Tip Tuesday: Lengthen the Life of Your Produce

Some of you may have been looking at my shopping trip that I posted yesterday wondering how I am able to use so much produce before it goes bad, especially because I mentioned that it will last me into this coming week. This week for Tip Tuesday I will show you how I package my produce. By taking the extra time to care for you produce when you bring it home, you will

• Waste less because food stays better longer
• Spend less money becuase you are throwing less out
• Save time. Prepping vegetables at once will improve your cooking time
• Eat more produce because you will have it prepped and ready to go

When I go produce shopping, I make sure that I have about a 2 hour window for prep work. This might seem like a lot but I am actually doing to enough chopping and washing to last for over a week.


Celery:

1. Each Stalk for celery into 2-3 pieces, removing any pieces you won't normally use.

2.  Clean sink and then fill with water. Add celery and swish around to clean.

3.  Drain in stainer until mostly dry before packaging

4.  Fold paper towel twice over. Wet and ring out, so that it is damp.

5. Place paper towel in bottom of gallon sized ziploc bag, this is what I do with all my produce. Add celery to top.


Tomatoes:  Clean, Dry, Bag.  I also chop 2-3 days worth of the ripest for easy salads

Romaine Lettuce: Chop, Clean, Dry well in salad spinner, Bag. Make sure not to store under heavy veggies in crisper.

Peppers: Clean out inside, Wash, Dry.  Normally I just package in halfs, so if I want to roast a pepper, I have that option.  But this week I knew I was making sausage, peppers, and onions, so I cut into strips.

I use these same techniques with all of my produce. At the same time I wash all fruit and chop any melons, as long as they are ripe. Plus I chop some onions so they are easy to grab.  The longer that I've done this, the less time it takes me. In the long run it is well worth a couple hours of work at once.