Keep your fruits and veggies from going bad

Eating healthy means getting lots of fresh fruits and vegetables in your diet. Fruits and vegetables are expensive and if not stored properly they will go bad before you get to eat them.

Oxygen, Moisture and direct sun are our worst enemies on keeping fruit and vegetables to last longer after you get them home. Crispers in your fridge are usually great but sometimes it is hard to tell what foods should be left out and which foods should be refrigerated.

Here is a list of some popular fruits and veggies we have at my house and how we store them:

Apples – to keep them longer store in a plastic bag you can seal either in our fridge or on the counter. If you store them in the fridge they will last longer.
Baby Spinach – After the bag is opened, add a paper towel to the bag when you restore it to absorb moisture. Remove any damaged leaves you see in the bag.
Bananas – Hang in a cool part of your kitchen
Berries – wash or don’t but place in a bowl lined with a paper towel to absorb moisture.
Herbs and Asparagus – treat like fresh cut flowers. Cut off the ends and store upright in water and cover with plastic, if possible.
Kiwi – store at room temperature until they are ripe and then move to the fridge
Strawberries – put dry, unwashed strawberries in an air tight mason jar and refrigerate
Tomatoes – store on the countertop out of direct sunlight.

Freezing fruits and vegetables is always an option. Wait until they are ripe before freezing. For breakfast I will often have low fat cottage cheese and thawed out frozen fruits. So delicious!

I like storing my fruits and vegetables on the countertop. Call it whatever you want but I think it looks nice and is a nice reminder for me to grab an apple here and there. If you are storing fruit on the countertop keep it out of the direct sun to prevent them from going bad faster.

I love having lots of fresh fruits and vegetables in the house but is can be hard to eat them all fast enough when there are just two people in the house. Storing your food better will helpfully help you make the most of your fresh items.

Amanda O’Brien is originally from Peaks Island, Maine and currently works at Hall Web Services managing their inbound marketing team. She is a self proclaimed workaholic who tries to maintain a busy lifestyle. She is an amateur yogi and runner.