Wondering How to Keep Your Produce Fresh For Longer? You’ve come to the right place.
Any good saver can tell you, a big part of being smart with your money is not wasting it and making the most of the things you spend it on. That’s why keeping your produce fresh so it doesn’t go to waste is an important part of saving. There are plenty of easy tips to help you keep your produce fresh for longer. Simple changes in habits and quick hacks will help you keep your produce fresh longer and save you money in the process.
1. Keep Produce Cool
One mistake a lot of people make when trying to keep produce fresh for longer is not keeping their produce cool. No, you should not keep all produce in the refrigerator. However, produce that should not be kept in the refrigerator should still be kept cool and away from sources of heat like windows and the stove. Moving your fruit bowl to a cooler area of the kitchen or pantry will work wonders when trying to keep your produce fresh for longer.
2. Keep Produce Dry
Did you know that the bacteria that spoils your food thrive in damp or moist conditions? A way to keep your produce fresh longer is to keep the moisture out and the produce dry. Making sure your refrigerator is free from moisture and wrapping your produce in aluminum foil or paper towel will help to reduce moisture and keep your produce fresh for longer.
3. Don’t Cut Produce
Today, pre-prepped foods are extremely popular. However, this might be working against you when it comes to keeping your produce fresh for longer. Pre-cut produce naturally spoils much faster than produce that has not been cut. It might be annoying and take a little more time but if you want to keep your produce fresh for longer you want to avoid cutting and preparing your produce in advance as much as possible.
4. Throw out Spoiled Produce
We’ve all been in that situation where one bad raspberry ruins the whole pack and it’s a sorry affair. This can happen to any produce, not just berries. A great way to avoid these situations and keep your produce fresh for longer is to catch and throw out any spoiled ones before they have time to ruin the others. Staying vigilant with your produce and throwing out anything on it’s way to going bad will help you to keep the rest of your produce fresh for longer.
5. Store Produce Separately
Many people store all of their produce together in the same area, which makes sense, but this may be causing their produce to spoil faster. As they ripen, some types of produce will make a gas called ethylene. Ethylene can have negative effects on produce that is sensitive to it and cause these kinds of produce to ripen faster. In order to prevent this, it is necessary to store Ethylene producing and non-Ethylene producing produce separately.
6. Freeze Produce or Dry Them
This one may be a little misleading in the sense that it doesn’t necessarily help to keep your produce fresh for longer, but it does help to keep your produce usable for longer. Many types of produce, like berries and many vegetables, can be frozen. Some types of produce like herbs, can be dried. Freezing or Drying produce can help them to stay usable for much longer than if they are left in their natural state.
7. Do Your Research
One of the best ways to keep your produce fresh for longer is to do your research. Each different type of produce will have different conditions that it prefers to be stored in. Researching exactly the best way to keep potatoes or lettuce will help you to ensure that they will stay fresh for as long as possible.
Just by taking these 7 tips on board and changing how you store or prepare your produce will really help you to keep your produce fresh for longer.
