Storing Vegetables

bigmomma051204

Hi All

Just wondered, do you have tips for where and how best to keep vegetable as long as possible?

I am so tired of buying potatoes and finding they have sprouted and gone green within a day or so! :cool: Or getting mushrooms and finding they have gone manky within a day!

So - how do you store vegetables to make them last as long as possible?

thriftwizard

OK: big household here, so you may need to adjust appropriately.

Spuds, usually bought in 25kg sacks, which are sometimes shared with neighbours if they're likely to sprout inside a month. Kept in their sacks, inside a dark blue shopping trolley, in a cool, darkish area. They need to be kept away from light and warmth.

Onions, bought in 5Kg sacks: kept in an open rack in the conservatory, out of direct sunlight but otherwise not shaded. They need to be kept in the light or they'll sprout! And if kept in plastic, they'll rot or go slimy.

Mushrooms: transferred to a brown paper bag as soon as possible & kept in the top of our larder fridge, which is cool but not unduly so.

Sweet potatoes: kept beside the onions. They go black if they get at all cold.

Cabbages, carrots etc.: kept in salad drawer in fridge if warm weather; failing that, in a plastic bag in the fridge. In winter they're fine in the conservatory, but by now they'll start to sprout & go hard.

Kale (DON"T LOOK, MARDATHA!): if on stalk, pop into a hyacinth vase with water; it'll keep for a couple of weeks & even try to grow, put roots out & flower. If off stalk, treat as cabbage. Celery - ditto.

Bunches of herbs: in a vase full of water on the kitchen windowsill. Parsley & coriander stalks will go slimy after a few days, so you might like to freeze (chopped, in ice-cubes) or dry any you're not going to use straight away.

I know only too well that many of them would keep better still in a proper larder. But also that virtually nothing does well long-term inside a plastic bag...

meritaten

as above - I think plastic bags are the work of the devil when it comes to keeping veg at home!
and if supermarkets don't keep fruit and veg in 'chillers', you don't need to.

Emm-in-a-pickle

Mushrooms - in a brown paper bag, place inside a plastic bag with holes in - ideal is the zip-top bags they sell grapes in, but any holey plastic bag will do, then place in fridge, round the middle. Check them regularly, and change the paper bag if it`s looking soggy. They may go a bit dry, but they don`t go slimey or off. I`ve kept mushrooms over 2 weeks this way.

Pollycat

I agree about not leaving veg in plastic bags.

I put my potatoes in a Primark carrier bag in our garage (accessible from the hall) so it cool and dark.

In fact, most of my 'dinner' veg (cauli, carrots, cabbage etc) are kept in the garage, salad veg goes in the fridge.

TravellingAbuela

I use the black lined drawstring Potato Bags and Onion Bags from Poundland and keep in a rack on the top step of the garage, easily accessible from the kitchen. Salad stuff and carrots I keep in the fridge salad box in Stayfresh green bags, also from Poundland or Poundstretcher. Good idea re the Primark bags Pollycat! Will try that!

cheerfulness4

Failing having a brown paper bag for mushrooms you can pop some kitchen roll into their punnet (i remove the mushrooms and then line their box as if tucking them into bed, once back in box I pop the remaining half of kitchen towel over the top of them).
The towel absorbs the moisture snd the mushrooms last ages. I do wrap cling film found the box loosely too.

I use the same principle for celery and lettuce. I picked the tip up from a blog and it works fine.

Leeks, wrap round a piece of paper towel and then pop in a zip loc. They last weeks without ruining.

Didn't realise that onions needed light. Wondered where I was going wrong as was storing them near the potatoes.

Pollycat

TravellingAbuela wrote: »

Good idea re the Primark bags Pollycat! Will try that!

You're welcome.

The small ones are ideal for new potatoes.

Eenymeeny

I have a pull out drawer with a top shelf under the sink which I reserve for storage of micro cloths, clean rags etc. I started unpacking dry veg like potatoes and carrots and laying them on top of the dry cloths. (I don't buy big quantities) It seems to work, they are kept in the dark and dry and it is possibly quite cool under there. Multi storage!

[Deleted User]

I wrap celery or cabbage in tinfoil and store in the fridge ,celery especially keeps for ages like this I live alone so a whole celery takes me a couple of weeks to get through,or failing that I dice and freeze in a poly bag.