Food Safety Supervisor | Quick and Easy Food Preparation Tips

Food – it’s a necessity as much as it’s also a luxury. Many of us take food for granted, not realising that an average 7.3 million tonnes of food goes to waste in Australia every year. A lot of food is thrown away because of spoilage, wastage, or many other reasons related to the production and sale of foodstuffs.

This is why meal preparation is important, and why Food Safety Supervisor (FSS) QLD courses are a requisite for employment in the food industry in Queensland. A Food Safety Supervisor must be appointed at every individual food service or business, and are required to be certified with their Food Safety Supervisor course.

Being a certified FFS means understanding the proper preparation methods for food to ensure they’re stored and cooked correctly. Correctly prepared and cooked food produces less wastage, as this means the food can be safely consumed and properly stored.

MAKE A PLAN

The foundation of every well-executed action is a good plan. The same can be said for food preparation and having good stock control procedures in place. Identify the ingredients of the meal or meals that you’d like to make, and plan how much of it you want to cook. Planning your meals can save you time when doing your shopping.

ORGANISE YOUR FOOD STORAGE AREAS

Keeping the food storage areas organised can do wonders for the efficiency and productivity of a kitchen. Food preparation in a kitchen is a hectic process; so an organised food storage area makes it easier for kitchen staff to see what’s in stock. This practice makes it easier for staff to find what’s needed for a dish, as well as identifying which ingredients or stock should be replaced or discarded (if they’re expired or contaminated).

FREEZE WISELY

Practice the “First In, First Out” (also known as FIFO) method of storing food items in the freezer. This practice ensures that the items placed first in the cool rooms/fridges are the first to be taken out and used. This guarantees that food items are consumed while still fresh, as well as providing an organised method of identifying which food items are nearing expiry.

To fully organise the FIFO method, utilise a dating system – write labels on the containers of the food items, as well as the date in which they were stored. Paired with the FIFO method, this will make sure that the quality of food items are always optimal for food preparation purposes.

GAMEPLAN YOUR DISHES

When cooking many dishes simultaneously, start with the meals that take the longest. This is to ensure the freshness of the dishes when served concurrently. Most restaurants commit the mistake of cooking with the quickest dish first, operating under the idea that it’s more convenient to finish the easy dishes first before tackling the more complicated ones.

The opposite is true, in terms of food prep – starting with the dishes that require the most time and preparation ensures the freshness of all the dishes intended to be served together, as this will mean less cool-down time for quick meals. Less cool-down time, in turn, means that bacteria has less time to settle into dishes before they’re served.

These are just a few pointers that are useful for getting one’s food preparation processes in order. Learn how to become a by signing up for the Food Safety Supervisor in Queensland course today!