Storing Your Produce
Storing raw food is simple. Fresh fruit can be placed on the counter. If you have lots of it, you can place some inside the fridge, or in a cold area like a basement.
Some fruits will last longer than others. Apples, bananas, and pears, can be left on the counter for weeks without going bad. Foods such as grapes and berries will go bad after a few days outside the fridge.
Vegetables are the same way. Carrots and beets will last a while outside the fridge, spinach won’t.
There are tips and tricks you can follow to make sure you don’t waste any food. In an ideal world, we would all have fresh produce growing at our homes, and we would pick it fresh right when we need it.
The next best scenario would be to purchase our produce daily at a farmer stand near our home. This is a rare scenario for most of us, but there are many people who live near a grocery store, who can pick their produce fresh every day.
Other people, however, may only be able to reach the store once or twice a week. For them, I have a handful of ideas:
First, be sure to purchase a variety of produce, some ripe and ready to eat, and some needing a few more days. That way you can eat the ripe fruit first, while you wait for the rest of the produce to ripen.
Another trick is to place some produce on the fridge to slow the ripening process and lengthen its decomposition time. Sometimes we place delicate produce, such as spinach, berries, and grapes, in an air-tight container, with a paper towel inside. The paper towel helps absorb the moist, keeping the fruits and vegetables fresh.
Another great tip is to freeze the produce that is about to get spoiled. You can do this with all fruits, and with most vegetables. Freezing is not ideal, but it is best to freeze produce than to throw it away. Frozen fruits and vegetables can be used to make smoothies and “nice-cream” (vegan ice-cream). Delicious.
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Acknowledgments
