Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Tippin' Tuesday Take 2

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our second question is actually from myself and reader kristen: how to keep produce from going bad in your fridge? my family and hers (along with several others) joined a farm co-op for the year. we receive a week's worth of produce in one day, all organically grown from a local farm. BUT we have been having difficulties getting the produce to stay fresh for the duration of the week. i did some research on this:

*most produce should be kept between 32-36 F
*relative humidity of 95-100%
*get your produce in the fridge asap

obviously not everything gets refrigerated e.g. tomatoes, a lot of citrus, banans. if your fridge doesn't have a temperature listed inside, get a thermometer for the fridge, to help you manage the settings better. i would LOVE some more ideas here!!

3 comments:

Lizzy @ The Tip Spot said...

i was just thinking about a way to beat the bad produce yesterday. it seems that most of the veggies i toss are due to poor planning: overbuying, buying without a purpose, flaking out on a meal...

my newest idea is to deduct the fallen produce from my personal spending budget. i bet nothing will go to waste this way!

Sarah said...

I love watching Alton Brown's show good eats on the Food Network. On one of his shows he talks about how to preserve lettuce. He rinses the lettuce and then lets it air dry. He then wraps the lettuce or greens between paper towel and then places them in a ziploc bag. He then sucks all the air out of the bags. I do this with all my lettuce and it lasts way longer.

You can also cook up some of your greens (mustard, turnip, etc.) and freeze them. These are great for soups, stews, etc. I do this with herbs as well.

korie said...

The one thing I know for sure about this is bananas! You have to keep them away from other fruit the gases they give off ripen the other fruits quicker. Plus if you hang them they themselves last longer. I thought those hanging things were just for looks but they really serve a purpose. On the other hand if you have a fruit you want to eat and it's not ripe you can store it near your bananas to ripen it quicker.

Plus I always here Rachel Ray say never wash your berries until your ready to use them.