The Great 'how do you stop fruit and veg rotting' Hunt

Carrots in sand or rice.
Since they are actually porus, wash eggs, then in oil such as olive oil. There was something they used to put them in like gel-o in the old days - what was it called?

It's a matter of either keeping moist or keeping dry or keeping out the air.. or in!
The confusing thing is that what works for somethings (i.e. keep air out), it's the reverse for others.

Need a tablet for reference after this thread has run a bit

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

When you buy a bunch of bananas split them up into singles because they ripen quicker when attached to each other

Gosh, I didn't know that... I get Mr LW to split them up if they're in a bunch because my hands are so bad that I can't break one off the bunch, so I'm inadvertently doing the right thing!:D Indeed, the market stall I use often sells bags of "single" bananas at a discount, because people don't want to buy them that way, they want bunches, so if those are available, that's what we get.:o

OK, here's some things I do, in no particular order:

I use these in the fridge;
http://www.lakeland.co.uk/3528/Fruit-and-Vegetable-Cushion
but you need to take them out once a week and clean any accumulated condensation out, and dry the cushion. The whole point is they keep the condensation away from the produce, but it does collect underneath.

Spuds - in their paper sack in the spare room; they seem to keep fine there. We take them out of the sack and lay them out on newspaper for 24 hours when we get them home; this means any damp mud on them dries and if there's a lot, can be chipped off; so it doesn't sit in the sack damp to turn the spuds manky. Also, that way I get to pick out any that are large enough to use for jacket spuds.;)

Chop and freeze pineapple, for use on pizza etc.

Freeze most soft fruit. It won't be as firm when you defrost it, but there are any number of recipes that you can use it in.

Over-ripe bananas - make banana ice cream.

Make jam.

Make wine. Even wizened potatoes can be used to make wine. (NB- tomatoes cannot be used for wine-making)

Lemons - slice and freeze for use in tea (I don't like milk in my tea, I like a slice of lemon instead)

Bendy-veg soup - you can use most veggies past their best this way.;)

I buy my fruit'n'veg from a rather good local market stall; it's cheaper than the supermarkets, and far, far better quality; in the summer, if I'm well enough, we do PYO - some of this gets jammed, some frozen, and some eaten fresh.

Meal Plan!! It may seem obvious, but buying a 10lb sack of cheap parsnips when you haven't a scooby what you're going to do with them ain't MSE.:D

Even a paper bag aka Primark will do a great job extending the life of spuds Be sure to keep in a cool and dark place.

Generally I try not to buy too much, and to make soup or prepare elements of meals in advance if I know I have too much stuff.

But it doesn't always work, so I've found that these Fruit and Veg savers eek out extra life from my fruit and veg:
http://www.fruitandvegsaver.co.uk/

Seem to work for me.

most of my vegetables last but for some reason my carrots dont. They always go limpstastic after a few days and have to go in a stew or something as floppy carrots arent appetising on a plate!