Five hacks to make fruit and veg last

WHILE potatoes prefer to stay dry, herbs enjoy a constant supply of moisture. Bananas usually live outside the fridge, while lettuce stays inside and avocados need a bit of both worlds. It can all become a bit much, trying to keep track of produce preferences. Here are five hacks to help keep all those fruits and vegetables happy.

Vinegar rinse

Rinsing vegetables in vinegar is said to improve their longevity. Try this hack on apples, berries or peaches. Mix half a cup of vinegar with a litre of water and let your produce sit in the solution for a few minutes. Allow to dry and store in the fridge.

Bananas

Wrapping banana stems in plastic or tin foil can help to keep them from overripening too quickly. If you don’t manage to wrap your bananas in time, overripe bananas can be salvaged. The fruit can be peeled, chopped and frozen to be used in smoothies or set aside to bake banana bread another day.

Also Read: Help: My child hates vegetables!

Avocados

It’s a well-known fact that lemon juice helps to prevent cut avocados from turning brown, but did you know that you can also keep cut avocado in a bowl of water to stay fresh? Try half-filling a bowl or Tupperware with water and place the fleshy side of the avo face down in the water. If you have too many ripe avocados on your hands, you can peel and mash your avo and store it in the freezer. You can also try to stagger an avo’s ripening time. Place a few avos in a fruit bowl with bananas to ripen quicker. To slow down the ripening process, wrap a few avos in newspaper and store them in your fridge.

Potatoes

Store potatoes in a cool, dry, dark place to keep them fresh for longer. If purchased in a paper pocket, avoid removing soil as this can help to preserve those potatoes. If purchased in a plastic bag, unwrap your spuds and place them in a dark cupboard or line your veggie rack with newsprint to keep the light out.

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Lettuce and herbs

Keeping lettuce dry can help to make those leafy greens live for another salad. Remove the plastic wrap the lettuce is sold in. Try lining a bowl or container with paper towels. Place the lettuce on top and cover with another layer of paper towels before closing the container or covering the bowl. Placing the lettuce in a paper bag might also do the trick. To keep herbs fresh for longer, try wrapping the stems in dampened paper towels or placing the herbs in a glass with a little water in it.

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At the time of going to press, the contents of this feature mirrored South Africa’s lockdown regulations.