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Joyful Homemaking

practical tips for frugal home organization

Keep Fruits and Vegetables Fresher Longer

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Fresh fruits and vegetables can be expensive, and yet they should be part of a healthy diet, so keeping them from going to waste is important.
We always keep baby carrots on hand, and most of the time there is quite a bit of water in the bag with them, and I find they get mushy and rot pretty quickly.

So now, when I get them home, I like to rinse them well to get any “slimyness” off.

Then I let them drain and dry a little on a clean kitchen towel before putting them in a ziploc bag (a container would work as well).

To catch any remaining liquid, I put a folded paper towel inside the bag which can be changed if it gets soggy. The lack of excess moisture keeps them fresher longer.

This works well with peppers too, and then I put them in snack size bags for my hubby’s lunch.

Echoes of Laughter had an awesome post on how to save money on groceries without couponing.
One of her suggestions was to buy produce that was on sale, and then wash and freeze it if you can’t use it all at once.

After reading her post, I saw blueberries on sale and snapped them up to eat some and freeze some.

 

 

Rinse, dry and bag. If there’s a recipe you know you’ll use them for,  pre-measure them,

and you’ll be ready to go.
Hope you find this helpful.
Blessings,

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Thank you for the tips!! We take potatoes out of the plastic bags and store them in cloth shopping bags in our pantry. They stay fresh much longer that way!!

    Reply

  2. Great tips that I will really use! but we have a pet cow, so I don’t feel so bad if stuff does go bad in the fridge 😉
    JoAnn

    Reply

  3. These are great tips; thanks for sharing. We have a compost bin, so if stuff does happen to get overlooked, it does at least go to use somehow! I do dislike throwing out what were perfectly wonderful organic veggies, however!
    ~april

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  4. I also read recently to use orange juice on apple slices to keep them from turning brown. (instead of lemon juice) It has the same citric acidity needed. THANKS for the baby carrots idea!!

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  5. When I slice my kid’s apple snacks in advance, all I do is sprinkle a little Vitamin C crystals on the slices in a baggy and shake it up. They love the flavour and they don’t brown either. PLUS they get some extra VIT C in their diets!

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  6. I do this with my carrots too.. Also don’t know if you heard about this but celery, clean it and wrap it in tinfoil.. It stays fresh and lasts a long time! 🙂
    Robyn

    Reply

  9. Great tips! I could definitely use this! I always end up throwing away a ton of fresh fruits & veggies. : I would love for you to stop by and link to my Sew Crafty Saturday Party!

    Reply

  12. These are great tips that will really come in handy! Hope you are having a great week end and thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday.
    Happy St. Patrick’s Day and Come Back Soon!
    Miz Helen

    Reply

  13. Another tip for freezing blueberries and works great! Don’t wash before you freeze them – spread on a cookie or baking sheet and freeze them on the pan. Once frozen, put them in a ziploc freezer bag and you can then take out what you want without them all being stuck together or measuring out just a few for pancakes.

    Hope this helps!

    Mary

    Reply

  15. I Love this tip!!1 If you don’t mind, I am going to share this with all my facebook followers!

    Kristen

    Reply

  19. i use paper towels in the bottom of my salad bowl too. By the time you wash everything there is still a lot of water in the veggies. Keeps the salad good for a lot longer too.
    any moist food, like cut up cucumber, etc I start with the paper towel in the bottom of storage container.
    Was making dinner at a group home I used to work in and the other girl i worked with saw the salad and mixed it and found the soaked paper towel and kinda freaked out.
    Like what on earth is this, and how did it get in our salad bowl. 😉

    Reply

  20. i use paper towels in the bottom of my salad bowl too. By the time you wash everything there is still a lot of water in the veggies. Keeps the salad good for a lot longer too.
    any moist food, like cut up cucumber, etc I start with the paper towel in the bottom of storage container.
    Was making dinner at a group home I used to work in and the other girl i worked with saw the salad and mixed it and found the soaked paper towel and kinda freaked out.
    Like what on earth is this, and how did it get in our salad bowl. 😉

    Reply

  22. I met a 70+ year old lady in Aldi one day by the vegetable aisle. The celery was on sale for a lower than normal price. When I only picked up one, she asked why I wasn’t buying more. I replied that it seems to go bad and I hate wasting the money. Her tip: after chopping the ends of, wipe down & then wrap in a good foil. It works – can last up to 3 months & remain fresh.

    Second tip: For keeping asparagus fresh: trim the woody ends, then stand up in about an inch of water – they’ll remain fresh & nice looking for over a week. (This tip from my sister in law)

    Thanks so much for your tips – I’d love to pre-cut my own apple before taking it to work, so I’ll try the lemon lime soda – diet of course!

    Sherli

    Reply

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