It’s a very common thing to go out to the store or farmer’s market, buy a bunch of vegetables to make a soup or salad, and then forget about those vegetables in your crisper until it’s too late. Some vegetables can have a frustratingly short shelf life and with groceries being so expensive, no one wants to buy a product that they will not have time to use. Fortunately, if you know a little but about storage techniques and what vegetables can go where, you will not only be able to organize your kitchen more efficiently, you will be able to keep those vegetables fresh for longer. Below is a guide to what vegetables can be stored on the counter, in the pantry or in the refrigerator.
Countertop
This may sound surprising, but some vegetables actually do better when they are out on the countertop and instead of being refrigerated. The best examples of this are tomatoes, which do best when they are being stored in a bowl on the kitchen counter. If you need to ripen them, this bowl can be moved to a sunny area of the kitchen to achieve this. Sun-ripened tomatoes are delicious! Another vegetable which does well on the countertop is the bell pepper, although if you are not going to use if for a couple of days, you are better off storing it in the crisper of your refrigerator. Eggplants are also okay for countertop storage, although you must make sure to keep them moisture-free and not rinse them off until you are ready to actually use them.
Refrigerator
Obviously, there are still plenty of vegetables that do best in the refrigerator! To keep celery from going limp or yellowing, for instance, it is good to store them upright in the refrigerator in a container of cold water: this will keep the stalks nice and crisp. Carrots, also do well when stored in the refrigerator, but they should be kept in an airtight container and storied moistly to prevent them from drying out.
Pantry
If you have a pantry or cupboard where there is space to store vegetables, there are quite a few that do well in this type of cool, dark environment. Beets, for instance, can last for a long time if you cut their tops off and wrap them in a damp cloth to keep them from drying out. You can then put them in an open container and store them right on the shelf. Onions, garlic or members of the allium family also well in cool, dark places like a pantry, though in this case you want to keep them away from moisture to prevent them from going bad.
This isn’t a complete list, but it does cover the basic kitchen vegetables and should help you to extend the lives of many of them so that you do not have to throw them out before you’ve had a change to enjoy them in soups, salads, casseroles or anything else you happen to have in mind. You will find that your kitchen is not only greener when you are able to save the food you buy, but certainly thriftier as well – and that’s something that everyone can agree is a good thing!
More From Mayimina:
Top 5 Unhealthiest, Cancer-Causing Foods
5 Alkaline Foods to Eat Every Day
Drink Turmeric Milk and Stay Healthier this Winter
