Let’s face it. Right now our grocery budget is just not getting us as far as it once did. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a way to keep produce fresher longer? How nice would it be to have fresh greens in the refrigerator that didn’t turn to green-brown slime? Let me share with you today some of the best hacks I’ve come across for keeping fresh produce fresh for weeks!
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Soft fruits and berries.
With a carefully prepared solution that includes 5% Distilled White Vinegar, you can remove several nasty pathogens from your soft fruits and berries such as mold spores, listeria, e coli, et cetera using the following technique. You do not want these fruits to rot or ferment from being in the solution too long. Be certain you set a timer and only soak for 2 minutes. This is key.
Put 1/4 cup of distilled white vinegar in a large bowl of water and soak for 2 minutes. Rinse thoroughly in a colander or sieve. Lay out on a counter lined with a fresh linen towel and allow to air dry for 3-4 hours. When completely dry, place in a glass jar lined with a paper towel, cover with a lid and place in the refrigerator. Blackberries & Raspberries: fresh for 2-3 weeks Strawberries: up to 3 weeks Grapes: 4-6 weeks Blueberries: 6-8 weeks
This also works for vegetables and greens as well. For example, lettuce will remain fresh for 4 weeks, cilantro and parsley, celery and carrots all stay fresh for 6-8 weeks using this method. In fact, not only does this keep vegetables and fruits fresh, if you wash a pineapple crown upside down in this solution in a deep stock pot, you can eliminate all the nasty fruit flies that come along with it!
Cilantro and parsley: after soaking in the vinegar solution, trim the ends off and place in a jar of filtered water in the refrigerator. Trim ends and replace the filtered water every 10 days. Asparagus and broccoli: same as above. Remains fresh for about 4 weeks. Whole lettuce leaves should be washed and dried as strawberries, then place in a glass dish with leaves lying curve upwards, rather than with the curves all at the bottom collecting excess moisture like a bowl would.
Groceries are expensive, especially when you are buying real food versus processed foods. By learning these skills for washing and keeping our fresh produce we can make our produce budget do so much more for our family. When you consider how much money is wasted by throwing out spoiled or rotten food, it is really convicting. Some research says that it is even up to 30% of our food spend that is literally thrown in the trash or down the garbage disposal.
Certainly many times as homemakers we see this waste and know it is not good so we choose processed food products and packaged snacks. These can literally sit on our shelves for months without going bad, but they are what is eaten first instead of the more nutritious food. Now you have a way to choose healthy food knowing that you can keep it fresh for eating before you have to toss it!
With a little effort and planning we can literally turn our time into money. We can truly be wise stewards of what God has entrusted us with. If you are interested in more grocery hacks, feeding your family a more nutritious diet, and stewarding your family’s health well, I would invite you to check out this incredibly helpful ebook from the Cross Legacy. Amy Cross is a foster mom with an incredibly big heart. You will love learning from her!
Comment below with any tried and true money-saving grocery hacks that you practice. I’ll see you next week!