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Why am I stabbing plastic bags?

Don’t worry…it’s not because I’m overly stressed. It’s a result of Glad’s #SAVEITSUNDAY program.

Remember how I told you that Glad put together a great page with tips for storing the most commonly wasted foods?

Well, one tip really caught my eye.

I like to buy my broccoli without packaging if possible, but the problem is that the broccoli doesn’t keep too well without a plastic bag.

So, when I read that you can poke holes in a zipper bag to make a breathable broccoli bag, I was all over it.

storing broccoli

I should be able to wash and reuse the bag multiple times, which means I can buy my broccoli heads loose and store them in a very low-waste way.

Yay!!!

In other food storage news, my fresh basil is hanging out on the kitchen counter right now (Glad is right when they say not to store it in the fridge…the leaves will go black.) Room temperature is best.

store basil in water at room temperature

On the fruit front, there are two storage ideas I’m going to try out and then report back on next month.

First?

Bananas.

I try to buy them as green as I possibly can, but darn it, it is always a guessing game…trying to figure out how many we’ll eat and how fast they’ll ripen.

However, I recently saw a trick on Instructables for slowing the ripening of bananas. Apparently, if you separate the bananas and wrap a small bit of Cling Wrap around the stem, the ripening process will be slowed significantly.

banana wrapping

I won’t need to do this with all the bananas we buy (we do eat a lot right away), but I’m definitely going to try it on a few to see if we can make some last through the end of the week.

I know another option is to put the bananas in the fridge, but I do really prefer them at room temperature. So, I hope this works!

And the other trick I’m going to try is one for berries, which are both expensive and very prone to going bad.

(Raspberries, anyone?)

strawberries

FYI, this a photo of berries we picked from a local farm in June. I don’t buy this many berries out of season!

I’ve seen this trick floating around the web for the last year or so, but I’ve honestly never tried it.

(Mostly because I am usually too lazy to mess with it when I come home from the grocery store. But the whole point of #SAVEITSUNDAY is to take steps right away to carefully store food when you bring it home. So, I’m trying to change!)

Lifehacker says this tip comes from that favorite site of mine, Cook’s Illustrated, and involves rinsing the berries with a mixture of water and vinegar. I’m really intrigued by this, so I’m going to fork over some money for out of season berries and give it a shot.

Next month, I’ll let you know how these two methods worked out for me.

Have you tried any new food storage techniques lately? Do share, because heaven knows I always love to learn about more ways to prevent food waste.

__________________

By the way, I joined instagram recently, and I’ve been having fun sharing some of my anti-food waste adventures there. I’m easy to find…my username is thefrugalgirl.

If you haven’t already, join me and over 7000 other people by taking the #SAVEITSUNDAY pledge. And take advantage of Glad’s food protection pointers to help you keep your pledge.

I’m part of the blogger panel for #SAVEITSUNDAY, so this post is sponsored by Glad. However, my enthusiasm for the topic of food waste predates this program by over five years, and all text is mine.

 

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Liz @ Economies of Kale

Sunday 24th of November 2013

I've never heard of that banana trick, but will be trying it out. I live alone and often a whole bunch of bananas will ripen at the same time. It would be great to be able to slow them down.

Sadie

Friday 22nd of November 2013

I peel "just right" or "overripe" bananas, break or cut them in about three or four sections, wrap in freezer paper and freeze. They are perfect for my daily morning smoothies. They keep a very long time in the freezer and are perfect for cooking also- especially the overripe ones. Btw, overripe is not the best term for dark bananas, this stage of ripeness is the best for digestion and deep flavor. Love your blog. You keep me aware of food waste. I'm slowly getting better.

Vicki

Friday 22nd of November 2013

The cling wraps works fairly well even if you do not separate the bananas. :)

Sarah

Friday 22nd of November 2013

I wonder if that is why the stems of organic bananas are always wrapped in a little plastic "shower cap." I've always wondered why the organic ones are sold that way, but not the conventional ones. Possibly the organic bananas are prone to go bad more quickly.

WilliamB

Tuesday 26th of November 2013

I thought that was to keep bunches of bananas together, since single bananas usually don't sell.

Cocomama

Friday 22nd of November 2013

I use Abeego beeswax wraps in place of cling wrap. I don't trust a company like Glad, dispensing advice on how to use their products to "help" me pollute the earth. No thanks. Humans have been storing food long before Glad provided us with the convenience of ocean-clogging sheets of toxic plastic.

Incidentally Abeego is exactly the kind of company that allows us to "give by spending" (your blog post a couple of days ago & no I'm not affiliated). Glad is most definitely NOT that company.

Kristen

Tuesday 26th of November 2013

Just now getting time to respond more fully to your comment.

I completely understand and respect your commitment to environmentally friendly living, and I share your desire to reduce waste. However, I don't feel that the produce storage methods I've been advocating are extremely wasteful. There's a happy middle ground to be found, I think, between the goals of no food waste and no packaging.

It's true that people have been storing food for millenia, but sometimes, that storing wasn't working too well. I mean, people stored food without refrigerators, but few of us would consider giving up our energy-using hunks of plastic and metal, you know? The advantages of a fridge and freezer far outweigh the downsides, in my opinions.

So too, I think a little bit of Cling Wrap is worth it if it keeps the bananas fresh. And a plastic bag that can be reused for many more heads of broccoli is also worth it.

Certainly, if you can manage to keep all of your food fresh with Abeego and other such means, that's awesome! But I know that not everyone can afford to stock their kitchen with 100% reusable items, and I want to be sensitive to that...most of us use a combination of reusable and recyclable items.

Kristen

Friday 22nd of November 2013

Oh, I'd never heard of those...gonna go check them out. Thank you!

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