HOW TO KEEP YOUR FRUITS & VEGGIES FRESH FOR LONGER
1 of 3 in the Mason Jar Magic series
tldr: Use Mason Jars to store your food, they come with several advantages and reduced environmental and health risks when compared to traditional plastic storage.
I got most of the information in this post from the site My Plastic Free Life. It’s really informative and perfect for anyone who wants to learn more about this topic.
Having fresh food in your house is great. It’s a healthy source of nutrition, with many uses in the kitchen. Sadly, unlike their processed friends, fresh foods spoil quickly. Sadly tossing away leftovers isn’t just wasting food. Experts say it’s destroying the planet.
Wasted food ends up in landfills and sends methane gas into the air. Methane is a much more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide and much worse for the environment.
The simple solution to this problem is, Mason Jars! Storing your fresh foods in mason jars helps keep them fresh for way longer than usual. But!! You should know that I have no scientific evidence to prove that this works. You’ll be taking a leap of faith if you try this.
Mason Jars have advantages
Being made of glass, they are non-porous. This makes it easy for them to resist dirt and even easier for you to clean and tell if they are dirty or not. Glass is also inert so you won’t ingest any chemicals like those found in plastic, BPA or others. If you’d like to read more about glass and its advantage visit myplasticfreelife.com.
Clean food is fresh food
So the first step on your journey to longer-lasting food is to wash it, really well.
Optionally, toss a few tablespoons of distilled vinegar. Submerge your fruit and soak for 15 minutes. This gets rid of any mold or bacteria. Remove the fruit and rinse with cool water.
After rinsing your fruit. You can then cut and choose what you’re keeping. This is the time to slice peppers, remove stems, and any mushy, moldy, or bruised fruit. Be picky, if the fruit is already going bad it will not last long.
Dry everything really well. Let your fruits and veggies sit out on the counter to dry. You can use a paper towel on the counter or a metal sieve.
Once dry, place the fruits & veggies in appropriately sized mason jars
If it looks like there’s condensation in the jar, add a paper towel to absorb some of the moisture.
You don’t need veggie bins when each type of produce you have has its own transparent glass container. The transparent glass will also let you see your food, which will hopefully remind you to eat it before it goes bad.
It’s a good idea to lay tall jars on their side when you have soft, heavy fruits like peaches and don’t want the weight they have to smush those on the bottom.
You can add or remove humidity by placing damp (carrots, celery) or dry (grapes, berries, cucumbers) paper towels to the bottom of a jar.
If you don’t want plastic touching your food, leave a little airspace when using jars or place waxed paper between the food and the lid, or use waxed paper instead of a hard lid. This is very useful if you have too many fruits for the jar you are using.
Finally please remember that glass too has an environmental footprint, so consider reusing the jars you might already have in your home. Hope you found this useful.
Have a great day!!
