I love to eat veggies. I can eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I can put veggies in eggs for breakfast, in rice for lunch and with my fish for dinner. Leafy greens, root vegetables, tomatoes you name it I can find a way to eat it. I am lucky I have several Farmer’s Markets within walking distance from my house. But I know many of you are SO busy you only get to shop once a week or sometimes less.
If you have the problem many Americans do veggies are dying in your kitchen — bags of stinky peppers lurking in the back of the fridge under that old container of yogurt, or worse carrots that bend from tip to tip. Don’t let it happen! Don’t let your fruits and veggies go bad!
I’m gonna go all Health Coach on you. Besides the fact that fruits and vegetables are the healthiest food you can eat, they are loaded with fiber making them great for weight loss, contain tons of vitamins and minerals, taste superb. It has been proven time and time again that eating more fruits and vegetables can decrease your risk for diabetes, cancer and heart disease — If that’s not enough, I am going to ask you to change your ways, don’t be a Vegetable KillerI In these difficult economic times just think of all the people struggling. Some of them might even be your neighbors and friends. They can’t always buy enough food or any fruits and vegetables and we are letting them rot in the back of the fridge. Seems kinda selfish, doesn’t it?
So here are a few tips to make your veggies last longer.
Always separate out any bad produce. One bad apple can ruin the bunch. Same is true for storing other vegetables.
Keep carrots, celery, parsnips and radishes in a covered container with water in the fridge. I rinse them and cut them in slices to reduce my cooking time when I’m ready to use them. They will stay crispy and fresh up to two weeks in the fridge.
Keep leafy greens and lettuce wrapped in a kitchen towel in the crisper in your fridge. This will keep them fresh longer. Up to a few days. If they need a little pepping up coming out of the fridge rinse cold water on them.
Don’t suffocate your vegetables. Let them breathe. Keeping them wrapped up tightly in a plastic bag is often the worst thing you can do. Open the plastic bag and leave the veggies in the crisper drawer in your fridge until ready to use. Even better leave a paper bag in your crisper drawer and put them in there until you are ready to cook them.
Apples are tricky. They give off a gas that helps ripen other fruit and can over ripen other fruits and vegetables if stored together. If you have a lot of apples you can store them in an open plastic bag in the fridge but separate from other loose vegetables. Apples speed up the ripening time of produce such as avocados, peaches, bananas, apricots, plums, and pears. Place an apple into a paper or plastic bag with the fruit you want to ripen faster.
Root vegetables like beets, potatoes, celery root and squash are best stored in a cool dark place. If you have a garage or cellar that’s perfect. If you are a city girl like me store them in a paper bag, yes, in the back of your crisper.
If you see your fruit is starting to get brown or too soft throw it in a pot with some water sugar and salt and make it into a compote or apple sauce. Or rinse and slice your fruit and store it in an air tight container in the freezer for use on fruit shakes or pies. Same idea holds true for carrots or zucchini that is on it’s last legs. You can make some fast carrot or zucchini muffins, eat some fresh and put others double wrapped in a plastic container in the freezer for months.
So my friends, love your veggies — don’t be a vegetable killer.
