5 Food Hacks That Keep Your Fresh Produce From Spoiling Too Fast
Be smart during lock-down and lessen food waste with these hacks.
Vincenzo Malagoli via @pexels Food spoils, but there's a way to slow the process down. Now that everyone is encouraged to practice social distancing, it's important to plan two weeks of meals and make your groceries last longer.
Fresh fruits and vegetables can go to waste when not stored properly. So, what are you going to do to stop your fresh fruits and vegetables from going bad?
Is there a food hack to prevent food from spoiling?
Food can be kept fresh longer when you store it properly to avoid waste caused by spoilage.
In general, fresh produce can be expensive, especially if you're buying fruits and vegetables that are organically grown.
Food spoilage happens to everyone, and no one really goes to school learning how to store their groceries.
Obviously, we’re all going through the same thing right now because the COVID-19 virus has completely taken over the world, just like every supervillain ever wanted to.
I bet you Dr. Doofenshmirtz and Drakken would be jealous right now. (If you don’t get those references, quarantine is the perfect time to look them up and become well acquainted with those characters.)
Anyway, if you’re doing this whole quarantine thing right, you are now faced with a problem: how to store your food so it lasts longer.
You aren’t leaving your house unless absolutely necessary for work or to get groceries when you run out, so it's a legitimate question and one worth answering.
For those of you who are taking the less aggressively quarantined route and still leaving your house unnecessarily or have people over or hang out with friends, stop. People who practice social distancing stop the virus from spreading.
But hey, if one of the reasons that you’re still leaving your house is because the fresh food you stocked is going bad, there is a food hack to save you the trip. You might need to replace them.
Your perishables don't have to go to waste or rot. If you do these food hacks.
I’m gonna let you in one a few secrets on how to preserve those foods a little longer.
You will enjoy trying these out during this lock-down nightmare, so you don’t have to buy food as frequently.
Here are 5 food hacks that prevent fresh produce from spoiling and helps them to last longer.
1. The store your produce right food hack
Not all produce is supposed to go in the fridge. A lot of them are for sure, like, apples, apricots, broccoli, cucumbers, lettuce, cauliflower and plums (if anybody even buys those.)
However, there are others that should be left on the counter: peaches, avocados, bananas, whole watermelons, nectarines, and tomatoes.
The third category of fresh produce needs a dark, cool area, (like a pantry): potatoes, onions, and garlic.
Make sure you’re putting your perishables in the correct places, so they’ll have a lot better chance at surviving long enough for you to eat them all.
2. The smart fridge placement food hack
We all know how it goes. We have leftovers from a meal and put them in the fridge. Somehow they make their way to the back of the fridge shelf and you don’t see them for weeks.
By the time you do find your leftovers, they’ve got other moldy friends growing on it that cause waste.
Make sure to keep your leftovers front and center of the refrigerator so you’ll remember them and eat them.
Make sure that you eat them within a couple of days of making the original dish because if you don’t, you know you’re less likely to eat them after a week even if it’s still good.
3. The wrap your produce food hack
Air is bad for some produce. Some fruits and veggies last longer when sealed.
Plastic wrap is excellent for cucumbers, apples, and bananas. Seal the stems of your bananas in plastic wrap to keep them fresh longer. If they turn brown after a while, use them in bread or muffins, don’t just throw them away.
Aluminum foil helps celery and sliced avocado last longer.
You can wrap leafy greens, mushrooms, and berries with a paper towel to keep moisture out and avoid food spoilage, too.
4. Water food hack
If you love guacamole, this food hack is for you. I love guacamole, but it always turns brown so fast that I never want to eat it after that.
Apparently, if you put your guac in a plastic container and spread it out across the bottom evenly, you can make it last longer with water.
Hit the container on the counter a few times to get the air bubbles out, then pour a thin layer of water on top of it to keep the air out.
Seal the plastic container with the lid and store your leftovers in the fridge. Water helps to keep it fresh a few days longer.
When you want to eat it again, you pour out the water and stir the guac and it’s good to go. (I’m excited to try this one.)
But other veggies benefit from water when stored. Sliced cucumbers, celery, parsley, asparagus, and other long-stemmed leafy greens last longer when they are stored in water.
5. Natural nut butter food hack
This could really go for any nut butter.
You know how when you leave peanut butter for a while and all the oil is at the top and you have to stir it to eat it and it’s still kind of runny and gross so you don’t really want to eat it anymore?
Well, don’t worry anymore. If you store the jars upside down, the oils will rise to the top which is now the bottom of the jar and your peanut butter will remain buttery. It’s a perfect solution.
So, while you’re cooped up in your house for the next who knows how many weeks, use these hacks to prevent your food from spoiling too fast.
These may help you to avoid food waste and lengthen the time between trips to the grocery store, too.
Hayley Small is a writer who covers pop culture, spirituality, love and relationship topics.