Helpful hints for buying and storing:

BEEF
• Fresh beef is bright red in color. Choose meat that has only a few fat streaks.
• If it is to be cooked within eight hours, store freshly bought beef in its plastic package in the refrigerator. If not, remove the packaging and wrap loosely in waxed paper. Beef cuts can stay fresh for three days in the ref. Solid cuts can last up to six months in the freezer.

CHICKEN
• Chicken should be meaty and barrel-chested, without a bad smell. The skin should be soft and smooth, and free of bruising or tearing. The bone ends must show pink.
• Refrigerate poultry at once. If it’s not to be used within a few hours, loosen the tight packaging or remove it and wrap loosely in waxed paper. Raw poultry can last two days in the refrigerator, and cooked chicken three days.
• You can keep uncooked poultry in the freezer for six months. Cooked, it will last three months.

FISH
• Fresh fish has bright, clear, full eyes and shiny, bright-colored skin. Press the flesh—it should be resilient and firm. Other marks of good quality: a fresh, mild odor and clean gills red or bright pink in color.
• Buy raw frozen fish that is solidly frozen. It should have no smell, and its wrapping should be intact. White, dark, icy, or dry spots are signs of damage. Reject fish that looks like it was thawed and refrozen.
• Immediately refrigerate fresh catch in tight wrapping and use within a day or two. Gut fish before storing as the entrails decay faster than the flesh. Wrap fish to be stored overnight as airtight as possible to prevent odor from seeping to other foods.
• Stored frozen fish in double wrapping can last in the freezer up to six months.

PORK
• Fresh pork shows a pale pink color. There should be only minimal fat streaks, which should be more white than yellow.
• Store fresh pork for use within six hours in the ref in its original packaging. If to be kept longer, remove the packaging and loosely wrap in waxed paper; it will keep for up to two days.
• Pork can be frozen for three to six months.