Ever clean through the fridge and feel a twinge of regret in your gut as you throw out a bunch of unused food? You’re not the only one.
The average American throws away 219 pounds of food each year — and most of it is produce.
As reported in Vegetarian Times, Timothy Jones, PhD, contemporary archaeologist at the University of Arizona, says that Americans throw out a fourth of all the produce they buy. In general, we toss 43 billion dollars worth of food every year.
When it comes to produce particularly, we usually ditch it because it went bad. True, lots of times it’s because our lofty goals of eating better run a few miles slower than our impatient appetites. But a large reason is simply storage. So, how can we store food so it stays longer?
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Sometimes it’s as simple as keeping things separated. Some fruits and veggies don’t ripen at the same rate. Those that give off high levels of ethylene gas — a ripening agent — will speed the decay of ethylene-sensitive foods. One suggestion from Vegetarian Times: speed-ripen a peach by putting it in a closed paper bag with a ripe banana.
Don’t mangle your fruit. “As soon as you start pulling fruits and vegetables apart,” says Barry Swanson, a food scientist at Washington State University, “you’ve broken cells, and microorganisms start to grow.” And that means, keep that stem in the apple until you eat it.
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Get your produce home and into the refrigerator as soon as possible. But while we tend to believe everything lasts longer in the fridge, that is not the case with cold-sensitive fruits and vegetables. Leave them on counters until they’re ripe, then you can maybe squeeze a few more days out of them if you put them in the refrigerator.
A particularly nose-y suggestion is never refrigerate potatoes, onions, winter squash, or garlic. Keep them in a cool, dark, dry cabinet, and they can last up to a month or more. But separate them so their flavors and smells don’t migrate.
If you shop at farmers markets, go early. Just-harvested greens wilt quickly in the sun and heat.
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In general, the warmer the temperature, the faster the rate of respiration, which is why refrigeration is critical for most produce. But while you want to slow it down, you don’t want to stop the breathing altogether.
“The worst thing to do is seal fruits and vegetables in an airtight bag,” says Barry Swanson, a food scientist at Washington State University. “You’ll suffocate them and speed up decay.”
There are produce-extending products out there like produce bags, such as those by Ever-Fresh absorb ethylene and create an atmosphere that inhibits respiration.
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Of course, mold eventually happens. It proliferates rapidly and contaminates everything nearby, so toss any spoiled produce immediately.
You can enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables with just a single weekly trip to the supermarket, with proper storage and a little planning. The key is eating the more perishable produce early on.
Also, buy veggies that you can cook into things like soups or pasta sauces that can then be frozen.
The most important point of how to store fruits and vegetables is to match compatible gas releasers. Below is a quick list of how best to store your fruits and veggies:
Refrigerate these gas releasers:
Apples
Apricots
Cantaloupe
Figs
Honeydew
DON’T refrigerate these gas releasers:
Avocados
Bananas
Nectarines
Peaches
Pears
Plums
Tomatoes
Keep these away from all gas releasers:
Bananas
Broccoli
Brussels Sprouts
Cabbage
Carrots
Cauliflower
Cucumbers
Eggplant
Lettuce and Other Leafy Greens
Parsley
Peas
Peppers
Squash
Sweet Potatoes
Watermelon
For more ideas on how you can save the planet, visit 1Thing.
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