How to Make Your Produce Last Longer and Avoid Spoilage

Use these simple tips to make your fruits and veggies last longer and avoid produce spoilage.

One of the best ways to save money on produce is to not let your fruits and vegetables go bad. 

How often do you go to pull a pepper or a head of broccoli from the fridge and find out that it is already on it’s way to the garbage bin or compost heap?

That is such a frustrating feeling, especially when you know it wasn’t cheap to begin with!

By actually using all the produce you have already spent your hard-earned money on, you get its maximum value!

By taking a few precautions, you can ensure you have more time to use them up before they go bad.

Here are some simple tips to make your produce last longer.

How to Make Your Produce Last Longer and Avoid Spoilage

Tomatoes:  Do NOT refrigerate tomatoes.  They do the best when they are set out on the counter to use. 

They may last a bit longer in the fridge, but the cold will damage their texture and flavor.

Lettuce & Other Fresh Veggies:  Removing excess moisture from your veggies’ environment can work wonders.  (Too much moisture leads to early rot.) 

You can help by placing a paper towel in the plastic bag that they came in. 

For veggies like green beans, cucumbers and zucchini leave the bag open.  However, for lettuce or other leafy greens, close up the bag.

Fruit:  Fruit actually keeps best if you take it OUT of the plastic bag and store it in your fridge’s crisper drawer. 

Bell peppers (both red and green) also fall into this category.

Onions, Garlic, Potatoes:  These all do best when stored in your pantry rather than the fridge. 

If you have a cooler area of the pantry or house, that would be optimal. 

Keep your onions away from your potatoes however as their gasses can speed up spoilage.