5 Tips to Make Your Vegetables Last Longer

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The average UK household throws away £470 worth of food every year – a total of £13bn pounds across the country. Why not check out the reduced yellow sticker zone of your supermarket and reduce this crazy high amount of waste and get a meal for a steal?

Of course, not all of this food waste is just vegetables, but if you’ve ever found a cucumber stuck to the back of the fridge, or a head of celery turning limp in the salad drawer, perhaps it would be helpful to learn how to make your vegetables last longer so you’re not having to chuck them in the bin before you can use them…

Moisture is the enemy

Too much moisture is one of the major factors in making vegetables spoil before they ought to. So, as soon as you’ve returned from the supermarket, pat your fruit and veg dry… you definitely don’t want to be adding any more moisture to the fridge, if that’s where you’re storing your groceries. (Note that some vegetables should be stored outside of the fridge full stop, so don’t be tempted to empty everything into the bottom drawer. For example, potatoes, onions and garlic shouldn’t ever be stored in a refrigerator or cool drawer).

If you’ve been growing your own vegetables, or you’re buying them directly from a farmer or neighbour, don’t wash the dirt off straight away. Instead, just wash your vegetables immediately before you’re cooking them or eating them raw – again, it’s the moisture that will make them spoil too quickly.

Keep your fruit and vegetable separate

Some vegetables produce a gas – ethylene – when they ripen. This can prematurely ripen other foods around them, so you’ll need to keep ethylene-producing foods away from ethylene-sensitive foods. Bananas and apples are both examples of fruits that emit ethylene, so keep your vegetables well away from them if you don’t want your vegetables to spoil. However, Lifehacker suggests adding an apple to your sack of potatoes because the ethylene the apple gives off will actually stop your potatoes from sprouting too soon – a trick worth remembering!

But, it isn’t just fruits and vegetables that should be stored separately. In fact, onions and potatoes should be kept away from one another too, and that’s because onions release a gas that can speed up the rate of spoilage in potatoes. So keep your potatoes out of the fridge in a cool, dark place, well away from the onions.

But where are you going to put all these foods if you’re storing them separately from one another? Well, if you need more storage than your fridge currently allows, consider installing a cool drawer in your home to keep your fruit in. These are available from places such as Fisher & Paykel, and they can also be used to chill wine or even a temporary freezer if you’re hosting a party… a handy piece of kit indeed.

Wrap some vegetables in aluminium foil

There are also one or two ‘hacks’ to try if you find that you simply don’t get through certain foods quickly enough. For example, celery wrapped in aluminium will last longer, which is perfect at this time of year if you’re making lots of soups and stews. Again, this is due to the ethylene that’s emitted. Celery kept in its plastic wrapping traps ethylene, accelerating spoilage. Aluminium doesn’t trap it in the same way (so again, keep your aluminium-wrapped celery away from ethylene-sensitive foods).

Remove the ‘bad apples’

If you notice any of your vegetables are ‘on the turn’, remove them from the fridge before they contaminate other produce that’s still in good condition. A sprouting spud should be taken out of the bag to prevent the rest of the bag from going bad, and the same is true for any other type of vegetable. Keep your fridge and cupboards clean, and rotate it often so you can spot vegetables that are beginning to spoil before they ruin those around them.

Freeze what you can

Finally, there’s nothing stopping you from cutting your broccoli and carrots while they’re fresh, blanching them and then freezing them in individual portions. Just take them out the freezer as and when you need them. This means you won’t have to fight to keep your vegetables fresh in the fridge or cupboard, and it means you’ll never waste money by not noticing a head of broccoli yellowing at the back of the fridge, for example.

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