Keeping fruits and vegetables fresh for as long as possible is important but can be a challenge – especially in the very hot seasons. Statistically, about 17% of consumer-available produce is discarded, encompassing food removed from supermarket shelves, restaurant refuse, and household waste.
With the right techniques, you can extend their shelf life while also preserving their nutritional value. Here are some effective methods to preserve the freshness of your produce:
1. Go for Fresh Produce
The first step to maintaining freshness is selecting the freshest fruits and vegetables. Look for vibrant colors, firm textures, and avoid any with bruises or soft spots.
Freshly harvested produce will naturally last longer, so also choose fresh produce that has been harvested ‘as recently as possible’. Most online and in-store grocery shops should be able to provide their stock and stock management information.
2. Store Your Groceries Properly
Once you purchase your groceries, store them properly to maintain their freshness. The freshness of perishable groceries is firmly hinged upon temperature management. This includes how long it takes to get them refrigerated, AND IF their refrigeration remains uninterrupted until they are consumed.
Store pantry items also need to be kept in a cool, dry place. Onions and rice for example will go bad if they come into contact with water. Most traditional grain cereals will start germinating if they are exposed to moisture. Proper storage includes selecting the right bags and/or containers in which to store your produce.
3. Avoid Bulk Washing
Most fruits and vegetables have an ‘additional invisible, edible, plant-based protective coating’. This is a natural crop adaptation to protect them against food waste, damage by pests, weather and other elements. Washing them removes that protective layer. This is why most fruits and veggies will go bad soon after they are washed. To avoid this, wash only before you use, or if you really must wash them, wrap them well with a cling film after washing them.
4. Pickling, Fermenting, Dehydrating, Blanching and Freezing
If/where you buy fresh groceries in bulk or if you would like to keep your produce for a while longer, consider these preservations methods. Each of them has its unique benefits as well as requirements in order to execute successfully and ultimately preserve your produce for a much longer period. We will go into further detail in subsequent publications.
5. Ethylene
Certain fruits like bananas and apples produce a gas known as Ethylene. This gas speeds up the ripening of produce. It’s important to know which items these are that produce Ethylene, and which items to store far away from them, as the same gas will spread to nearby produce and cause them to go bad. This is why for example it’s not always a good idea to store vegetables and fruits together.
Overall, it is possible to achieve a much longer than average shelf life for most grocery items, depending on how well one understands each product and how to store it. Check out our product-description against each product as we do provide a brief guide on how to keep each product so as to prolong its shelf life.
