9 tips to make your produce last longer

There’s nothing worse than buying beautiful, seasonal produce only to have it go bad in your fridge and end up in the trash. Here are a few tips to make all of your summer produce last longer!

The golden rule for fridge storage

Let’s start this off first by making sure we’re all on board with this golden rule. Store produce in an airtight bag or container lined with paper towel. If you just throw your veggies in your produce drawer, you’ll notice they start to get kind of soft and sad looking pretty quickly. That’s because they are giving off moisture (that’s what the paper towel is for), they are totally exposed to oxygen (air), and there might be other vegetables around it that give off gas that makes it ripen faster. Protect yo fruit!

Now onto the more specific tips…

1. Always store lettuce with paper towels.

If you’re buying a head of lettuce, store it lightly wrapped in a paper towel inside of an airtight bag (you can just use the plastic produce bag it came in and tie/twist it shut). If you’re buying loose lettuce, place a couple of layers of paper towel in the bottom of an airtight container and place the lettuce on top. If you bought the lettuce in a large plastic container, you can put the paper towel on the top of the container and store it upside down in your fridge.

2. Fresh herbs don’t like to be crowded!

Whenever you buy fresh herbs, un-bunch them the moment you get home and fluff them up so they have room to breathe.  Store them similarly to lettuce – in an airtight container or zip top bag lined with paper towel. Like I mentioned for lettuce, sometimes I’ll just use the plastic produce bag to store the herbs (just wrap in paper towel and twist or tie the bag shut). If you want to go the extra mile, wash them first, then store them.

Learn more here about storing and reducing your fresh herb waste!

3. Basil does not like to be cold.

There is nothing worse than beautiful fragrant basil turning brown a day after you buy it. Always store basil at room temp (away from any heat) in a jar filled with enough water so that the stems are submerged, then loosely cover it with a plastic bag. It can also help to trim the stems (just like flowers).

I get so sad when my basil goes limp and brown too soon. This happens more often when I buy it from the grocery store because you don’t know how long that basil has been sitting around or when it was harvested. When I buy basil at the farmers market, it lasts SO much longer! Which brings me to my next tip!

4. Local produce always lasts so much longer!

When you buy produce harvested locally, that means it was picked shortly before you purchased it. Since time, light, and temperature are generally what make produce degrade, I find the local stuff lasts 2-3x longer than the same grocery store option that came from Mexico.

5. Soak, rinse, and store your berries right away!

Soak your fresh berries in water with a splash of apple cider vinegar for about 10 minutes, then drain them, give them a rinse, shake or pat off any excess water, and store them in an airtight container lined with paper towel.

6. Tomatoes should never be refrigerated!

Tomatoes have an enzyme that, when exposed to cold temperatures, makes the cell membranes break down. This results in a very unpleasant, mealy tomato. This is why you should never refrigerated your tomatoes! Just store them on your counter, away from any heat sources.

7. Store cut crunchy veggies in cold water.

Vegetables like carrots, radishes, celery, and fennel will stay amazingly crisp and fresh when stored in cold water. If I think ahead, I actually prefer slicing up those veggies in advance and storing them in cold water before adding them to salads because they get extra crisp!

8. If anything looks like it’s on its last legs, wash it (chop it if necessary) and freeze it!

I’m talking about those berries you bought and one of them has a spot of mold, the bunch of kale that is sadly wilting in the drawer, the zucchini that’s starting to get a little too soft, or the banana that’s getting a little too brown. You can throw all of these things frozen into your smoothies!

9. Invest in vacuum sealing containers!

When I buy things that are more prone to doing bad or drying out, I always store them in these Zwilling Fresh & Save containers (usually for me it’s freshly grated blender parm, delicate summer berries, tender lettuce, etc…). They come with a vacuum pump that sucks all of the excess air out of the containers to make your food last up to 5x longer than normal containers.

Click here to browse all of the summer Cooking Club recipes!

I hope you learned a few new tips to reduce your food waste and enjoy all of the juicy summer produce. Comment below if you have any tips of your own!