Eating more fresh fruits and veggies is best. There’s no debate about that. But how do you keep all that fresh produce from going bad before you can eat it all? This is a question a FFTS reader asked me. I thought others might be wondering too. Here’s my top 7 tips that help me keep my kitchen stocked with healthy fruits and veggies without having it rot before I can eat it.
Life in Tanzania has taught me to think differently about food. Eating locally is really necessary here, as well as wonderful. So much luscious fresh fruit and veggies are here daily, all year around as you can see in the photo above taken at Central Market or Soko Kuu in Arusha. These sisters are my favorite venders. I can usually get almost all the fruit I want from them. Of course not EVERYTHING is readily available all the time. But there is always SOMETHING delicious in season.
And yes, there are imported fruits and veggies but they are generally ridiculously expensive and disappointing. The local fruit in particular is SO flavorful that the cardboard tasting imports and not appealing.
When things ARE in season, especially if you are growing your own, it can mean that you have more mangoes (for example) than you can possibly eat. Along with me doing my best to eat as much fresh fruit as I can this means knowing how to keep it from going bad before I can eat it is important.
So, with all that in mind here’s my top 7 tips that help me keep my kitchen stocked with healthy fruits and veggies without having it rot before I can eat it.
#1 – Shop more often – This one isn’t practical for most people. But it IS an option. If you can shop more often, or stagger your shopping out so that you visit stores in different locations on different days to keep a fresh supply of produce in your kitchen.
#2 – Plan your meals around what’s the ripest – I monitor the produce in my kitchen regularly and adapt what I will eat based on what is needs to be eaten now before it goes bad. Tomatoes about to go bad? Time for pasta sauce!
#3 – Use what is ripest first – I know that certain berries and greens will go bad quick so I always eat them in the day or two after I shop. I let the things that keep better wait until later in the week.
#4 – Put things in Fridge or freezer as they ripen – If you have more than you can eat before it goes bad, cut it up and put it in the freezer for later. Then you’ll have things for smoothies, or cooking on hand for when you don’t have fresh ones.
#5 Put greens in a plastic bag – Wash your lettuce and kale and other greens and put them in a plastic bag. They will stay crisp in your fridge for longer.
#6 Grow Your own – This is good on so many levels. In terms of having fresh produce, it allows you to pick just what you need when you need it. And there’s nothing like freshly picked! You can grow in pots or on your window sill if you don’t have garden space.
#7 Pineapple upside down – I learned this one just recently. Put whole pineapples upside down to allow the juice from the ripper end to help the green end to ripen. This will prevent you from having ½ the pineapple over ripe and the other ½ under ripe.
It might take time for you to learn what to expect from your produce based on how ripe it is when you purchase it, what the conditions are in your kitchen, and how fast you can consume it. But don’t give up! You CAN figure out the best system for you! It’s worth the effort!!
What tips do you have? Leave a comment below.
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