It’s amazing how much we actually throw away. A quick look at the foodwise.com.au website states the following facts.
• Australians discard up to 20% of the food they purchase
• Up to 40% of the average household bin is food
• $2.67 billion of fresh food wasted every year
Wow! This is a ridiculously large amount of waste. There is so much you can do to stop contributing to food wastage in Australia and storing your fruit and vegetables the right way is one of them.
Does your produce rot too quickly?
So you may have started out right. You created your meal plan, you shopped for the groceries, you even had a plan for the leftovers so nothing would go to waste. But you didn’t anticipate ethylene gas turning your fresh produce into a rotting mess. Ethylene gas is a naturally occurring gas that is emitted from lots of fruits and veggies as they ripen but can also speed up the ripening on your other produce too.
There are many solutions available.
The solution is simple. There are many products available with carbon filters that absorb the ethylene gas and therefore slow down the aging process. Some you can just throw into your crisper drawer with only the need to change the cartridge every three months. Then there are complete storage systems with inbuilt carbon filters, humidity controlled vents and clever designs to promote airflow. These special types of containers really do help keep your produce fresh and crisp right up to the point you need to use them.
With a few simple systems in the fridge it’s amazing how much money you can save by avoiding food wastage. Do you freeze any of your fruit and veg? Certain produce can be frozen and then added to meals at a later stage – think of stews or bolognaise or smoothies. I freeze avocados, berries, corn, spinach, kale, mango, pineapple, all peeled and seeded first. Frozen fruits make great smoothies as you don’t need to add any ice! Then whatever doesn’t get used or frozen at my house goes to the compost bin to feed my thousands of hungry worms – very little produce gets thrown in the council bin!
The fresh produce containers that I use are Tupperware Vent Smarts, OXO Greensaver Produce Keepers and the Keep Fresh Cartridges. Spending some money to have a great storage system for your fruit and veg definitely makes it worth the initial investment.
See you next time!
Mei x
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