone else in to look at mine.
There are three main types of appliances and repairmen:
December 7, 2009
Ten Tips for Cutting the Cost of Running Your Refrigerator
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kygp/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 I could live quite well without a dishwasher, crockpot or oven. But no one wants to go back to the days before refrigerators. Because refrigerators work day and night, they use large amounts of electricity. Here are tips to keep your food fresh and your electric bill low. Avoid leaks. […]
