Did you know most refrigerators do not have one constant temperature? Perhaps you’ve noticed sometimes the items placed in back of the top shelf have gotten icy, while the food on the bottom is just fine. Depending on where you put your food away in the fridge, impacts the shelf life and freshness of your produce tremendously.
Your Refrigerator
The coldest locations of your refrigerator are the higher shelves, towards the back of the fridge. It’s recommended to place fruits and veggies that are not effected by the colder temperatures in this location.
The front of the fridge on the middle to bottom shelves have the highest temperatures. Make sure you keep produce that is sensitive to chill-injury in these locations.
The bottom drawers are there for produce that has high water content. Be sure to periodically adjust the vents to your refrigerator to make sure they’re not getting too much humidity. When there is too much water built up in the drawers, it will cause your fruits and veggies to spoil quickly.
Tips
If your peaches are not ripened quite yet, don’t refrigerate them yet. Only put them in your refrigerator when they are ripe, for a longer shelf life.
If you have leftover produce that you don’t want to put to waste, try freezing them. Before you put them in the freezer, you should blanch them first. Blanching is just a fancy word for boiling your veggies in water for a few minutes before freezing them. This will preserve color, and slow down loss of minerals and vitamins. Don’t just toss them into a bag and put them in the freezer…then you’ll just have a big cluster of frozen veggies. Lay each piece of your produce on a baking sheet, then place in the freezer. Once frozen, you can put them into a freezer bag.
Produce that should not be stored in the refrigerator: Apricots, Papayas, Plums, Tomatoes, Nectarines, Mangos, Peaches, Pears and Bananas. You should keep these on your kitchen counter.
It’s always best to keep your produce in the same package you originally bought it in. Many bags and containers are specially designed to help preserve your produce.
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