Whatever happened to the old fashioned vegetable rack?

Spendless

Due to a re-jig in my kitchen, I now have a seperate fridge and freezer instead of a fridge/freezer. The fridge is smaller than my old fridge freezer, reading the instruction manual it says don't put in it the following bananas (I knew that), onions due to smell haven't noticed them semelling when whole, citrus fruits and potatoes, claims it makes them sprout, tbh I had more of a problem, when I didn't keep them in fridge

Cos the salad crisper is smaller, I'm going to have to be more ruthless about what I keep in there. I got thinking about using a veg rack instead. The sun sets on the front of my house, whilst the kitchen is at the back so I don't get the sun thru the window making room too hot, I could probably also leave a rack in a cupboard, if I re-sort cupboards. I had a look in town today for a veg rack and couldn't find one.I do have an old wooden one, that is currently a 3 tier bunk bed for DD dolls, and she did get a new dolls cot for her birthday last week, so I could probably re-claim mine.:D

Having a search on net I found this as to why veg racks are a bad idea. Do you agree? Any more advice on storing veg please.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A152902

tru

My veg rack lives in the bottom of my larder cupboard, I don't have any problems with rubber carrots

celyn90

I find that some veg goes bad quicker in the fridge (I guess because of the condensation). I store potatoes in a tissue lined box in the (somewhat arctic!) spare room and carrots, onions and other hard stuff like squashes in a cupboard. I don't think there is any problem in keeping stuff outside the fridge if you have somewhere dark/cool/dry to do it. Mushrooms and salad live in the fridge, normaly in paper bags if I can find them. I would love to have the space for a veg rack! Can't say I've ever had a problem with citrus fruits in the fridge or with onions or potatoes though, don't get that one!

Bambywamby

I use a veggie rack for most of my veggies and to stop them going off quickly I store the vegetables in brown paper bags collected from the Fruit & Veg shop.

I am not quite sure why veggie racks are an environmental hazard however I certainly wouldnt bask my rack in sunlight for fear of shrivelled, sun dried food.
x

Jayar

I have always kept veg in a couple of those plastic storage box thingies under the sink and I can't say I've noticed veg deteriorating quickly. Mind you, if I think I'm going to have them for more than a week or so, I freeze the excess.

Gingham_Ribbon

The potato council have this to say about storage:

Q: What is the best way to store potatoes?
A: Get your potatoes out of the plastic bag and into a cloth bag or natural fibre bag.
Store them away from onions somewhere cool, dark and airy - not the fridge.

I store mine in the thick paper sack they arrive in, but not sure what to do with carrots? We don't have room for a veg rack but our fridge is quite large.

LJM

i have a veg rack and keep my potatoes/onions/carrots/grren veg all on there never have had a problem with it

floyd

We store root veg like spuds, swede, parsnips and carrots under the stairs in a veg rack and anything leafy/green in the fridge. Onions tend to lurk on the worktop for ages without going mushy or sprouting. We did use a cloth bag for spuds for a while but we kept forgetting they were in there and buying new ones while the old ones festered away!

Spendless

I hadn't thought about using plastic storage boxes, thanks Jaygar.:T . We are getting rid of our 2nd fridge freezer too, as it was in an outhouse and barely used. It was on its last legs anyway, but has gone mouldy now due to our buildrs switchingit off :rolleyes: . They must have needed plug socket for something and forgot to turn it back on. I could rescue the salad crisper drawers that are in there and put them to good use, storing the veg, not sure where I'd put them yet, will have to have a think :think:

Gingham, where do you store the potatoes in their sack, outside?

exlibris

I keep my veg under the kitchen sink in a plastic box that has holes in it. The usual under-the-kitchen sink stuff is under the utility sink which is next to the kitchen through an arch. I have one bottle of washing up liquid and spare dishcloths and scrubbers under the kitchen sink too. It has been lke this for a year and I have less rubber carrots than I did in the fridge!

Addiscomber

You need to store potato sacks in a rat free place, so outdoors may not be a good idea. Presumably you are thinking of in a shed? because they shouldn't get wet either.