8 Easy Tips to Help Make Your Fruits and Veggies Last Longer

Looking to avoid food waste in your breakfast program? Want to ensure that your fruits and veggies stay fresher and tastier for longer? Here are eight great ideas on how to make the most of your produce!

1. Remove any elastic bands from your vegetables after buying them. They can damage and break vegetables, especially leafy ones.
2. Remove leaves from your root vegetables (radishes, carrots, parsnips, beets, etc.). Leaves tend to absorb all the water and decrease the shelf life of root vegetables.
3. Punch holes in the plastic wrap of vegetables that come in trays to let them breathe. You may have noticed that the plastic wrap on mushrooms, for example, is already perforated. This helps prevent them from becoming slimy.
4. Put your bananas in the fridge before they are too ripe. Their peels may turn black, but the fruit inside will stop ripening. You can make delicious banana slices now or store them in the freezer for subsequent use.
5. Freeze your leftover fruit and use it later. Any fruit can be frozen. Tip: Spread the fruit or fruit pieces out on a large baking sheet and put in the freezer for an hour. Then transfer to an airtight container to store. This way, the individual pieces will freeze separately, so if you need a certain quantity, you won’t have to defrost the whole batch. Frozen fruit can be added to yogurt, porridge, muffins, smoothies — anything!
6. Add lime or lemon juice to your fruit salad to keep it fresh. This will stop the fruit from browning and keep your salad appetizing.
7. Put a paper towel at the bottom of berry containers to absorb moisture. This will increase the shelf life of your berries and prevent the formation of mould.
8. Freeze any “ugly” fruit and make compote out of it when you have enough. This works with apples, pears, peaches, berries or an assorted mix! Check out our cookbook for a simple berry compote recipe that can easily be adapted to any fruit you have on hand.