Over the years I’ve learned a lot about storing vegetables and how to maintain freshness for as long as possible, Proper storage is important to preserve nutrients and involves optimal temperature, humidity and ethelyne gas control. In the early years I refrigerated my veggies in plastic bags, but I often threw out items before the end of the week. Here are some tips I’ve learned which can help to maintain the freshness of produce for up to 2 weeks.

• Purchase produce in season as vitamins can be degrade when items are stored for long periods of time.  Many regions offer availability guides (i.e. Foodland Ontario) for local fruits and vegetables to show what’s in season.  By checking the guide you can learn about produce grown in your region, and when it will be at it’s maximum freshness. For instance, cabbage is in-season 11 months of the year in Ontario, Canada. (1)

• Wash produce just prior to use.  Prewashing contributes to the breakdown of the cellular structure of plants and can enhance bacterial growth. The same goes for precut vegetables. Nutrients and beneficial compounds decrease when a vegetable is cut. (2) (3)

• Wrap leafy greens in paper towels and whenever possible store them in your fridge’s produce drawers.  If you can’t use the veggie drawers, place the wrapped produce n a plastic bag with the top open to allow for air circulation.

• Use an ethelyne gas absorber such as Blue Apple in your produce keepers.  Ethenyne is a natural product that fruits and vegetables release as they ripen.  However as ethenyne concentrates it speeds up the ripening process and contributes to spoilage. (4) Once I started using the gas absorbers my produce remained fresh in my produce keepers for up to 2 weeks. Check out Blueapple’s produce storage tips for detailed information on how to store fruits and vegetables. (5)

• Use vegetable containers such as Rubbermaid Freshworks Produce Savers to store vegetables that won’t fit into your produce drawers.  The produce savers work by regulating the amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide in and out of the container which helps to maximize the vegetable’s freshness. (6)

• Store apples and pears separate from your vegetables as they release a lot of ethelyne gas.   I keep those items in a bowl in my fridge, and on a separate shelf, away from the produce drawers.

• Pay attention to how produce is displayed in the grocery store. For instance, apples, pears and broccoli will likely be in a different section from leafy greens like kale, dandelion, spinach and swiss chard.

• Consume some vegetables raw.  When cooking, do so for the least amount of time and with as little liquid as possible. Vitamins break down when exposed to higher temperatures, and water contributes to vitamins leaching into the water.  

References

1. Foodland Ontario Availability Guide https://www.ontario.ca/foodland/page/availability-guide
2. How Does Cutting, Slicing, and Chopping Affect Fresh Vegetables? WH Foods http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=george&dbid=345
3. How to wash Vegetables and Fruits to Remove Pesticides. E. Honeycutt, Food Revolution Network https://foodrevolution.org/blog/how-to-wash-vegetables-fruits/
4. Bluapple https://thebluapple.com
5. Blueapple Produce Storage Tips https://thebluapple.com/pages/produce-storage-tips
6. Rubbermaid Freshworks https://www.rubbermaid.com/en-US/fresh-works