3 Ways You Can Make Your Produce Last Longer

If you’re going to spend the time and money to get produce in order to eat healthier, you better also be taking care of that produce so that it will last as long as possible rather than going bad and having to be thrown away. But sadly, many people don’t know the proper way to keep their produce so that it will stay fresh until they’re able to eat it.

If this is something that you’ve been struggling with, here are three ways you can make your produce last longer. 

Keep Certain Produce Separate

When it comes to storing your produce, you really can’t store everything together. If you do, you may find that some of your items ripen too quickly and wind up going bad faster than you thought.

According to Caroline Lange, a contributor to BonAppetit.com, you should keep any fruits or vegetables that produce the gas ethylene away from all of your other produce. Some of the most common items of produce that give off ethylene include bananas, pear, potatoes, and apples. If you store all of the rest of your produce with these items, your other produce will ripen quicker than they otherwise would. While you can use this to your advantage to get a certain type of produce to ripen as you need it, you’ll want to be careful to keep the above-mentioned produce pieces away from items that you don’t want to over-ripen too quickly. 

Maintain Moisture In The Fridge

If produce gets too dry, it can become gross to look at and to eat. For this reason, you should try to keep most of your produce in the fridge so that it stays chilled and can retain its moisture. Otherwise, it could more easily dry out and go bad. 

Along with this advice, Lesley Stockton, a contributor to the New York Times, recommends that you keep the moisture close to the vegetables by sealing them in containers that won’t allow the moisture to escape. Usually, the packaging your produce came in is fine to put straight into the fridge. But if you need additional storage options, you can always use silicone pouches, zippered plastic bags, or containers with air-tight lids. 

Absorb Moisture For Leafy Veggies

In some instances, having a lot of moisture stored with your produce is actually going to be the opposite of what you want. According to the editors of EatThis.com, this is especially the case with salad greens and other fresh herbs. 

To keep moisture to a minimum here, you should stick a paper towel or napkin in the container with your greens or herbs. This paper will absorb the moisture so that it doesn’t make your produce soggy. 

If you’re needing to figure out how you can get your produce to last longer, consider using the tips mentioned above to learn how this can be done.