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Reheating Vegetables.

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Reheating Vegetables.

Postby Gruney2 » Wed May 04, 2022 9:55 am

Morrisons now have bags of "Chunky cut Mediterranean Vegetables" - butternut squash,courgette, red onions and red pepper" - conveniently chopped. I thought they would be very handy for something i had in mind, so I bought a pack. The cooking instructions are essentially, to traybake from frozen. Two further instructions puzzle me. First, and in bold lettering - "Do not reheat". Second - "use within 24 hours of opening". I'm all for following instructions if i can see why, but I'm at a loss to understand these, when they apply to vegetables. Any ideas, please?

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Re: Reheating Vegetables.

Postby Suelle » Wed May 04, 2022 10:09 am

I think they are covering themselves for food poisoning issues, if the vegetables aren't used quickly, or if they aren't reheated properly. reheating might spoil the texture a bit too.

I don't see what's wrong with using part of the pack, if the rest is kept frozen.

Also, if I had leftover cooked vegetables, I'd reheat them in a tomato sauce, and use as a pasta sauce. Or ditto for curry. Any loss of texture wouldn't be noticed.
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Re: Reheating Vegetables.

Postby Gruney2 » Wed May 04, 2022 10:19 am

Thanks Sue. Yes, I did think with tray baking them, they might be a bit dry for a further re heat, and I was proposing to microwave them to have with a bit of fish, or, as you say, whip up a sauce, and have with pasta.
Thanks again.

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Re: Reheating Vegetables.

Postby PatsyMFagan » Wed May 04, 2022 10:22 am

I would agree with Sue ... they are just covering themselves ..

I presume there are microwave instructions on the packaging as well as oven cooking ? Sometimes microwaving is unsuitable.

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Re: Reheating Vegetables.

Postby Gruney2 » Wed May 04, 2022 11:15 am

I was going to microwave them as a reheat, with a little water, in an attempt to avoid further drying out. As a matter of interest, it does say not suitable for freezing - from raw, that is.

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Re: Reheating Vegetables.

Postby liketocook » Wed May 04, 2022 11:46 am

Agree with Suelle and Patsy, covering themselves against food poisoning and texture loss. No wonder there's so much food waste as many food will follow these.

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Re: Reheating Vegetables.

Postby Stokey Sue » Wed May 04, 2022 12:14 pm

I'm a little confused
These are fresh not frozen?

So they will have quite a short life after opening the package, as the components may deteriorate at different rates, and the peppers may go soggy, but I think 24 hours is pessimistic

Leftover roast veg keep well in the fridge, and can be used as Suelle suggests. if reheating in the microwave I wouldn't add water, just cover well.

I've recently rediscovered in a cupboard a small Pyrex casserole, like a soup plate with a lid, it's perfect for storing and reheating fairly small amounts of food

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Re: Reheating Vegetables.

Postby Gruney2 » Wed May 04, 2022 12:23 pm

Thanks everyone - all part of the learning curve. Yes Sue - they were in the chiller section. My original idea, when I first noticed them, was to make a type of ratatouille, with a piece of fish on top for the final few minutes - but when I got them home, I realised i'd have to revise my plans.

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Re: Reheating Vegetables.

Postby scullion » Wed May 04, 2022 3:50 pm

one of the local pasty shops used to do a really lovely mediterranean veg one, with some basil, cheese and the usual salt and pepper.
i think that's what i'd use the rest of the packet for! (not precooked).

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Re: Reheating Vegetables.

Postby Suelle » Wed May 04, 2022 4:23 pm

Gruney2 wrote:Thanks everyone - all part of the learning curve. Yes Sue - they were in the chiller section. My original idea, when I first noticed them, was to make a type of ratatouille, with a piece of fish on top for the final few minutes - but when I got them home, I realised i'd have to revise my plans.


I think what's confused us is that you said 'traybake from frozen' in your original post, in which case the 'use quickly' instruction really did seem superfluous. :)
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Re: Reheating Vegetables.

Postby Gruney2 » Wed May 04, 2022 6:09 pm

AARRGH - sorry! I should have said cook from chilled. :oops: :oops:

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Re: Reheating Vegetables.

Postby Earthmaiden » Wed May 04, 2022 9:00 pm

They really are covering their backs aren't they! I'd just use them as I pleased within a short time. Pre-chopped & bagged veg usually needs eating pretty quickly after opening.

I do like the sound of those pasties, scully.

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Re: Reheating Vegetables.

Postby Suffs » Thu May 05, 2022 8:37 am

I suspect the ‘use within 24 hours’ advice is because prepared vegetables are often packed in what’s called ‘a protective atmosphere’ or somesuch, which means that the veg are sealed into the pack with some gas which prevents the cut surfaces from browning (forget what it’s called … SSue will know) … once the bag is opened the gas will dissipate and the cut surfaces of the veg will oxidize and turn brown and deteriorate.

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Re: Reheating Vegetables.

Postby Amber » Sat May 07, 2022 5:09 pm

I’m a great nibbler of raw vegetables and I’m sure I’ve seen some bags of pre-prepped fresh veg saying not to eat uncooked! What in earth do they do to them?

(They’ll be from either M&S or Sainsburys)

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Re: Reheating Vegetables.

Postby Stokey Sue » Sat May 07, 2022 6:12 pm

Suffs wrote:I suspect the ‘use within 24 hours’ advice is because prepared vegetables are often packed in what’s called ‘a protective atmosphere’ or somesuch, which means that the veg are sealed into the pack with some gas which prevents the cut surfaces from browning (forget what it’s called … SSue will know) … once the bag is opened the gas will dissipate and the cut surfaces of the veg will oxidize and turn brown and deteriorate.

Yes, quite likely they are packed in what's called MAP (Modified Atmosphere Packaging) but the gas mixture will depend on the food type and the equipment
https://www.chilledfood.org/modified-at ... in-salads/
Amber wrote:I’m a great nibbler of raw vegetables and I’m sure I’ve seen some bags of pre-prepped fresh veg saying not to eat uncooked! What in earth do they do to them?

Probably what they don't do (because not really feasible) - which is prepare and pack the veg in such a way that all of the soil borne bacteria initially on the surfaces are completely removed by washing and peeling etc and don't increase in number during storage. They probably are usually safe, but it can't be guaranteed. Most soil borne bacteria are completely destroyed by raising the temperature above 70C so home cooking is enough to disinfect the product.

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Re: Reheating Vegetables.

Postby Earthmaiden » Sat May 07, 2022 7:57 pm

They must do something to bagged salads to make them suitable for eating raw without heating to 70 degrees. Perhaps the use of something like chlorine somewhere along the line.

I bought prepared bagged carrots in M&S a few months ago (I think I was in a hurry to get something for GD's supper). They had a really horrible taste which I assumed was related to some kind of treatment.

The saddest thing to me is to see a note on bags of beansprouts saying they should not be eaten raw. I have a feeling there was an incident related to a water borne disease and beansprouts a while back. I always used to buy them for salads (yes, I know I could sprout my own).

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Re: Reheating Vegetables.

Postby Stokey Sue » Sun May 08, 2022 1:17 am

There was an incident in Germany where bean sprout salads sold as street food at a festival gave people an E. coli infection

It turned out, iirc, that the infection had NOT come from the water used to create the sprouts but had bean lurking in the beans themselves, there was a bit of a problem tracking it down because the water in commercial bean sprout production is really thoroughly cleaned as it is recycled, so the water was obviously not the problem

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Re: Reheating Vegetables.

Postby Amber » Sun May 08, 2022 11:56 pm

All very interesting. In the past I would never have dreamed of buying pre-prepped veg, but as we’ve got older, our circumstances/needs/appetites etc have changed and sometimes we just don’t want a whole cauli/head of broccoli/kilo of beans. Those little microwave bags from M&S can be perfect.

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Re: Reheating Vegetables.

Postby Earthmaiden » Mon May 09, 2022 10:31 am

I wonder why the note on bean sprout bags then. I had only ever used them as a salad vegetable until I read it. Maybe I'll try again and hope for the best.

I agree that pre packed veg has its place but hate bagged salad leaves. Are the microwaveable bags in M&S frozen or fresh? The carrots I bought were fresh and prepared. Never again.

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