How to Make Produce Last Longer
Wash Produce- As soon as your bring your produce home your should wash it
thoroughly to remove dirt, and pesticide residue. The best way to do this is to first
separate your fruit and vegetables. One method is to soak produce in a sink or large
bowl. Place your produce in sink or container and cover completely with water, stir
in ¼ of white vinegar. Allow produce to soak for 15
15-20 minutes, drain and rinse
thoroughly.
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Vegetables like turnips, carrots, potatoes, and other root vegetables should be scrubbed with a clean
vegetable brush under running water.
Leafy vegetables can be washed in the vinegar soak, and rinsed well
well-pay extra attention to the inner
layers where dirt.
Pat all your produce dry with towels thoroughly and gently.
Even melons should be washed well, even though it has a thick rind, when cutting into a melon
me
you can
introduce exterior contaminates to the fruit inside.
Make a Plan- Obviously this is ideally done before you go shopping; go with an idea in mind of what you want
to use your produce for. This might not always be possible so a good combination of meal
eal planning, and freezer
prepping will assure nothing goes to waste.
Sort and Store- After you have decided what to do with your produce
produce, you can then
sort accordingly. For example: let the spaghetti squash for tomorrow night’s dinner
might sit on the counter, half of a full flat of strawberries can be hulled, sliced, and
placed in a container in the fridge for quick snacks
snacks. While the other half, can be
placed in containers or freezer bags for smoothies, or desserts. Chop Squash,
Zucchini,, onions, and peppers to store in the fr
freezer, they all freeze beautifully for
cooking later. To freeze makee sure you have plenty of bags or freezer safe containers
on hand and a sharpie to mark the date and do not forget to rotate them to the front
when you add new produce.
Keep in mind that some
ome fruits continue to ripen after you have bring them home. Iff you have some that are
a still a
bit hard you can set them on counter until they begin to soften and then transfer them to refrigerator. These are
things like; Peaches, Kiwis, Mangoes, Pears, Plums, Cantaloupes, Honeydew, and Avocados.
Here is a brief guide of what produce should be refrigerated and which are best at room temperature.
REFRIGERATE: apples, plums,, berries, cherries, leafy greens, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus,
asparagus and herbs
ROOM TEMP: pineapples, bananas, citrus
citrus, potatoes, onions, peppers, melons, cucumbers, summer squash,
tomatoes