I purchased a lettuce crisper. I feel that the initial investment has been a good one in that we now get a longer use from the lettuce. I also place tomatoes, shredded carrot, diced cucumber etc in glass containers in the fridge and find that they last longer that wrapping in cling wrap. I created a mini ‘salad bar’ using glass containers and the kids love it as they can just help themselves whenever they want.

Maybe try to buy them when they aren’t so ripe. You can keep things like berries for ages if you put them in jars in the fridge with some paper towel in the bottom. I use excess veggies in casseroles and stir fry’s to use them up. And compost anything that goes bad so I feel like I haven’t wasted anything.

I bought some produce pod bags and they make my fruit and veg last weeks longer

I keep mine in the fridge in the “crisp” draw and they always last longer than that. Berries we remove from the punnets and keep in these fridge containers, broccoli in big zip lock bags in the fridge.

I never have this issue. Are you keeping them in the fridge? My tomatoes can last as long as 2-3 weeks in the fridge in a plastic bag, so long as they are not overripe. Store bought ones tend to last a little longer than home grown. Lettuce lasts me until I have used it all – generally a couple of weeks as well. It is important to keep anything like that in plastic bags in the fridge – fridge air is very dry and will make things wither or dry out if not bagged.

Make sure your fridge is cold enough, for a start.

some shouldn’t be washed until ready to use.

Fridge, freezer, canning, pickling, sun drying, and some be kept in water

Good one mom101628 ! I use paper towel too to keep it fresh and absorb the moisture. And growing stuff yourself is a wonderful way of having your veggies nice and fresh ! I do mostly lettuce, kale and spinach and have a mango-, lemon-, mandarin- and orange tree 🙂

I always line my storage containers with paper towel before storing the asparagus, green beans, peas, Brussel sprouts, etc. and it seems to keep them fresh for up to 2 weeks if I haven’t already consumed them. I must admit I grow a lot of my salad produce and because it is freshly picked it does last longer. Easy to do and the taste is wonderful, especially for lettuce that you just pick as many leaves as you need for the meal.

Avocado’s I also buy once a week and pop them in the fridge once ripe. I buy mushrooms 2x a wee as 2 of us love to eat them raw and like them white and crunchy (mushrooms I keep in the fridge too)

I have a wooden potato box and similar for onions. With an old news paper on the bottom of the box, my potato’s and onions stay well for several weeks.
I keep part of my fruit in a dark cupboard and part in the fridge.
Certain fruits & veggies I like to buy 2x a week, to make sure it’s nice and fresh. I buy watermelon 2x a week, strawberries 2x a week, raspberries 2x a week, banana’s 2x a week, pears 2x a week, nectarines 2x a week, mango’s 2x a week spinach 2x a week, lettuce 2x a week, truss tomato’s 2x a week, quakes 2x a week.
Other fruits I buy once a week. I buy grapes 1x a week, apples 1x a week, oranges 1x a week, rock- or honey dew melon 1x a week, blue berries 1x a week, kiwi’s 1x a week, mandarins 1x a week, cherries 1x a week (if they’re available), zucchini 1x a week, eggplant 1x a week, carrots 1x a week, potato’s & onions 1x a week, capsicums 1x a week, sweet potato & pumkin more like once a forthnight, cucumber 1x a week, roma tomato 1x a week

We also use calico bags to store potatoes and onions and they keep very well in these bags.

I find that salad leaves and spinach keep well in a sealed plastic container. I keep my tomatoes, apples, oranges and avocados on the bench. My bananas sit on top of a three tiered stand to keep them away from everything else. My potatoes live in the fridge. Garlic, onions and sweet potatoes live in the pantry. If I have food that it starting to ripen too much before I use, I cook it and freeze. My freezer contains batches of tomato, capsicum, onion and garlic for pasta sauces and risottos. I have bags of herbs in the freezer too.

For things like onions/spring onions, you can chop up and freeze what you don’t use.
Bananas, avocados, peaches, etc… I keep these separate to everything else as they will speed up the ripening of other produce.
Lettuce – I wash and use a salad spinner, then keep in an air tight container with some paper towel (once it’s dry) and seem to get a bit longer out of it.

I find fruit and vegetables perish quicker these days and have to process them when they start to turn. I process the fruit and vegetables into soup, puree, freeze, stew, bake in sweet and savoury muffins and cakes, sweet and savoury slices and more. I do keep particular fruit and vegetables away from each but they still seem to have a shorter life.

Have a look what fruit you are keeping next to each other. Some things can effect others to ripen or go off quicker. Eg google fruits to not store next to each other. Same with veggies, potato and onions ive just learned to keep away from each other. I put tomato’s in the bottom draw of the fridge, last at least a week. Lettuce never lasted long until last time I forgot to put mine in one of those little clear plastic bags at the shop so I put it in a white thicker plastic bag when I got home to seperate it from other things in the bottom drawer. I went to throw it out yesterday because it has been in there for weeks. To my shock it still looked like when I purchased it! Still crispy.

I like to wash, dry, and store my veggies in air tight containers in the fridge. I’ve seen great results doing this. Then recently we finally updated our fridge, the last one was with us for 10+ years and kicked the bucket, and I can’t believe the difference. I had a cos lettuce look new after being in the crisper a week and a half. Of course this isn’t something everyone can do.

I find lettuce goes off pretty quickly too and don’t have an answer for you on this one. With tomatoes, i always buy really firm ones so that they last longer in the fridge this keeps them fresh for an additional couple of days. Have you considered by fruit and veg from a market instead of a supermarket? i have noticed fruit and veggies do tend to last that bit longer as they are more freshly picked than the supermarket versions.

I wash all my lettuce leaves and put them the through the salad spinner. Mine has a lid (much like a big jug) and I keep them in that in the fridge. Tomatoes are in the crispy as they are but other veggies (celery, broccoli etc) in green bags in the fridge. Fruit is in a shady spot on the bench and I don’t seem to have much trouble. May be the climate or the quality that makes a difference.