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How to Buy and Store Vegetables

Eat your vegetables.

Your mother's voice echoes in your head every time you head to the supermarket. You know you should eat more leafy greens, rainbow colored vegetables, and fibre-rich fruit, but it seems like every time you shell out the cash for the fresh stuff, you end up throwing much of it away. You go shopping on Saturday, and by Monday, the lettuce is wilted, the tomatoes are mealy and squishy, and the avocados, well, their buttery flesh is streaked with black.

Food is expensive, and you can't afford to waste it. Canned or frozen fruits and vegetables are affordable and good for you, but frozen strawberries in December bear little resemblance to the succulent, sweet and fragrant berries you find in the supermarket or at the farmers market in the summer.

If you feel like you throw away a lot of food, you're probably right--and you're not alone. We throw away nearly 31.6 million tons of food a year. And a University of Arizona study in 2003 found that the average family pitches 1.28 pounds of food a day, for a total of 470 pounds a year! That's like throwing away $600!

To help cut down on food waste, you need how to store it, how long it should last, and what to eat first. We've compiled a guide to produce that will have you eating (not wasting) your precious produce.

Plants breathe, too.
If your asparagus is wilting and your pears are a breeding ground for flies within a couple of days of purchase, you're probably storing the wrong foods together or in the wrong place.

Fruits and vegetables give off an odourless, harmless and tasteless gas called ethylene after they're picked. Some plants, such as tomatoes, melons and apples, emit high levels of the gas. Other vegetables, such as greens, peas, and broccoli, are very sensitive to ethylene.

The gas speeds up decay of vegetables and fruit. If you store broccoli or lettuce alongside pears and tomatoes, your broccoli will turn limp within a few days, and your kale will look jaundiced.

Refrigeration (and cold temperatures in general) helps lengthen shelf lives of produce by limiting the amount of gas that your vegetables and fruits emit. Sound confusing? Just remember to keep your leafy and green vegetables away from fruits or round vegetables. Put fruits in one drawer and leafy, green vegetables in another.

Gas producers
  • Apples
  • Apricots
  • Avocados
  • Bananas (unripe)
  • Cantaloupe
  • Figs
  • Honeydew
  • Nectarines
  • Peaches
  • Pears
  • Plums
  • Tomatoes
Keep away from gas producers
  • Bananas
  • Broccoli
  • Brussels sprouts
  • Cabbage
  • Carrots
  • Cauliflower
  • Cucumbers
  • Eggplant
  • Lettuce and other leafy greens
  • Parsley
  • Peas
  • Peppers
  • Squash
  • Sweet potatoes
  • Watermelon
Where do I put it?

Refrigeration is not always the key to longevity for produce. Bananas, for example, turn brown when they get cold. (They're still edible, just unsightly!) And tomatoes get mealy and lose flavour when put in the fridge. Knowing where to store your food will extend its life.

In the refrigerator
  • Apples (if storing more than a week)
  • Apricots
  • Asparagus (cut one inch off ends, store upright in a glass of water and cover with a plastic bag)
  • Berries (unwashed, in a single layer)
  • Broccoli (unwashed, in a plastic bag)
  • Cantaloupe
  • Cauliflower (unwashed, in a plastic bag)
  • Figs
  • Carrots (in a plastic bag)
  • Corn (in a plastic bag)
  • Eggplant
  • Green onions (in a plastic bag)
  • Herbs (snip off ends, store upright in a glass of water and cover with a plastic bag)
  • Honeydew
  • Lettuce and other greens (do not wash, wrap in paper towel inside plastic bag)
  • Mushrooms (in a paper bag)
  • Okra (in a paper bag)
  • Oranges
  • Peas (in a plastic bag)
  • Peppers
  • Radishes (in a plastic bag)
  • Summer squash
On the counter (at room temperature)
  • Apples (if storing a week or so)
  • Avocados (once ripe, store in fridge for a couple of days)
  • Bananas (unripe)
  • Nectarines
  • Peaches
  • Pears
  • Plums
  • Tomatoes


In the pantry (or in a cool, dark, dry, place)
  • Onions (not near potatoes)
  • Potatoes (will be waxy if refrigerated; don't store near onions)
  • Hard-skinned squash (pumpkins, acorn and butternut squash)

 

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