Why do my fruit & veggies go bad so quickly?

[veronica]

Am I produce challenged??? Seriously, even cucumber with mold within a week? Get's me to asking two questions:

How on earth does the "humidity control" work on the fridge drawers? Do we open all the way or close them?

And-what do you refridgerate and leave out? We have tried every combination but now I just left out bananas, nectarines and plums. Grapes, strawberries, carrots, broccoli, green beans are in the fridge. Avocado, onions and potatoes are out. What about sweet potatos? tomatoes?

[jhrabosk]

Hmmm...I'm sure that others will have much more and better info than I, but we've (and by "we" I mean DH) been experimenting with this a lot as we joined a CSA this summer and are getting more produce than we can handle...

Your list of what stays in and what stays out sounds right to me. I always leave sweet potatoes out with regular potatoes. Tomatoes stay out, but that has more to do with preserving the best flavor...refrigerated tomatoes get mealy.

DH believes that the humidity control works. The way I look at it, you want things that wilt in higher humidity...things that mold in lower. We've been trying to wash our greens immediately and put them in plastic bags with some damp paper towel...has been making them last MUCH longer.

I've never had a cucumber mold, so I'm a little perplexed by that one, but berries and things that are prone to getting moldy/mushy shouldn't be washed before they go in the fridge. Wash them as you use them.

Onions, potatoes, garlic, etc should be in a cool, dark, dry place.

HTH! I'll be looking forward to input from others!

[linsei]

I'm glad you asked, b/c some of yhe items we get from the csa are a wilty mess when we are ready to eat the next day. It's a reall issue since it is practically impossible to eat anything the day we pick it up (we can't p/u until after 6 pm).

I have read that lettuce can be refreshed in a cold water bath about 30 minutes.
Broccoli in salt/ice water bath 30 minutes.

I try to store my onions and potatoes away from each other. When together, they seem to rot faster. My mom says store in the garage in winter/basement in summer.

I leave out the same things as you. Tomatoes and sweet potatoes out.

Next time I get asparagus, I'm going to try to store it in a tall glass with a bit of water at the bottom. That is how I see it at the store.

Here are a couple of resourcesI found quickly, but I really wish I could find something better. I'm hoping someone has better advice.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-best-way-to-store-produce.htm
http://www.emerils.com/recipes-help/9/How-to-Store-Produce

eta maybe your cucumber already had a bruise? I would not think it would have spoiled so quickly.

[C99]

Separate onions and potatoes -- something about the gas produced by onions will make potatoes go bad if stored together. That said, I don't think vegetables are really supposed to last forever in the fridge. I would expect to eat most berries w/in 3 days of purchase and vegetables w/in a week.

[WatchingThemGrow]

At first I was going to say, "Because you bought them at TJ's!" referring to my gripe in another post about their produce always going bad on me...

I'm learning a lot already from the replies. I have nothing to add except that I saw somewhere - an infomercial???- some *revolutionary* produce bag. A lady's name was attached to the name of this patented bag. Sounded like a good idea. Anybody got one?

[MmeSunny]

They are crap. I bought into the whole thing too. . and ended up wasting $10. They don't work any better than regular plastic bags. Consumer Reports just did an "expose" on them in the last issue of Smart Shopping.

My fridge drawers are prelabeled FRUIT and VEG and the humidity corresponds to what you push the dial to, if that makes any sense and I don't have a lot of mold issues. Incidentally what I have found that works great is this little green disk I picked up for about $3 at Walmart, by the bananas. It's supposed to collect some type of gas that produces gives off and makes it spoil. It's worked so far. I get an extra 4 days on some things and longer on others.

[veronica]

yeah-saw the infommercial on the bags and the next day saw them at the local drugstore. we were tempted but didn't do it, now glad we didn't.
I don't seperate onions and potatos so I will now.

I don't expect things to go forever but we only get to food shop once per week and I hate that the berries go bad. it says not to wash until ready to eat for strawberries but then if one starts to go, it must "infect" all of them!

[kijip]

We have EvertFresh bags from my co-op grocery store and they really do work, especially with veggies- I even did my own expermint to test them out. I don't know how/if they are different than the ones mentioned here that don't work.

[belovedgandp]

Good storage containers helped us with the berries and cut fruit/veggies. I am way too lazy to wash as we use. I tend to buy at Costco, so I was a bunch and cut a bunch at one time. I can wash and cut up strawberries. Make sure they're dry when put in the containers.

Even berries last 7-10 days in my fridge. We had strawberries today (7/15) for lunch that I bought on 7/5, washed/cut/stored on 7/6. We do a lot of cucumbers, carrots, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, watermelon, and cherries around here.

[WatchingThemGrow]

Good storage containers helped us with the berries and cut fruit/veggies. I am way too lazy to wash as we use. I tend to buy at Costco, so I was a bunch and cut a bunch at one time. I can wash and cut up strawberries. Make sure they're dry when put in the containers.

Even berries last 7-10 days in my fridge. We had strawberries today (7/15) for lunch that I bought on 7/5, washed/cut/stored on 7/6. We do a lot of cucumbers, carrots, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, watermelon, and cherries around here.

That is some amazing hang-around time...

What kind of containers to do find that work well, or is it the "work" you put into prepping them ahead of time?

Sad to know Debbie's bags don't work. It was a fleeting thought, but I thought that if they ended up on "that wall" at Bed Bath and Beyond, they must be a gimmick. Now I won't even look.

[shilo]

hmm, no science behind it, but i have pretty good luck with our new fridge. i can tell you that our fruit in particular lasts A LOT longer in our new fridge than it did in the old one. we had the original 'builders special' low end GE that was put in when the house was built 15ish years ago up until last year. when we upgraded to a new maytag french door (mid range stand alone type fridge, not a built in) last year, all of the sudden, our produce, milk and other dairy/cheese, etc. started lasting a lot longer. it does have a little humidity slider for each of the two produce drawers for fruit vs.veggies, but i have no idea what the fridge does differently for the two settings. we've found we get the best performance from it when the fridge is set at 37 degrees for this particular model (but it has a separate little vent to chill the milk compartment down lower - prolly 35ish?)

as far as what goes where, my general rule is to start with whatever the grocery store would do with it. so things like bananas stay out until *just* ripe (little to no green left, but has not darkend to the deeper yellow yet). then i put them in the fridge. they do brown on the peels, but the fruit inside stays firm and fresh for an extra 4 or 5 days. all of my farmers market fruit like plums, peaches, nectarines, mangos, avocados and apricots are the same. i leave them out until when they are *just* ripe (the tiniest bit of softness/give) and then put them in the fridge if we haven't gotten to them yet. grapes, cherries and berries that would be refrigerated at the store go straight into the fridge at home. i tend to wash as i use. i also try to rotate thru the berries/grapes i have on hand so i can cull any trouble makers and use the most ripe first. if i've picked multiple berries for the week, i start with the most mold prone first (generally use raspberries first, blackberries, strawberries, blueberries and then cherries).

root veggies that aren't peeled stay out. i don't buy in the huge bags tho, so i generally have no problem using before they start to sprout.

any veggies that would be in the chiller section of the grocery go straight into the veggie drawer, even if they come from the farmer's market, unwashed, unpeeled. but i tend to buy and use within the week, so maybe that's why i'm not having an issue?

as far as your cuc's go, any chance you're buying them ripe and ready to eat? maybe you can ask your produce guy/gal to help you pick a couple, one that's ready to eat right away, and one that will last you a few more days before it's ready to go? i also found a great little book at williams sonoma that i flip thru whenever i'm in their store about how to pick out each kind of fruit and veggie. i've picked up some good tips from it as well over the years.

hth, lori

[lisams]

I got these EGG things http://www.4theegg.com/ at Whole Foods and they seem to be really helping. I put one in each drawer - one for the fruit and one for the veggies. It works by absorbing the gas that the produce give off which is what makes them ripen faster. My biggest problem was the grapes growing mold after 3-4 days and now they are staying fresh between shopping trips (at least one week).

[MartiesMom2B]

I have tupperware fridgesmart containers that have really helped with keeping my veggies and fruit longer. They work great.

[belovedgandp]

That is some amazing hang-around time...

What kind of containers to do find that work well, or is it the "work" you put into prepping them ahead of time?

Sad to know Debbie's bags don't work. It was a fleeting thought, but I thought that if they ended up on "that wall" at Bed Bath and Beyond, they must be a gimmick. Now I won't even look.

Sorry meant to share that too. I got distracted a dozen times earlier (can't imagine why?).....

The containers I have are from Sharper Image. Supposedly there's silver or something in the plastic that helps keep things fresh. They are definitely the most airtight containers I've had. Of course they are also the first storage containers I've had besides disposable gladware. The set I have was also at Costco earlier this year, but I tried to find them recently and they didn't have any.

[sdjeppa]

Actually, I have found the "debbie's bags" DO work. We are part of a CSA, and we were getting so much, it would go bad before we could eat it. Now I have lettuce and stuff lasting well over a week, when before it was wilty within 3 days or so. They have made it so I wasn't wasting as much as I was before, because some days we weren't home to cook, so it would go to waste.

[emily_gracesmama]

Does anyone else find that their organic produce seems to go bad faster or maybe it is that I get a lot of the organic stuff at TJ's?