Monday Q&A | Freezing Food, Screen time for Kids, and Google Reader Alternatives

Every Monday, I answer a few of the questions that my readers send me. If you have a question you’d like me to answer in a future Q&A post, just leave me a comment here or email me (thefrugalgirl [at] gmail [dot] com) and put Q&A in the subject line. I look forward to hearing from you!

I have a question that I thought you might know about given your focus on reducing food waste. Which fruit and veggies can be frozen and which can’t? I only go food shopping either weekly or fortnightly and some of the fruit/veggies have gone off by the last few meals. It would be easier when we do the shop to divide up what will be used this week and next week but I’ve always been scared to freeze produce as I don’t want it to come out all soggy!

-Nicole

I think it’s awesome that you’re wanting to prevent food waste! The freezer is definitely a helpful tool when you’re working to fight food waste, but it’s got limitations.

As I’m sure you know, water, unlike most substances, expands when it’s frozen. That means when you freeze produce, the liquid in it expands and bursts the cell walls, so when the produce is thawed, it tends to be soft. Because of this, most produce isn’t very palatable after freezing unless it’s going to be cooked or blended in a smoothie.

My main suggestion for you would be to plan your meals based on the shelf-life (or fridge-life!) of your produce. Things like potatoes, celery, carrots, cabbage, apples, and citrus fruit can usually keep for at least two weeks, whereas things like berries or leafy lettuce will go bad before then. So, serve your berries and other highly perishable foods in the first week after you shop, and depend on the more hardy fruits and vegetables during the second week.

If you do still end up with produce that’s about to go bad, freezing can be a good option. Just keep in mind that you’ll want to use the frozen food in either a smoothie or in a cooked application.

I have an 11 year old son who loves computer games. Sadly for him, he doesn’t get to do them much – I limit it to 30 minutes per day. A friend of ours gave us a Play Station 2 (gee, thanks), and he’s allowed to play on that instead, again for just half an hour – Lego or Star Wars. When he goes to friend’s houses however, they’ll play the Wii or XBox or PS 3 for the whole visit if allowed (they usually are) and it’s games that I don’t like – shooting games etc. He gets very cross and frustrated about our family’s limitations and bemoans the fact that we do not have any iPods, iPhones, iPads, XBox, Wii, PS3, Nintendo etc. Does this issue ever arise with your children and if so, how do you handle it please?

-Jessica

I think it’s great that you’re limiting the amount of time your son can spend playing games. We do something very similar at our house. The rule on weekdays is that once you’ve finished your school work and your list of chores (clean room, practice piano, do daily housekeeping chore, etc.), you get 30 minutes of screen time, which can be used on the Wii, computer, or TV.

Of course, there are certainly times when my children are unhappy with this limitation, and when that happens, I remind them that lots of screen time isn’t good for them, and that we’ve placed this limitation on them because we love them. And I suggest alternate ways to use their time.

Also, although I’m not perfectly consistent with it, I do make an effort to not allow complaining about the rules of the house. For instance, if a kid isn’t happy about what’s served for dinner, they can exercise their freedom and choose to not eat it, but they’re not allowed to sit at the dinner table and whine and cry. So, if my children were carrying on about their screen time limitations, I probably would let them know that if they complained about the rule, the screen time they do have would be taken away for a day.

On the positive end of things, perhaps you could consider allowing your son to earn screen time by doing things like chores, playing outside, or reading books.

One last thought is that once kids get a bit older, I think it’s a really good idea to explain the thinking behind the rules of the house. That’s not very helpful for a toddler, but as our kids get older, we ideally don’t want them just to do things because we said so…we want to help them embrace these ideas for themselves. To that end, we talk to our kids, especially the older ones, about the problems with being addicted to smartphones and video games, and the reasons getting away from the screen is healthy and helpful.

I feel like that was kind of rambly. Here it is in bullet points. 😉

• Keep on with the limitations!
• Remind him of the practical reason you give him limitations.
• Remind him the limitations are there because you love him and want what’s best for him.
• Institute consequences for complaining about limitations.
• Offer alternate activities.
• Consider a screen-time earning program.

I use Google Reader to organize all my blogs, including yours! This reader will no longer be available in July. Do you use an RSS Reader different from Google? If so, what is it and would you recommend it? I’m in the market for a new one and quickly got overwhelmed in my search.
Thank you,
Alyssa

I feel your pain, not because I use Google Reader, but because I use iGoogle to organize the blogs I read, and that’s going away too, come November.

Boo.

I haven’t researched any alternatives as of yet, but I’m guessing some of my readers will have some good suggestions for you and me.

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Have at it, people! Share your advice about one or all of these three topics (freezing food, screen time, and RSS alternatives).

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Joshua’s 365 post: I love Luray!