Image from yakoshka on Flickr
Anyone want to dethrone me from the title Queen of Buying Lots of Fresh Produce And Letting It Rot In The Frig?
Really, I shouldn’t be dethroned – I should try to just step down. I’ve let way too much good food rot in the frig lately, mostly due to being pregnant and just not feeling like cooking anything.
Berries and cherries are the worst, aren’t they? They look fabulous in the store but turn moldy with in a day or two of purchase. But, if you know it’s going to be a few days before you use those delicate fruits, there’s a little trick you can do that holds the mold off much longer:
Place the berries in a colander and place a large bowl underneath. Fill the colander and bowl with cool water as if you were rinsing the berries – but also add about 1/4 cup of vinegar to the water. Let them sit for a few minutes in the vinegar/water mixture, then drain and rinse thoroughly.
The vinegar kills whatever the mold-causing bacteria is, keeping those berries fresh usually at least a few days longer. Plus, they’re already washed and ready to eat when you are finally ready to use them! There’s no vinegar aftertaste when you rinse them thoroughly after draining the vinegar/water mixture.
That is absolutely brilliant! I had the same problem {letting berries/fruit more than normal} when I was pregnant and when Blake first came home. Thankfully, I’m doing much better about it now!
Thanks for the tip! I wish I’d had this info months ago when the berries started going on sale, so my compost bin would be much smaller now. I don’t have as much problem with cherries, though. :^ )
That is a great tip! Unfortunately, I find the lower prices on fresh fruits and vegs makes me buy so much more in the summer. But I too have had the not eatten fast enough issue.
I’ve been freezing mine. I toss them into the fridge when I get home from the store. To freeze them, I rinse them and place them on a baking sheet lined with plastic wrap in the freezer. Once frozen I pull up the plastic wrap and toss them into freezer bags! We’re still eating frozen strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries! I love it!
“green bags” also help the quick molding.
Angela, what do you mean by “green bags”?
Green bags are just that – see through green! You can purchase them in the produce dept. & really extend the life of any produce you buy. Don’t ask me how, it just works!
Also, quick tip for keeping bananas for longer. Stick them in a thick, black garbage bag & stick them in your fridge … they won’t go brown & they’ll last longer too!
I have tried the green bags, and they didn’t work for me.
Thanks for the great tip! I am also having a hard time and wasting more food than normal from being pregnant, and it being summer. I cant wait to get back to normal and go back to cooking more too.
Alethia, though I’m totally soaking up the rest this week, I am TOTALLY re-inspired to cook good, healthy food again – yay! Hope you get the same inspiration after your baby comes, too. :)
Thanks for the great tip. Now if you could only find someone to cut my cantelope before it goes moldy. I have decided I just have to stop buying cantelope – but it’s so tasty!
Hehe, might work on canteloupe, too – maybe rinse the outside in vinegar and water? ;) I have problems with cantaloupe, too – neither Jeremy nor I like it, but the kids do, so I buy it for them but then am not highly motivated it cut it!
Carrie, I can totally dethrone you! I have 6 kids and they LOVE love love fruit. They eat raspberries, blackberries and blueberries by the CARTON. My 18 month old can down two cartons at one time. So when Sunflower Market had their blackberries for super cheap, I bought 40 + cartons. And when they had the pint blueberries…we bought about 30 cartons.
LOL…
Awesome idea! Thanks so much for sharing it.
I think we all buy stuff and let it go bad before we can consume it. When it happens to my fruit – I try to salvage what I can by freezing it to use later in smoothies.
Oh, Carrie, if you are dethroned you can just pass me the crown.
I love this tip! I have not heard of the vinegar thing before but I have found that with strawberries if I wash/cut and store them in a different container they tend to last days longer than the original container.
I guiltily admit that I am really glad to see that I am not the only one that does this. ;) When summer sports are in full swing I buy a lot of fresh fuit and we generally go through it quickly at games. Then there are *those* times where I just don’t have the energy to cut up the strawberries. (The composter was a good investment this year. HA!)
Ugh! I am sooo bad about this too! I will have to try this trick!
I live in the Middle East, and berries here cost a fortune as they’re all imported. I don’t mind the cost, but you can imagine how I feel about expensive fruit going moldy! Thanks for the great tip!
Great tip. I already use vinegar for so many things and will need to try this too.
This makes perfect sense. Why didn’t I think of it? I just had tomatoes go bad today. I was so mad. I will try this next time. Thanks.
Ooh, sounds like a great idea! I bet it would work with grapes, too. We recently lost 2/3 lb. of grapes to mold, and I was so upset!