Food hygiene

[rattling]

Need a bit of help with safe food preparation and storage. I am veggie and have a cast-iron stomach, so have never given it much thought. I have nine month old boys who do eat meat and fish. So far I've been using jars to provide these, but now they are eating quite well I'm going to start cooking and freezing meat and fish meals.

I know about not letting raw meat touch anything that isn't going to be thoroughly cooked, but what else?

Best thing is to get yourself one of those plastic chopping boards which you only use for raw meat and fish. I have a bottle of dettol spray which I use on mine after cleaning. I also spray down my kitchen surfaces and washed knives after I've been dealing with raw meat and fish - I sound like a right kitchen clean freak when in reality I'm a bit of a slob . It's just I have a raw chicken paranoia!

Raw fish and meat can be frozen, if you then thaw them out and cook them, you can then re-freeze this now cooked food once more. Once this cooked food is thawed it must be eaten or thrown away. If that's not too . Can't freeze raw twice and can't freeze cooked twice!

If you make things like fish pie filling or bolognase sauce, then freeze them in small bags so you can thaw out one meals worth at a time.

Separate chopping board's a good idea. I wouldn't spray knives, though- just give them a good wash- they are smooth and therefore bacteria will not be able to stick around and breed as they can on the porous surface of the board.
Other than that, all that gybegirl said.
And- if you buy fresh fish, eat it in two days as they go off quickly.
OTOH if you make a stew, you can keep it in the fridge for three days easily, just reheat well.