Grow Youthful: How to Slow Your Aging and Enjoy Extraordinary Health
Grow Youthful: How to Slow Your Aging and Enjoy Extraordinary Health

How to make your vegetables last longer in the refrigerator

Intact. Cut off any soft or bad bits before storing.

Whole. Keep them whole when you store them. Chop and prepare them just before serving.

Dry. Keep them dry. If you wash leaves or other vegetables, dry them before putting them in the refrigerator. I usually wash and dry my fruit and vegetables when I get back from buying them at the farmers market. It takes time at that point, but then they are ready to take out of the refrigerator and use immediately. The biggest fruit and veges I lay on a kitchen towel. I also have a hand-cranked vegetable spinner that rotates at multiple times the speed I am cranking. It dries light vegetables and leaves with centrifugal force. It always surprises me how long the washed and dried leaves keep in the refrigerator.

Vacuum. There are several vacuum pump containers available. Whilst they are fiddly and take up more space, they are effective. They let you store all kinds of fresh foods, not only salads, for several times longer.

I use a hand vacuum pump to keep opened bottles of wine intact. If there is half a bottle left after a meal, I insert the rubber stopper that has a one-way valve in it, attach the hand pump, and pump until feeling resistance. The wine will last for several days in the vacuum.