Proper Food Storage

A lot of people tell me that they have problems with spoilage of their fresh produce. They complain because it doesn’t keep as long as they would like and often rather opt for the unhealthy packaged food instead.

However, storing fresh produce is a skill, which is easily learned. In fact, I had to figure it out the hard way and teach myself through making mistakes. But that’s also why I can help. Now, the first thing I do when I come home with fresh produce is to make sure to store it properly.

Lettuce, kale, spinach, basil, cilantro, and other leafy greens go in the fridge. They need to stay moist and cool. This also holds true for peppers, cabbage, beets, broccoli, zucchini, squash, cauliflower, fennel, or eggplant.

Potatoes like it cool and dark. In my house the following fruit goes in the fridge too: apples, pears, lime, citrus fruit like grapefruit or limes.

Kiwi, bananas, peaches, apricots, pineapple, and melon stays on the counter-top.

Sometimes this process of selecting where to stick your produce is a bit trickier. For instance with avocados. When they are still a bit green and need to ripen, you best keep them out of the fridge or even put then in a paper bag or next to bananas. That speeds up the ripening process. If you buy them ripe, however, and need to keep them fresh for a couple more days, stick them in the fridge and you are good to go.

Tomatoes should stay out of the fridge as well. They lose their taste when cooled down too much.

Wow… this is definitely not all and there is so much more variety of produce. Let me know if you have a question regarding the storage of produce. I will try my best to assist you.

Oh, and of course, it also helps to plan your meals at least a little bit around the produce you just bought. Some veggies, especially leafy greens like spinach or chard, for example, go bad quickly. So when you buy them, plan on preparing them soon after…

Hope this helps,

~ Alexandra