Fresh foods with a long shelf life
Picture the scene… there’s a global pandemic, and the entire population of the world is asked to stay at home from three months. Can you imagine! Oh, wait…
Ok, so what was on your shopping list when you were stocking up? Beans, tinned soup, tinned veg, cereal, peanut butter, pasta (if you could get it!) and flour too (obvs!). Essentially, all of the things you knew would survive the apocalypse with you.
But where was the fruit and the veg?
Admittedly, the good stuff has less of a good rep for going the distance than potatoes and rice for example, but we do need it to keep our diets balanced and our bodies looking and working as they should.
If you are looking to get the most out of your fruits and veggies for whatever reason, then this list of fresh foods with a long shelf life should keep you right.
Reasons you might need produce to last longer
- You live alone and can’t eat all of the grapes before they turn
- You have to isolate
- You can’t (or don’t want to) shop as frequently as fruits and vegetables would like you to
- You want to reduce your food waste
- You’re having a party and can’t shop close to the date
- You’re going on a road trip (beep beep!)
Psst… tell us your reasons and we’ll add them to the list with a credit. DM theDB Domestics Instagram account.
Long life fruits and vegetables
Presenting a selection of fresh foods that are willing to really go the distance for you.
To keep you right we've batched them up into life span groups, and also included additional tips for keeping fresh food fresh for longer.
Enjoy!
Fruits and veggies which last up to weeks
Beets
These veggies live up to their name when it comes to shelf life, ‘beating’ the majority of other
fresh foods in the survival stakes. However, this is dependent on how you store them.
Keeping beets fresh for longer: If you don’t want to use them straight away then remove their
greens, because greens pull moisture from veg. Then pop them in an airtight bag with a few very small holes which will allow naturally emitted moisture to escape as required.
Fruits and veggies which last up to 4 weeks
Apples
Let’s face it, apples are royalty in the fruit world. From Adam and Eve to your favourite teacher; everybody loves them! And for good reason.
Not only are apples tasty, but they’re easy to look after. You can leave them out until they’re ripe, then simply pop them into the fridge to extend their life some more. This means you can buy more than one bag at a time, and it will see you through for up to 4 weeks!
But beware, apples can absorb odours, so keep them away from refrigerated items such as fish and onions.
Carrots
Carrot, the humble hero that can stick around for up to 4 weeks after you welcome it into your home – who said romance was dead? Just keep it unpeeled in a (re-usable)
plastic fridge bag – and away from apples and pears, for best shelf-life action.
Citrus Fruits
Although this takes up one spot on our list, the entry actually includes oranges, grapefruits, clementines, lemons and limes. Of course, we doubt you’ll be snacking on the latter two, but they do add freshness to other foods and drinks.
Like apples, these can all be left on the shelf until they are fully ripe, then refrigerated to extend their life; they are best left loose in the crisper drawer.
Did you know? Smaller citrus fruits tend to last longer than the larger ones!
Fruits and veggies which last up to 2 weeks
Bell Peppers
All bell peppers start off green and change to yellow, orange and red as they mature (so cool)! So, if you aren’t particular about colour then go with green as they will last longer.
These fruits (yes that’s correct!) will stay fresh for up to two weeks as long as you keep them dry; any moisture will soften them faster.
Carrots
Carrot, the humble hero that can stick around for up to 4 weeks after you welcome it into your home – who said romance was dead? Just keep it unpeeled in a (re-usable)
plastic fridge bag – and away from apples and pears, for best shelf-life action.
Carrots
Carrot, the humble
hero that can stick around for up to 4 weeks after you welcome it into your
home – who said romance was dead? Just keep it unpeeled in a (re-usable)
plastic fridge bag – and away from apples and pears, for best shelf-life
action.
Fruits and Vegetables which last up to 2 months!
Cabbage
Wait, are we saying that this green leafy veg can last, months?! Yes. Yes, we are.
The final entry on our list of fruits and veg that go the distance, just wants to be wrapped in plastic and popped into the fridge to see out its final days before you eat it.
Squash
Squash is another super versatile food stuff so it’s pretty handy that it lasts for so long. From soup, to roasted side veg, heck, these days it can even be noodled! For the record, we understand these are called ‘boodles’, and that’s if you use a
butternut squash in particular to make them.
Including the famous Butternut, all squashes will last longer if they are kept in a cool, dark, and, importantly, airy cupboard.
Onions
Brown or red, onions can go even beyond the two-month mark in the correct environment.
The area should be dry, dark and cool, preferrably, 7-12 degrees Celsius. So, if your pantry, or kitchen in general is warmer than that, then definitely a cold
cupboard or fridge.
Additionally, keep them away from potatoes and leave them loose on a shelf for ventilation.
Other ways to eat fresh without shopping all the time
Juicing
Fruits about to turn? Chuck them into the juicer and pop the outcome into reusable airtight bottles or drinks shakers and keep in the fridge for even longer.
Freezing
You probably won’t want to be freezing your own fruit and veg (although it doable) but buying
pre-frozen batches if a great idea for keeping things natural when your fresh supply runs out. Think juice and soup mixes.
(view freezers from DB Domestics)
Souping
Yes, we think we’ll call it that. It is to veg what juicing is to fruit. So take the sentence above, and swap the word fruits with the word egetables. Et voila!
Fresh Thinking
This is brought to you by DB Domestics, a family run domestic appliance superstore serving the South East of England. We specialise in laundry and refrigeration applliances, cookers and dishwashers.
Thank to All Recipes for information which supported this article.
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