If you’ve ever carved an apple on a chopping board after cutting up an onion, you know the problem. Rinsing the board isn’t enough. You must wash thoroughly with soapy water several times to be sure. And it doesn’t seem to matter whether the board is plastic or wood. The onion smell clings to the material and lingers.
Washing between cutting slows down preparation when you’re creating a multi-dish meal timed to be served at the same time.You could invest in multiple chopping boards and use them for separate items, but with limited kitchen space, that isn’t attractive. Even with ample space, having several operations going on at the same time keeps you jumping from board to bowl to skillet.
Preparing Ahead
A better alternative is to prepare the more aromatic foods ahead of time and keep them in sealed containers. If you usually delay chopping to the last minute to optimize freshness, you will probably object to this option. In addition, if you’re refrigerator space is limited, there might not be room enough for several plastic containers.
Smell-Proof Bags
That’s why smell-proof bags are a great alternative. Bags take up only the amount of space occupied by their contents. Because they’re flexible, you can stuff them anywhere. Also, the savvy consumer is also aware that many plastic containers contain cancer-causing chemicals that can get into the liquids they come into contact with. Sandwich bags or freezer bags – even the ones that supposedly seal – are less than adequate for keeping the persistent odors of onions, garlic, and leeks away from other foods.
Travelling safely
A fortunate product of the mostly underground marijuana industry is the creation of truly smell-proof bags for transporting a person’s stash while travelling. (Google Containers4Marijuana to get them online.) To my way of thinking, if a DEA dog can’t sniff it out, neither can my guests.
There are a host of other uses for smell-proof bags. How many people do you know who are allergic to fragrances? You should seal liquids in water-proof containers while travelling anyway, so why not use a bag that doesn’t let the odor out as well as any unintentional leakage from the bottle?
Pets
If you have a dog, you probably carry little doggy poo bags to clean up after your pet. Outdoors they work fine and you can dispose of them in some planned manner. But if you travel with your pet and it follows nature’s call in some inconvenient place like an airport terminal or hotel lobby, you would be grateful, along with everyone nearby, for a bag that keeps the odor from dispersing even after you’ve dropped it in the nearest waste basket.
Clean Up
With marijuana legal in so many but not all states, you may wisely pack your weed in a smell-proof bag, but you must understand that the outside of the bag can carry traces of what’s inside if you packed it with your hands and failed to wash them before handling them.
Be sure to clean the outside of the bag before you travel.