Best Way to Keep cut Veggies Fresh

[3bigdogs]

Gosh, I am pathetic! Any ideas about the best way to keep cut veggies fresh? Salad greens fresh as well. Like I stated before, I am trying to get my week, or at least the front end of the week, organized and prepped to avoid any potential pitfalls.

[Veganforlife]

Hey there! That's great being proactive! I do that too.
For my greens, I love my salad spinner. It's wonderful. For the rest of my produce that requires refrigeration? I use Tupperware's Fridge Smarts. They are awesome. I do not wash before I put them in the containers. I was as I go. Of course my produce is organic, so that helps. The fridge smarts are way cool because you can control the climate. It was well worth the investment. I bought my Mom and Aunt a set of them, plus the salad spinner. I usually soak my greens in the basket in the salad spinner in cold water for about 20 minutes to a half an hour. Then I drain, put the spinner together and spin. This keeps the greens fresh for a long time. Same with the fridge smarts. It really does prolong the life of the veggies and fruits. And saves on the landfills by not using plastic bags and all.
My other fruits I keep in wire baskets hung from my ceiling. The air is able to get all around them and ripen them really fine. I put my tomatoes in a wire basket too, until they really start to ripen, then into the fridge they go. My avocados I always refrigerate. I found they ripe too fast not in the fridge. My pineapples? I store outside of the fridge upside down (green side down) until they are golden in color. Then I cut off the green and put it cut side down into the fridge at least overnight. The sugars then drain throughout the entire pineapple.
I bought my fridge smarts years ago and was so glad I did. I bet eBay has them cheaper then you could get through Tupperware...just a thought.

[trinity082482]

I don't know how to keep produce fresh lol.
My fruits stay in the same bags I bag them in at the grocery store. I just throw them in the crisper. My veggies usually sit on the fridge shelf. I dont have much room in the crisper for everything. I think the weight would make the crisper plastic drawers break off the sides lol I buy LOTS of fruit!
If I cut something up and put half back in the fridge, I use sandwich bags to keep them in. Sometimes the odd plastic container will do but I dont own many. I throw them out once I loose the matching lids :rolleyes:

[juliebove]

Gosh, I am pathetic! Any ideas about the best way to keep cut veggies fresh? Salad greens fresh as well. Like I stated before, I am trying to get my week, or at least the front end of the week, organized and prepped to avoid any potential pitfalls.

Salad greens might not last a week. I used to buy those bagged salads. They do seem to keep better (at least some varieties) but because of the e-coli, I quit buying them. I do buy bagged Romaine. The kind they sell three of so heads to a bag. That seems to keep for a while provided you leave it whole and unwashed.

For cut veggies, you could try these:

http://order.tupperware.com/coe/app/tup_show_item.show_item_detail

I have two. I bought two because I wanted one for vegetables that needed less air and one for vegetables that needed more. I used to mix my cut veggies in the appropriate containers. Husband broke one of them though, not realizing that the lid simply lifted up to get the stuff out. He kept pulling on the little tab on the end (the ventilation or lack thereof control) until he snapped it off, rendering it useless.

They worked quite well, but the problem I had with them was storage space. The fridge I have now is a side by side and it just doesn't have enough space in it to accomodate those and other things.

Due to medical problems, I used to have to cut up all my veggies at once, hoping they'd last a week because I was unable to stand up for any length of time. I bought a barstool and I'd sit on that to do the cutting.

My legs have gotten a little better now so I can stand up for a little longer. I've also gotten less picky about the foods I am eating for myself. Instead of cutting celery into sticks, I don't cut it at all. I saw this on a kid's show. Perhaps they didn't let the kids use knives or something. Anyway, they simply washed the celery then snapped off the ends of the ribs with their hands and stuffed it with something. So that's what I started doing. Snapping off the ends. And if I want smaller pieces (like to take with me in a bag) I simply snap it into smaller pieces. Yeah, it doesn't look too pretty, but it tastes just the same.

For carrots, I either buy the peeled "baby" carrots, or I just cut the ends off a large carrot and eat it whole. If it is too thick I might lop it into smaller pieces, but I don't care what it looks like.

I learned to quickly cut up bell peppers by cuting down the sides. Instead of cutting them in strips (unless for some reason I want strips), I leave them in large chunks.

I also bought a food processor. This saves me a TON of time if I want something like onions for onion bread.

So now for storing things that are cut up, I mainly use plastic bags. They take up less room in the fridge. I do have an onion keeper because onions can give off a potent smell. And I have a large tomato keeper because tomatoes are just too juicy to store in a plastic bag.

I have seen linen and other bags designed for storing greens. I haven't tried them though.

[Vegan Princess]

Tomatoes shouldn't go in the fridge..they lose their flavor that way.

[ndpoohgirl]

I've got a ton of the fridgesmarts from Tupperware, I use those or other TW pieces for everything, can't stand bags wasting bags myself.
I cut up everything that needs it the same day I buy it, then I don't get lazy or forget about it & end up composting it. They do say not to wash things before you put them away, right now I'm using things up so fast I'm not too worried about losing anything ;)

[salsababy]

Ohhh...I have noticed those Fridge Smarts years ago. I wanted them so bad but decided to wait.

I absoultely HATE to keep the produce in plastic bags. They kind of get icky that way. I am going to go look them up. A good suggestion!! :D