1. Keep your fridge clean! I know it’s not fun, but it is a necessary even if you want food to last longer. Leftover residue can increase the spoilage of all your food that is in the fridge.
2. Get an Ethylene gas absorber for your fridge, “Debbie Meyer” green boxes are so easy for storing produce.
3. Make a delicious pesto with the rest of your herbs. It will last 1 week in a glass jar in the fridge.
4. Place fresh herbs and leafy greens in a jar or vase of water, just like you would a bouquet of flowers. They’ll last longer and you’ll have a beautifully green arrangement!
5. Here’s a fun trick for onions: If you want them to last up to 8 months, all you need do is grab that old pair of panty-hose you’ve been allowing to hide in the back of your top dresser drawer, place the onions in the panty-hose, and then tie a knot in between each one to keep them separate. Then hang this from the ceiling.
6. Dried green onions/chives can be chopped up and stored in a plastic water bottle and kept in the freezer. When you’re ready to use some, just pull this out and sprinkle for a little something’ something’ to add to your dish.
7. Store potatoes with apples to keep them from sprouting, and don’t let them anywhere near your panty-hose onions. Onions will make them go bad faster, but apples are a potatoes best friend!
8. When it comes to chopped up salad greens, your worst enemy is moisture. If you can keep the moisture at a minimum, then you’ll keep your greens longer. Keep them in a bowl with a paper towel, and cover with plastic wrap. The paper towel will absorb the excess moisture.
9. Don’t add tomatoes to your stored salad greens. The tomatoes contain the moisture that will wilt and rot your greens quickly.
10. Trapped moisture will also make mushrooms go bad. Store them in a brown paper bag in the fridge or a cool, dry place. Don’t use plastic or glass, as this will trap in moisture.
11. Don’t overstock the fridge. This leads to poor air circulation, and we want to keep our fruits and veggies at optimal temperature!
12. Clean your berries, fruits, and greens in a mixture of 10 parts water and 1 part white vinegar. Not only will this remove excess dirt and even pesticides, but it will also help them last longer by preventing mold.
13. To keep cut apples, avocados, or guacamole from turning brown, spritz with a little lemon juice and then cover with plastic.
14. Remove rotten apples immediately, because one rotten apple WILL spoil the entire bunch.
15. Keep bananas away from your other produce, as they produce some of the highest amounts of Ethylene gas.
16. Place plastic wrap around the crown of your banana bunch to keep them lasting longer. If you want them to ripen super fast, place them in a closed plastic bag. Since they emit so much Ethylene gas, they’ll ripen quickly when the gas is trapped by the bag.
17. Tomatoes should stay at room temperature and away from sunlight. If you have your own tomato plant, you should pick tomatoes as soon as you notice that they are ripe. The sun does an excellent job at ripening and spoiling them (especially once they are off the stem). Be sure not to store your tomatoes in plastic, as this will trap moisture and increase the likelihood of spoilage.
18. If you’d like to make your herbs last even longer, consider drying them. Bunch herbs loosely together with some string, and then hang in your kitchen.
19. Here’s another fun way to store herbs: Cut them up, place in an ice tray, add olive oil, and then freeze. Then you have oil and herbs for your dishes at a moment’s notice!
20. If you’re not up for having an entire fridge of greens in vases of water, you can store things like celery, lettuce, kale, and broccoli in Debbie Meyer green boxes to decrease their spoilage time.
21. Don’t keep meat and produce in the same area of the fridge. This makes cross-contamination likely.
22. If you’re into using roots like ginger or turmeric in either your cooking or juicing, you can store these in the freezer and they’ll still grate quite easily (peel and all!).
23. Use glassware for fridge storage of fruits and veggies. Many plastics may contain harmful chemicals that can increase spoilage. This is just another reason to have more fun Mason jars! You can even use a Food Saver vacuum sealer on Mason jars.
24. It probably goes without saying, but pickling or fermenting, freezing and canning for long-term storage of fruits and vegetables is the way to go. And you don’t need an expensive canner to get started with canning.
25. Store your nuts in either the freezer or a Food Saver jar/bag. The key with nuts is avoiding moisture and air.

Clean your kitchen; it’s a sacred place for your health and digestion. Be thankful, every day, for your abundance. What are you grateful for today?

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