h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

so how do you 'burp' a plastic container?

Uh,

1.Taking the container and pressing the lid firmly into place.

2.Carefully taking one edge of the lid and pulling it slightly free of the lip of the container.

3.Applying pressure with a free hand against the centre of the lid, forcing it downwards, and displacing a small volume of air within the container.

4.Forcing the lid back down as quickly as possible in order to prevent more than a minimum of the displaced air from returning.

Does this sound familiar?

Obviously, an individual engaged in University study will more commonly associate 'food storage' with seeing how well the stuff holds up in an opened tin sitting on the study table in their room. I personally favoured dried goods, like cereal, and UHT Long Life milk. MRD - you might consider going down the local branch of Spoils or Kitchen Rejects and familiarising yourself with the possibilities of effective food storage and preservation.

Well, in uni study 'food preservation' means trying to work out how to prevent people stealing your food, cutlery, and indeed anything not bolted down. I'm very tempted to hook up a webcam to my kitchen, just to try and catch the culprit...

To clarify my original comment - it wasn't clear to me that the process listed under 'expelling air' was 'burping' - I thought burping might be a variant, or a more technical thing - while the 1-2-3-4 thing was something you had to (IE, were 'compelled' to do) rather than an optional extra.

You may call me stupid now...

Uh... stupid!?