Tips to keep fruits and vegetables fresh for a long time

Sometimes you buy a lot of fruits and vegetables but you don't need them or can't finish them. The following tips will show you how to preserve them so they stay fresh for a long time.

1. Be a smart shopper

The easiest way to keep fruits and vegetables from spoiling is to buy them only when you are sure you will use them within a few days. It is obviously more convenient to go shopping on the weekend and stock up for the week, but by the end of the week some of the fruits and vegetables will be inedible because they are dried out or rotten.

Therefore, you should go to the market at least twice a week to ensure that your family always enjoys the freshest food.

More importantly, shopping for groceries or supermarkets requires “strategy”. Buy fruits and vegetables just before you check out at the supermarket or after you have finished buying other foods at the market. Finally, when planning meals for the week, eat perishable vegetables first, such as cauliflower, corn, mushrooms, and asparagus. Next, go for cucumbers, squash, and peppers. Carrots, onions, and beets have the longest shelf life.

2. Identify ethylene

There are some fruits and vegetables that you should not store near each other, even in the refrigerator. The reason is that the ethylene gas in fruits can ripen them, but other fruits and vegetables are especially sensitive to this gas. Therefore, if stored near each other, the decomposition process of these sensitive fruits and vegetables will occur more quickly than normal.

Some fruits that produce a lot of ethylene are apricots, bananas, pears, peaches, plums, tomatoes, and cantaloupe. Vegetables that can be affected by ethylene include cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, green beans, peppers, squash, and lettuce.

3. Use the refrigerator properly

When kept in the refrigerator, fruits and vegetables go into a coma because they are still living, breathing organisms. The cold temperature will limit the respiration process of fruits and vegetables and keep them fresh longer. Most refrigerators should be set at 2 to 3 degrees Celsius to keep food fresh without freezing.

However, you should not put vegetables too close to the refrigerator at the back, the bottom drawer is always the safest place for them.

Wrapping fruit and vegetables in plastic bags will suffocate them, so poke a few holes in the bags. Store mushrooms in paper bags, as they will spoil faster in plastic. Never remove stems or skins, as this causes changes in the cells inside the fruit and vegetables. Moisture also causes fruit and vegetables to spoil faster, so don’t wash them, or rinse them but let them dry completely before storing them in the fridge.

4. Vegetables and fruits should be placed on the ground

Potatoes, onions, squash, and garlic should not be refrigerated. Store them in a cool, dark place like a pantry or cupboard, especially potatoes, which turn green when exposed to light. Be careful to keep rodents away when storing fruits and vegetables on the ground.

According to VnExpress