⏱Kitchen Time Savers – Produce Prep

There is nothing more frustrating than spending time and money to buy fresh produce and then having it go bad. There are lots of reasons this happens to me. One is poor planning. I see an awesome sale on produce and I buy it. But I don’t have a plan to use it…by the time I remember that I’ve got it…that expensive food has rotted and turned to slime. Not only is it icky, it’s expensive. And trust me, I do this all the time. You’d think I’d have learned my lesson by now!

If you don’t have a plan to use the fresh fruits and veggies…don’t buy them.

So the biggest time and money saver that I can share with you is…if you don’t have a plan to use the fresh fruits and veggies you’re about to buy within the next few days…don’t buy them. Sure, those grapes at $1.25/lb look great. The idea of having them at home is awesome. But if you’re just going to put them in the fridge and forget about them…you might as well just burn the money instead. Same goes for the asparagus at $1.99/lb. Two bucks for a bunch of asparagus? Well, that happy dance will turn to a death march if you have to scoop up the slimy remains from the produce drawer in a couple weeks. Buy on a plan. Honestly, I don’t care where the plan comes from. Make your own, find one on the internet, purchase one from somebody (shameless plug here: like Hectic-Meals)…but have a plan before you buy. Then stick to the plan. Please!

I’m not saying you have to eat all the produce that you buy right away. When there are awesome sales, it’s not unreasonable to buy in bulk and then prep and store. But you’ve got to have both time and energy to do that. And of course, the storage space. My most common method of bulk purchase & storage has been freezing. I’ve never really gotten into canning, although it’s on my list of things to learn. This past summer I began dehydrating, and I’m pretty enamored of the results right now. It’s pretty awesome to rehydrate the tomatoes and peppers from this summer’s garden and use them in all sorts of wintery comfort food. I’ve been really astounded at the results!

In a prior post I talked about how to buy produce at the store. If you haven’t read it yet, I’d recommend starting there so that you can be sure you’re getting the best produce possible.

Cleaning Produce

Once you get your haul home, don’t immediately stow it in the pantry or refrigerator. If you can take the time to do some prep right away you’ll save yourself a lot of time later.

You need to change how you think about your food prep. For too long, I was a slave to doing all the preparation for each meal right before cooking it. If I used onions each night for five nights (pretty much a fact at Hectic Manor) I would chop one onion on Monday. I’d chop another onion on Tuesday. Wednesday was onion three. Thursday and Friday got their onion chopping. I’d have five dirty knives. The cutting boards all smelled like onions and my hands were perennially stinking of onion. And frankly, it was a silly waste of time.

I’ve finally learned that I can do all the chopping for the entire week in one session. And it’s not just onions, I try to chop all my vegetables at one time. One knife and one cutting board. One deep cleaning session for my hands. And it takes a lot less total time to do that prep session and then just add the prepared ingredients to each night’s meal.

The same goes for cleaning your produce when it arrives home. I know, I know…you just spent an hour at the supermarket and now I’m recommending that you take more time before you can stow the groceries? Yes, I’m saying take more time and do more work before you put things away. All while the kids are begging for a snack, the dog is barking, and your mother-in-law is calling on the phone to question your parenting skills. Don’t I have any idea what your life is like?

Well honestly, I do.

I live the same Hectic Life you do. But through trial and error…a huge amount of error…I’ve learned that a little preparation goes a long way towards making life easier. It’s that whole mindset shift thing. Try to think about it differently.

Just like those dumb Monday-to-Friday onion cutting sessions, it’s better to get the work out of the way once and then reap the benefits the rest of the week. I build in extra time in my shopping for preparation of ingredients. It took me a long time to learn the lesson, maybe you can benefit from my experience. And if you’re not going to take my word for it, how about the US Federal & Drug Administration (FDA) as a resource?

As you put the groceries away, set the produce aside. If you can get help from the family stowing everything else (and not micromanage everything…I’m looking at myself in the mirror on that one), let them do their thing and start in on the produce. Set out an absorbent towel on a flat surface in the kitchen. If you’re like me, you may have to clear that space first! Then wash your hands with warm water and soap. You know what you’ve been touching…and those darned kids are disgusting  carriers of grossness! Start the cold water running and rinse off all the produce. Yeah, all of it. Yes, even the potatoes (because I know what you’re thinking). If you’ve got a vegetable brush…no, not the one you use to Spic-and-Span the sink and not the other one you use for your pot scrubbing…but a dedicated vegetable brush, gently scrub the firmer fruits and veggies. You know, the melons, cucumbers, zucchini, etc.

Now start drying everything. This may require more than the towel you laid out on the counter. Be gentle while you do this, but get the water off so that bacteria doesn’t have anywhere to grow. If you’re going to do the chopping and prepping, now’s the perfect time for that. If you’re really getting into this, measure out the chopped vegetables into the quantities needed for the recipes later in the week (you know, from your meal plan). If you’re looking for a blue ribbon, label the containers. Me, I’m lucky to get a participation ribbon on this one. But you know, do as I say, not as I do. You’re supposed to learn from my experience and be better for it.

Put the cut fruits and veggies into the refrigerator along with any other produce that needs refrigeration. Wondering if it needs refrigeration? Look on any packaging. When in doubt, I always refrigerate. Watch for a future post that goes into greater depth.

Now dry those potatoes again. We want those suckers bone dry, because they don’t get stored in the fridge, they’re headed to the pantry. If your potatoes aren’t dry you’ll be well on your way to homemade Vodka in no time. Except that the homemade variety smells really, really bad. Think teenage boys’ bedrooms bad!

Although I did tell you to wash all your produce, there are actually two exceptions. First off, anything that’s bagged and says pre-washed doesn’t have to be re-washed. But be careful on this one, if the bagged greens don’t say pre-washed…they aren’t. You’ll need to wash them before eating. But since they’re bagged I usually don’t unbag, wash, and then rebag. I wait until just before we’re going to eat. Then for grins I try to shake the water off the greens and onto the kids. It’s such a fun game…for me!

The other thing you don’t need to wash are uncut onions. Honestly, if you’ve got the time, do the peeling, washing, and chopping now…but like I said, I live the Hectic Life too…so you may not have time right now. Don’t wash them, just put them into the pantry. But put them away from the potatoes. If you store potatoes and onions close together they don’t behave and you get over-ripening and spoilage. I’ve got ours about 5-feet apart and that seems to be far enough away.

If you want to know more about safe storage and handling of food, the FDA actually has a pretty handy guide called Food Facts that cover safe handling tips. It’s worth a look.

Next Up

Next up in our ⏱Kitchen Time Savers series I’m going to dig into the devices that you need to do produce prep and even delve into some that are really nice to have.

Buying fresh produce is definitely worth the effort, but you need to invest a little bit of time to get the most out of your purchases. I’ve given you a bunch of ideas on how to make the process easier, but I’m sure there are tons more. I’d love to hear from you in the comments. What other tips and tricks do you use to get the most out of your fresh produce dollars?

And as always, make it a great day in the kitchen!

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