It can be a hard choice.
Do I want to be going to the Supermarket every day for fresh ingredients?
OR
Do I settle for soggy salads and sad celery 5 days a week?
What if there was a third option?
Shopping ONCE a week. Crisp veggies and crunchy apples long after Day 1.
Try some of these top tips from top cooks that you can use too!
- S.O.S. – Save Our Salads.
Some of your fruit and veg love a bit of moisture – for others, it’s a ticket straight to mould town. The trick is knowing which is which.
Moisture Lovers
- These spring-signalling salad-lifting spears love water so much you could chuck them in a glass of water and keep them in the fridge. More practically, you can try wrapping the stalks in some damp paper towel and popping them into one of our Veggie Saver bags to keep them at their best until cooking time.
- Green Onions. Like asparagus, standing your green onions in water makes a great life preserver. Alternatively, green onions are another veg where the roots can be wrapped in damp paper towel and placed into one of our Veggie Saver bags if you don’t like the idea of trying to find space to have them standing up in water.
- Carrots and cut celery stalks. These can be submerged in water and placed in a sealed container in the fridge to keep their crunch. Just be sure to change the water every couple of days.
Dry Us or Lose Us
- You don’t want your expensive fruit and veg to end up like the mummified remains in a horror move at the bottom of the crisper because they dried out completely. But – you don’t want a slimy, mouldy abomination just centimetres away from last night’s leftovers either.
For most of your produce, it’s best to dry off excess water prior to putting them in the fridge, then storing them in a container that provides protection, but allows them to still breathe a little. If you want a plastic free alternative – our Veggie Saver bags helps you get that balance of dryness and hydration right, while still giving everything some breathing space.
- Old Softies.
Berries… Tropical fruits… Spinach leaves…
Usually, the squishier the produce, the shorter the shelf-life. It definitely doesn’t mean you should cut them out though. You just need some strategy. Once you bring home your seasonal fruits and veg from the markets or shop – take a look at what’s soft, and what’s not. Then just make a plan to use those softer ingredients like cucumber, ripe cherry tomatoes and strawberries in those first couple of days. Save the spuds, sweet potato and apples for meals towards the end of the shopping cycle.
- It’s in the Bag.
When you look in your crisper, you probably see a lot of your veggies and fruits still in the bags you put them in at the supermarket. Whether you realise it or not – you’ve actually stumbled across a great way to extend their life. Storage solutions like this actually protect your produce, while keeping that bit of moisture they still need from escaping. Of course, with the move away from plastics, a sea of it in your refrigerator might not suit your sustainability goals. Luckily, there’s more environmentally friendly, and tidier ways to achieve the same thing. There’s glass containers, ones made from recycled materials, or of course, our very own Veggie Saver bags. They help you get that moisture balance right, without the plastic.
- Herbs that go the Distance.
Cooking shows, social media posts and videos all have us craving a little bit of adventure in our cooking. Sometimes we even go so far as to bring these flavours home from the shop. Sadly though, 9 times out of 10, most find their way into the bin more than our dinners. Professional kitchens can’t allow that kind of wastage, and here’s one of the tricks they use. Wash and completely dry your fresh herbs, then make a Parsley-Parcel by wrapping in paper towel. This can then be stored in the fridge in a resealable sandwich bag or container. Or, if you’re looking for ways to go plastic-free, our Veggie Saver bags are great for this too.
- Breath of Fresh Air
There’s probably been times when after a week of solid rain and no air-flow through the house you’ve gone onto high alert for potential mouldy areas. Same for your fruit and veg. Moisture + Limited Airflow = Funky Fungi. You can reduce the risk of this by not cramming all your produce in on top of each other, and allowing a little space between them so they can breathe. Another option is specialised storage made for fruit and veg. Containers made from recycled or sustainable materials can be purchased that actually contain vents you can open to allow the correct airflow. Our Veggie Saver bags can be great for this too. Air can circulate between the three cotton layers to lengthen the life expectancy of your veggies.