Interactive lesson

Order of use, step by step

Interactive lesson: two rules of order, the cellar and the crock, jars, the freezer, cured meat, grain, and what to do with a surplus so your stores last until the new season.

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The whole lesson as text

1. Two rules of order

Stores aren't only lost to rot. They are lost to the wrong order too.

What keeps shortest goes first — Between different stores, the keeping time decides. Pears go before apples, cabbage heads before sauerkraut, semi-hard cheese before hard.
Old before new — Within the same store, the date decides. Last year's ajvar goes before this year's, grain from the old harvest before the new.
Condition before keeping time — Anything bruised, scuffed, oversized or suspect is used straight away, whatever the variety's keeping time. Sound produce waits its turn.
Ask what you have most of — When you don't know what to cook, ask what you have most of and what is going off first. That question gives you a menu that uses up the pantry in order by itself.

Why: In December the family eats winter apples that would have kept until April, while the autumn pears go soft in the crate. Each mistake like that is small, but together they mean that a pantry full in November is empty in March.

Shops call the second rule FIFO: first in, first out.
Sort when you store: sound produce into store, the rest straight to the kitchen.

2. The cellar and the crock

The cellar is used from what keeps shortest to what keeps longest.

Autumn produce first — From October to December: autumn apples and pears, winter radish, cabbage heads, leeks, red kuri squash and quinces.
The crock in the middle — Sauerkraut is used from November to April. Take it out with a clean hand or utensil and put the board and weight back at once, so the cabbage stays 2–5 cm (1–2 in) under the brine.
What keeps longest goes last — From February to April: maincrop potatoes, carrots and celeriac in sand, winter apples, butternut squash, onions and garlic.
The weekly basket — Once a week, bring into the kitchen as much as the family eats in a week, no more. In a warm kitchen everything keeps for less time, and the cellar is opened less often.

Why: Anything bruised, and anything that touched rotten produce, goes at once. What keeps until April is left for last, so the cellar isn't empty in February.

Sprouting potatoes, roots putting out leaves and soft apples: use or process them the same week.
When the cellar rises above 10 °C (50 °F) in March, the sauerkraut in the crock softens: use it faster, or put the rest in jars.