You can easily save money by making your groceries last longer. We’ve adapted some ideas from BuzzFeed.com and our personal experience of making groceries last as long as possible…because we like saving money too! What other tips do you have?
- An ethylene gas absorber is one of the most valuable products to help preserve food in the fridge. It eliminates gasses produced by fruits and veggies.
- Regularly clean out your fridge.
- Avoid pre-cut fresh foods. Sure, they’re convenient, but items like bagged salads and pre-sliced apples are much more expensive and they don’t last nearly as long as whole fruits and veggies. If you want pre-cut, we suggest bags of frozen fruits and veggies.
- Storing apples and potatoes together keep potatoes from sprouting. The same ethylene gas that makes some foods spoil quicker actually has the opposite effect on potatoes, helping them last longer and stay fresher.
- Rinse berries in a diluted vinegar solution before putting them in the fridge. This extends their shelf life in the fridge.
- Store onions in a cool, dry place away from other produce.
- The Herb Savor is a fun kitchen gadget for preserving herbs. To save money, try using a tightly sealed plastic bag and storing in the freezer.
- Never store tomatoes in plastic because the ethylene will make them ripen and spoil very quickly. Ripe tomatoes should be stored at room temperature away from sunlight.
- Store bread in the fridge to fight off fuzzy mold.
- When in doubt, freeze it! If you have leftovers, too much of a particular item, prepared or fresh, odds are that it’s freezable. If you’re unsure if it can be frozen, check online.
- Just remember, the less air that comes into contact with your food, the fresher it will taste when it comes out of the freezer, so take a little extra time to prepare your foods for storage.
