One thing that I think we can all relate to is buying lots of fresh produce for the week and then watching it slowly go bad in the fridge. I buy mostly fresh fruit, veggies and meat (aka the food with the shortest life-span) and don’t want to grocery shop every day! Personally, I prefer doing 2-3 small-ish grocery hauls throughout the week. That way I don’t want to decide what we’re going to eat for dinner 6 nights in advance, you know? But also because I can buy only what we need and waste less right off the bat. Over the years I’ve adopted a few tricks for keeping produce fresher for longer. I swear, you will be shocked how much longer your lettuce can survive!

Lettuce

Plastic tubs. The best life changing lettuce storage hack is to buy the large size tub of lettuce for the week, slip a sheet or two of paper towel on top, flip it over and store it upside down. Swap out the paper towel every few days when it’s damp — the idea is the paper towel absorbs any moisture to keep greens fresh.

Full heads of lettuce. If you’re buying lettuce by the head, they save well as they are, so don’t cut into them until you need them. Once you do cut into them, grab a stasher bag or Tupperware container and layer with layers of paper towel.

Bags. Bags of lettuce are hardest to keep fresh in my opinion. My advice is just to use it quickly, and if you don’t think you’ll finish it, stick it in the freezer — perf for adding to smoothies or even soups!

Berries

Paper towel to the rescue once again. After you’ve washed your berries and allow them to dry, top with a folded sheet of paper towel and store upside down. Similarly to lettuce, swap out the paper towel every few days.

Avocados

Keeping avocados fresh isn’t too difficult. Once they are approaching peak ripeness, they can be stored in the fridge for another 5-6 days. If you’re storing half of an avocado or pieces of one, I find that it keeps better if you store it with the pit and/or the shell. Especially if you’re storing just half the avocado, cover it with the empty shell and store in a stasher bag or Tupperware in the fridge. Have you seen my avocado cutting hack?  The same goes for tomatoes, melons (whole), citrus, kiwi, mangoes, plums, peaches and pears — ripen at room temp and transfer to fridge.

Onions + Potatoes

I usually only buy as many as I need, but if you’re buying onions or potatoes in larger quantities, I find that they last longer when I keep them in the pantry rather than on the counter. Anywhere that is dark and cool works well, and if they’re being stored for more than a few weeks at a time, keeping them in the fridge extends their life even longer. Garlic and shallots should be stored similarly — well ventilated area that is cool and dark.

Herbs

This one is so simple: treat your herbs like flowers. Trim the bottoms and store in a jar of water. You can also cover the jar with a large plastic bag for extra freshness. When you’re ready to use, you can just trim the herbs and stick them right back in the fridge. Herbs will seriously last for weeks like this, so make sure you swap out the water every so often.

Mushrooms

Keep in a brown paper bag in the fridge – they’ll last longer than you think before getting slimy, but definitely use within 5-6 days.

Carrots

If you buy baby carrots, they’ll stay good in their bag since they’re already floating in a bit of water. If you buy whole carrots, they’ll last in the fridge for a few days but will start to soften pretty quickly. To keep them crunchy, cut them into smaller strips and store them in a large jar of water. 

That’s all for now! Hope you found this helpful xx