Too much of our food goes to waste, which is not only frustrating financially, but also not very good for the planet. We should all be trying our best to avoid creating any more waste than absolutely necessary. And food is a great place to start being more conscious and sustainable! It is really quite easy to keep your produce fresh and vibrant throughout the week. All it requires is a little forethought and some new habits.

A week is really not too much to ask for in terms of freshness from our produce. Most fruit and vegetables can easily stay fresh for that long. It usually comes down to us not properly storing our produce that makes it go bad before its time.

If your fruit and vegetables seem to go bad too fast, you might need to start paying attention to how you store them. And use some of these tips to help you keep your produce fresher for longer!

Use Fridge Drawer Liners

One of the best ways to keep your produce fresh all week is to invest in some drawer liners. Fridge drawer liners are a product specially designed to absorb extra moisture and keep mold from growing.

This can help your produce remain nice and crispy all week without wilting or rotting. It is a great option for vegetables that don’t tend to stay fresh for very long such as tomatoes and zucchini. It is also good for leafy greens that tend to become soggy over the course of the week.

You can buy fridge drawer liners online or at local stores that carry Tupperware.

Know What Produce to Store With What

If you want your vegetables and fruit to stay fresh all week, you need to learn how to store them properly.

Apples, for instance, should not be stored with any other fruit as they produce a lot of ethylene which encourages ripening. This can result in overly ripened or even spoiled fruit if it is kept with a fruit like apples. Some other fruits that do this are bananas, honeydew, mangoes, and pears.

Certain vegetables can have the same effect, which is why they should also be stored alone. Potatoes create a lot of ethylene as well as tomatoes.

These types of produce should be stored on their own to avoid them encouraging the other produce to spoil.

Dry Everything Off

It is normal for us to want to wash all of our fruit and vegetables before we put them away. It is a great habit to have, but you need to avoid putting away moist produce.

Moisture is going to encourage mold and wilting, which will make your produce spoil so much faster than you want it to.

After washing your produce, you can either leave it out to completely air dry, or you can towel dry it by hand. Make sure that every fruit and vegetable is thoroughly dry before putting it away. You can even store your produce with some paper towels to encourage the absorption of any remaining moisture.

Freeze Produce

One of the best ways to keep produce fresh all week is to freeze what you can. This will completely stop the aging process and keep your fruit and vegetables perfectly fresh and vibrant. However, it won’t work for all kinds of produce – especially depending on the intended use.

Certain vegetables don’t hold up as well to freezing, such as potatoes, which can go grainy, and zucchini, which can become mushy.

If you are using produce for smoothies, chopping them up and freezing them is a great idea. You can also freeze vegetables to add to soups or casseroles throughout the week.

Use Storage Containers

If you find that you consistently have issues with your produce going bad, you might want to invest in some produce storage containers. These containers are built with ventilation to encourage produce to last for longer. Unlike normal containers, these containers allow air to circulate, helping produce to not grow mold or become mushy.

This is a great option to keep your food fresh all week and even longer!

Only Buy the Best

Sometimes how long our food lasts comes down completely to the quality that you buy. If you want your fruit and vegetables to stay fresh all week, then you need to buy the best quality available.

Try to inspect the produce before you buy it. Avoid produce that has been cut or scraped and has been exposed to air. Choose firm or unripened produce over produce that is already starting to go soft. If you have a meal plan, this can help dramatically since you will know when you will be using your produce.

One great way to keep your vegetables and fruit fresh all week is to buy them before they are ready to eat. This way, they will be perfectly ripe when you want to eat them.

More Tips:

• Squeeze lime juice over a cut avocado to keep it from becoming slimy and brown.
• Wrap celery in tin foil to help it maintain its crunchy texture.
• Wash your berries in a water and vinegar bath.
• Do not refrigerate apples, bananas, nectarines, peaches, or apricots. This will make them gritty and bland.
• Store mushrooms in a paper bag to help them last longer.
• Do not store vegetables and fruit together.
• Keep produce in the crisper for the best long-term storage.
• Don’t store potatoes and onions together or squash with potatoes.
• Pick out any moldy or soggy berries before putting them in the fridge. One bad berry can turn the whole batch bad.

Learn How to Cook Plant-Based Meals at Home!

Reducing your meat intake and eating more plant-based foods is known to help with chronic inflammation, heart health, mental wellbeing, fitness goals, nutritional needs, allergies, gut health, and more! Dairy consumption also has been linked to many health problems, including acne, hormonal imbalance, cancer, prostate cancer and has many side effects.

For those of you interested in eating more plant-based, we highly recommend downloading the Food Monster App — with over 15,000 delicious recipes it is the largest plant-based recipe resource to help reduce your environmental footprint, save animals and get healthy! And, while you are at it, we encourage you to also learn about the environmental and health benefits of a plant-based diet.

Here are some great resources to get you started:

• Weekly Vegan Meal Plans
• Plant-Based Health Resources
• Plant-Based Food & Recipes
• Plant-Based Nutrition Resources
• The Ultimate Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition
• Budget-Friendly Plant-Based Recipes
• High Protein Plant-Based Recipes
• Plant-Based Meal Prep

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