Is there a “best” way to store pasta?

At The Bag Broker, it’s our job to find ways to help our clients keep their food as fresh as possible. When it comes to choosing the right materials for our dry food packaging or fitting valves to our box bottom bags, the decisions are always made with the contents in mind.

Just like tea and coffee, pasta is a staple in most households. However, most people can’t say with confidence what the best way of storing it is in order to keep it fresh and safe to eat. Here’s what we know.

Fresh pasta

If you’ve realised that you cannot possibly eat all the fresh pasta that’s in your fridge before it goes out of date, don’t worry. As long as it’s plain pasta (not a stuffed variety), you can preserve it for another day. Here’s how:

1. Cook it without any sauce (slightly under-cooking it is okay if you plan to reheat it another day).
2. Drain it in a colander and allow to cool for a few minutes.
3. Drizzle it with a little bit of olive oil and put it in a sealable container (it’s a good idea to separate it into portions, particularly for freezing).
4. Store in the fridge for up to five more days or freeze it and keep it for up to two months.
5. When you’re ready to eat it, reheat using boiling water or in a microwave.

Dried pasta

Dried pasta is a lot more forgiving when it comes to storage. As long as it’s kept somewhere cool, dry and airtight, dried pasta should last a couple of years (although if you remove it from its original packaging, make sure to take a note of the expiry date).

At worst, dry pasta is simply going to lose its flavour (and possibly colouring in the sun) – it shouldn’t go mouldy and there’s no need to keep it in the fridge. However, unless you eat pasta fairly regularly, storing it on counters or shelves in glass jars may look nice, but won’t do anything for its flavour. It’s usually fine to keep it in the box or bag it came in.

Interested in packaging?

At The Bag Broker, we work with clients in all kinds of industries to produce high-quality bags that keep food and other edible goods fresh. If you’re looking for an experienced packaging partner, give our team a call today and we’ll be happy to find the perfect bags or pouches for your requirements.