I am making my own spaghetti sauce for the very first time. It's a vodka sauce. My question is can I store it in the pantry? Or does it have to be in the fridge or freezer? Thanks for any advice. :)
I make a large batch of marinara pretty often as we eat a lot of it and it is one of my specialty homemade items.
I keep at least 1 jar in the fridge at all times.
The rest, I store in the freezer in about 1 quart containers.
You can't store it in the pantry because it's not shelf-stable unless you're into canning and jarring and those can last up to a year. Sauce is perishable so you have to make sure you can/jar them properly.
You can store it in your refrigerator for up to five days in an airtight container, but should use it before then.
If you won't use it within five days then you'll have to put it into an airtight and freezable container and can store it up to either three or six months... I forget which.
Always label the containers so you know how old they are.
If you're canning it, it should be fine in the pantry.
Unless you have canning equipment you must freeze the sauce. I put mine in ziplock freezer bags, one quart, and freeze. I like them because I can label them and throw them away when I am done.
II put mine in a bag in the freezer, in fact, I have four bags of vodka sauce in there now. The cream will break apart some, but if you reheating a low temp, it comes back together. I freeze cream of mushroom soup too.
google "freezing vodka sauce." There are many sites that address this issue. The two I read said to add the cream when making the pasta and not before freezing.
You cannot store it in the pantry unless you've canned it. Think about how the sauce is preserved that you buy at the grocery store. The jars are sealed. The process involves putting the hot sauce in sterilized jars and capping with sterilized lids and then heating to a certain temperature in a water bath. I'm not sure but you may be able to skip the hot water bath because the sauce in highly acidic. Find and follow specific directions for canning vodka sauce.
If this is a traditional vodka sauce, with cream, it won't freeze too well (creams and milks and sauces made with them don't freeze and reheat well). But if there is no cream (which then wouldn't be technically a vodka sauce) then you can freeze it, or store it in the fridge for several days.
You can jar it, but you need canning equipment. I would go with the freezer.
I freeze it and it's ALWAYS fine when I use it later on...
I portion it out in containers as take one out as I need it..
good luck
baggies or plastic containers in the freezer.
I wouldn't eat any cooked food that is not kept cold or frozen. That doesn't sound healthy. Bacteria grows on food and it breaks down rapidly. Keeping it cold keeps the bacteria from growing so fast. The colder the slower the bacteria grows.
So no, I wouldn't eat this sauce after a few hours in the pantry. I'd toss it.
When I make my sauce I cook it then let it cool a bit and put equal amounts in quart size freezer bags. When I am ready to use it I slick the bag so the frozen block of sauce can lay down in the sauce pan. I heat it on very very low heat or on 50% in the microwave until it's all the way thawed.
Once it's thawed I heat it all the way and we eat it up.
A person who does home canning spends many hours learning this craft. People can and do die each year from bacteria that got into home canned goods. So it's not something that can be just done. It takes time, practice, special equipment, and lots of patience.
I took some classes through the OSU county department and decided that home canning is just too risky for me. I don't want to get sick and possibly die from eating a home canned jar of anything. So we freeze stuff or use it up in a couple of days out of the fridge.
