Food industry types: freshness / long life question?

Question

Ok, if i have food stored in a walk-in cooler (supposed to be 40 degrees?), whats the best way to keep the following stuff fresh for as long as possible:

Lettuce heads
Tomatoes
Eggs
Chiken (1 or 2 cases of cut up fryer type, split up as 2 birds per plastic bag , 6 bags in a case, which is in a bigger heavy plastic bag, and stored in the standard cardboard box)

bacon - 1 or 2 commercial restaurant size boxes (or case)


In case you're wondering, i'm the newly appointed "manager" of a grill, and new to the job, new to the process - and no, i have no official "food safety" training, just a bit of common sense, and have already taken the decision to throw out anything i was suspect of being "bad", ....since the last person quit and left me no clue.

Answer 1

Being a restaurant manager myself and Nationally certified to teach safe food handling, I can help you out some.
Make sure to put dates on all foods (when received) this way you can rotate and use oldest foods first. Otherwise, you will have old foods sit in back and go bad.
keep all like items together and in clean airtight containers. Air is a necessity for bacteria to grow.
Be sure to store that chicken on the bottom shelves!
Another suggestion is to track what items you use each week. This way you can have an idea of how much you use of each item and not over order.
My email is available, if you have any other questions.

Answer 2

Smart on the throwing out of anything questionable move. That is the one thing that keeps me from ever returning to a restaurant.
Lettuce-keep them whole as long as possible. When you pre-cut lettuce and need to store unused portions, shred the lettuce by hand instead of using a knife and store in a cleaned out pickle bucket, covered with a damp bar towel.
Tomatoes, as well as all veggies, buy at a farmer's market. Travel a hundred miles if you need to find one. These veggies will last a lot longer because they are picked and picked up by you, rather than shipped from different parts of the country.
Chicken - freeze it. It goes bad fast. If you are using it the same day or the next day, obviously seal it best you can. You will have to plan how much to thaw each night, but it is worth it.
Bacon, you can get by easier, since it is smoked. Also, cook it and refrigerate it. I've never seen bacon go bad when it has been cooked. When you heat it up, toss it in the deep fryer for a few seconds. Perks up nicely.

Hope I was of some help and good luck

Answer 3

For any meat-in this case the bacon and chicken, it should be frozen if you are keeping it any longer then 2 or 3 days in the walk in.
Eggs should be stored no longer then about 2 weeks in the cooler, as after that they lose their ability to stay together when you crack them out into the pan and they spread out alot and it is obvious to your customers that you are serving old eggs.
lettuce should be kept in the cooler in the original plastic till ready to be used-again it will last longer in a colder walkin, but too cold and it will freeze and go soft, usually good for a week or 10 days in the walkin
Tomatoes will go soft fairly quickly, keep them in the box they came in and in the walkin as well, should be good for 7 to 10 days as well.
My best advice to you is to take a Food Handling Course through your local Health Department or perhaps at the local Community College. Nothing beats a good Education when it comes to not killing people with Food Poisoning!

Answer 4

I think your best bet is to educate yourself by going to the USDA web site or google "food safety". And kudos to you for caring enough and not having it be about the bottom line. A caring manager such as yourself will ensure that your customers are happy and will come back again, and again. Good Luck to you!!