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Food for Thought Friday: fruit & veggie storage UPDATE! 🍒🥬
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Hello friends!
I am less than 2 weeks away from my big move across the country - eek! (#allthefeels).
Despite having sold my Ikea butcher block, my dishwasher being mostly unusable since it recently developed a major drainage issue, and my apartment otherwise full of boxes/in a shambles, I am still (somehow) cooking 🤣! I find it so fascinating to observe my tendencies during different seasons of life, especially around food, and this one is no different. Even though I'm a bit stressed right now, cooking is the one thing I can do that feels semi-normal and thus, comforting, in this time of otherwise-upheaval.
I suspect that THE thing I will miss the most about California is the produce. It is just SO FRESH and beautiful and delicious here, even in the winter. About 3 months ago, I had a strong feeling/commitment come on... "I CANNOT MISS any Sunday trips to the farmers market before we move!!!"
I have always gone to the market at least once a month, but I’d been getting a little lazy… letting my husband do our shopping at Whole Foods, or skipping the market more often than not. Even though I love to go, sometimes it’s just not what I want to do on a Sunday morning.
But… I am someone who thrives on a deadline, and so I have truly not missed a trip to our local Sunday farmers market since mid-March!
It’s been fun to be more consistent about my weekly market trip. I’ve noticed more closely (and gotten more excited!) when a new food pops up into season - first fava beans & strawberries, next blueberries & cherries, and now stone-fruit (for the first time last weekend)!
I’ve become more in tune with exactly how much produce we eat in a 7-day period, and this has helped me buy less each week. (And I’m telling you, my new hiking-backpack carrying system has been a GAME CHANGER; see #5 here).
Even though I’ve been pretty busy trying to sort through 10 years worth of stuff, I haven’t had trouble prioritizing time to cook quick meals with all my favorite produce, savoring up the last few months of my favorite California fruits and veggies being "local."
So, today I thought I’d do a quick FRUIT & VEGGIE STORAGE UPDATE, especially since I know many of you swear by my tips in this arena 😊. (I keep most of my storage tips here on my website, which I will update with the below soon!) Here’s the latest on how I’m storing my produce these days…
1. Jars / Plastic Containers in the fridge for berries, cherries, stone fruit, cherry tomatoes*
This is a really good hack, especially if you’re shopping at your local farmers market/fruit stand heading into the summer. I now swear by bringing a few large plastic containers to the farmers market. I empty the berry pints directly into these AT THE STAND when I buy them, and take them home this way. Then I pop the containers straight into the fridge when I get home, and store them in their containers all week. I would do this with jars instead of plastic, but since I’m walking too/from the market, jars are just too heavy. (If I was driving to the market though, I might do quart-size mason jars instead.) The benefits of this are SO worth the effort because:
- The berries/fruit make it home from the market without being smushed!
- They keep a little better/longer in the containers versus open-basket in the fridge.
- Because the containers are clear, I can see them well AND stack/organize everything better in the fridge when they’re not in those green baskets.
- I can give the baskets/container back to the farmer right on the spot to reuse, thus - no waste!
Yes, at first it was a little annoying to have to remember to bring the containers with me, but once I got in the habit, and especially because it helps keep the delicate berries in such great condition, I’m never going back!
*Note on cherry tomatoes - I always prefer to store my tomatoes at room temp for better flavor, but when I buy a larger amount, I will store half or some of them in the fridge until I decide to use.
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2. New produce drawer strategy / less plastic containers, more vejibags
Previously, I would store many veggies/greens in the plastic containers that I mentioned here. I’m not opposed to this, but have found it takes up too much space in my fridge, so I have since adapted my strategy a bit. I now keep more/most of my produce in vejibags, AND strategically arrange my produce drawer like this:
I keep slightly heartier or firm veggies in one layer, loose, on the bottom of the drawer; this includes:
- cabbage (whole heads)
- broccoli/cauliflower (whole heads)
- broccolini
- asparagus
- spring onions
- leeks
- fennel
- cucumbers
- zucchini
- beets
- celery
I then wet/squeeze out my vejibags and fill them with the following:
- carrots and/or radishes, tops cut off
- hearty greens (kale, swiss chard, collards, dandelion, etc
- lettuce
And then I lay the vejibags over top of the other produce, so the bottom layer benefits from the damp towel of the vejibag, but is also easily visible when I lift out the greens.
Over the last year, as I’ve adjusted to buying double the food (now that I’m feeding myself and my husband), I’ve found that when I can’t find or see produce easily, it’s WAY more likely to go bad before I cook it = no bueno.
It might sound silly, but also keeping the same food in the same spot consistently is something I’ve found to be a HUGE win - this is especially helpful if that particular produce goes bad quickly. (For example, I always keep my cucumbers in the front left of the drawer... when I put them somewhere else I seem to forget I have them!)
3. Sunday produce prep (when I have time):
When I can, I’ll do as many of these as I have time for and it REALLY helps set me up for the week…
If I buy:
Radishes - while the greens are still in a twist tie/rubber band, I use scissors to cut off each radish. Store radishes in a jar filled with water for about a week, max 2. Seeing these easily helps remind me to eat them! I also keep the radish greens! I first remove any brown/yellow greens, rinse the greens off, store in salad spinner, and add to my breakfast saute in that first day or two (the radish greens are totally edible, but do get yellow quickly).
Beets - cut off stalks/greens near the beetroot. Store and eat like you would swiss chard! I’ll store beets in the bottom of my produce drawer (under the damp vejibags).
Herbs - upon bringing home, remove twist tie, cut off a little bit of the bottoms, pick out any bad leaves, store in a jar of water, covered by a compostable "plastic" bag, on top shelf of the fridge.
Heads of lettuce - rinse well, store in vejibag. If I have time, sometimes I’ll pull off any outer leaves (especially if broken or slightly damaged), remove anything bad, and then break up/spin clean these outer leaves and place in a large bowl to prep a salad for that night. (Or I store in salad spinner in the fridge, ready to go for later.)
Spinach in a bunch - note that spinach in a bunch lasts longer than a bag. This is the one thing I will always store in a plastic container, (I use this one specifically, but any big one would work), as I find that helps it keep the longest. I will take off twist tie, place in the container I’m storing it in, rinse well, dump the water, then make sure there’s a little bit of water at the bottom of the container, as this helps it stay crisp. Eat within a week.
Green Sauce on Sunday - If/when I have time, I have recently started to make green sauce on Sunday when I bring the herbs home, instead of waiting till I don’t have another use for the herbs and THEN making green sauce to use them up, which is what I used to do. I’ve also started doing this in a way that keeps the remaining herbs lasting longer! Here’s what I now do:
For cilantro, parsley, & dill (which are my favs for green sauce):
- Remove twist tie
- Pick out any bad leaves and discard
- Chop off a little of the bottoms & save to include in the green sauce
- Then I quickly go through the bunch, taking out any smaller/shorter/broken or less-good-looking-but-still-edible stalks and use those to make green sauce that day, and I’ll store the stalks with a longer stem (as per the above description) to use throughout the week.
- ^this means the bunch of herbs I store in the jar of water will be looser, with less leafy parts stuffed in the water, and I find this helps them keep even LONGER - like 2 weeks or more! Big win!
- If I don’t have time to make the green sauce right then, sometimes I’ll just pick through the herbs this way and place them in my 2-cup or 4-cup pyrex, store that in the fridge with the lid on, and then make the green sauce within the next 1-3 days. The herbs keep fine in here for a few days!
I hope these help you out! If you have any updated favorite produce storage tips, I always love more, so reply back and let me know your pro-tips in this arena!
Love,
Jess
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All photos are taken by me and recipes written by me, unless otherwise noted.
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Hi, I'm Jess! I help health-conscious, busy people transform their cooking from chore to lifestyle through intuitive cooking, which I teach through online classes, free content, coaching and more. This is my newsletter, Food for Thought Fridays, where I share highly actionable tips and inspiration to help you cook more intuitively (which makes cooking feel easier and SO much more fun!). Once a month, I share a recipe that's really worth making, and I only share those with my email subscribers. Sometimes the text above may include affiliate links, meaning (at no additional cost to you) I get a commission if you click through and make a purchase. This helps me to continue to share free content, so I would love it if you buy through my link! Thank you for supporting Garlic Press Jess!
I currently work + live on land that is the unceded territory of the Ramaytush Ohlone. And I can't wait to eat at Cafe Ohlone! Check out this article about them.
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