Keeping Kitchen Staples Fresh

Here’s a useful article from Cooks Illustrated: Keeping Kitchen Staples Fresh. Advice on how to store and when to throw out staples like flour, sugar, oils, leaveners and nuts.

Speaking of Cooks Illustrated, I stopped getting their magazine but some of their special issues are very useful indeed. I just picked up a copy of Make-Ahead Recipes (check the magazine stand), which is just what it sounds like. The batch of freezer biscuits I made from their recipe was terrific, and it’s very convenient to have a dozen or more biscuits ready to go from freezer to oven without having bought any packaged foods.