You know the frustration when you spend a ton of time selecting the best produce, haul it home, and a couple of days later you’re faced with limp or gross fruits and veggies? It happens way too often to me, so I’m on a quest to do fix it. First off, I’m trying to buy less with each trip to the store. That means more frequent trips, but when I can contain myself to a fresh produce only trip, we’ve been happier with better tasting foods. I’m also trying to get my produce to last longer. At least long enough for me to use it before it goes bad.
As part of that latter quest, I did some research and came up with some tips I’d like to share. I wrote about storing tomatoes in my post 3 TIL – Stop The Rot. Store tomatoes on the counter, stem side down to help them last longer. Since I started, I’ve been able to keep tomatoes a lot longer. During the summer it was a lifesaver!
Here are the latest three things I’ve learned about how to keep produce fresh:
To keep lettuce fresh, take it out of the plastic bag or store wrapping when you get home. DO NOT wash it before storing. Instead, wrap it in dry paper towels and put it into a resealable zippered plastic bag. Next put the bag in the refrigerator. The paper towels keep the moisture near the lettuce, but prevent it from settling on the leaves. This works best for leaf lettuce (like Romaine), but also works wonders head lettuce (like Iceberg).
I’ve even been able to shred lettuce and store it this way. It’s allowed me to prep in one session saving time during nightly meal cooking. No matter how hard you try though, lettuce is only going to keep for 7-10 days, don’t buy more than you need!
Bananas are a cheap, healthy, easy-to-transport food, making them ideal for school and work lunches. But they don’t last forever! It never fails that we have a couple turn brown from every bunch. Sure, I’ve got loads of recipes to deal with over-ripe bananas, but I’d rather not resort to them. I’d like the bananas to stay ripe so the kids can eat them at school. If you don’t have a banana hanger, you really should consider getting one. You definitely don’t need a pricey one, just something to get the bananas off the countertop.
Another tip is to wrap the end of the bunch in plastic wrap. I secure the plastic wrap with a rubber too. The plastic blocks ethylene gases from being released through the stem, which keeps the bananas from ripening too fast.
We’ve always stored our bananas on a hanger on the counter, but during my research I learned they should be kept on the counter only until they’re ripe. Then move them to the fridge. You’ll get 5-7 days in the fridge. By using the plastic wrap trick we’ve been able to keep almost all the bananas out of every bunch we’ve bought, so we’re proof this works spectacularly!
We eat a lot of potatoes at Hectic Manor. A ridiculously large amount, actually. Since we eat so many, I tend to buy them in larger quantities. But that means some often go bad. There’s nothing worse than reaching into the bin and grabbing a rotten potato. Not only is the smell horrendous, but the slime feels so gross. I shudder just thinking about it. So I spent a bunch of time searching how to avoid those problems. Honestly, the best article I found was from The Boat Galley blog. I know, weird place to find it…but since storing food on a boat is a pain, anything that’s applicable there will definitely translate to your home kitchen!
I discovered a long time ago to keep potatoes and onions away from each other during storage. The onions speed up the ripening/rotting process for potatoes. So I’ve had them apart for ages. I’ve always kept them in a wire rack that hangs under the shelves to make use of space that would otherwise go wasted. When I read about avoiding pressure points, I lined my racks with vegetable mats to reduce the pressure on the potatoes and they’ve worked wonders. Even though these mats are listed for refrigerator use, they work great in the pantry too!
I also learned to keep my potatoes in a cool, dry, dark place. And to take them out of the plastic bags from the store. Plastic retains moisture, and that’s the mortal enemy of potatoes! By following these recommendations I’m happy to report I’ve only encountered two rotten potatoes in several months. That’s a vast improvement over my prior life where every trip to the bin was a trip I wanted to avoid!
Wrap Up
So there you have it, 3 Things I Learned about storing produce. All three have made a huge impact on the quality of our food at Hectic Manor. I hope the same is true for you.
Are there any tricks you use in your kitchen to keep produce fresh longer? I’d love to hear about them in the comments below.
In the meantime, make it a great day in the kitchen!