Do veggies last…….

[jerseygirl]

Do veggies last well when they’re all chopped up ready to go?  I’m thinking to prepare a bucket load for the week but thinking they may not last.  Currently I break of leaves etc, wash and tear them up every evening.  My fridge is full of plastic bags and I’d like to be able to grab one container out for salad time.

Do the veggies last better left as are?  i.e. lettuce leaves on the core, parsley on large stems, etc. 

Would it be best to chop up veg unwashed, then wash right before serving?  Or wash, dry, then store?  What success have you all had?

 

[bunnytowne]

Well from my experience if you have a lettuce crisper that works out good for a while.   However just chopped up and put in a bowl or bag naaaa.  The ends get funny.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz                 zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz   I am so tired.   Sorry.  worn out. Being sick will do that.

That will teach me to brag oh I had flu shot for 3 years and not gotten sick.  yeah right til today.

[Beka27]

it might work if you bought veggies more frequently (couple times a week), but i’m not sure how they’d last for a full week.

[Bunnies4ever]

I buy veggies once a week. Once I get home, I rinse them, pat dry as much as possible, cut them up in little pieces and put them all in a plastic bag and place in the crisper. They have a veggie combo every night. The bag lasts for a few days.

[Cassi&Charlie]

I put all my lettuce into a lettuce crisper container and vegies into another container. It works really well because I use the vegies for my lunch (salad sandwich) as well as their breakfast Saves me double the time in the morning! However I would say a week is a bit of a stretch. I usually do it for a 3 day strecth cause I only work 3 days a week.

[bitterepiphany]

The only way, I’ve found, to store lettuce long term after it’s been handled is to wash it and then roll it, one layer at a time, in papertowel. PUt that in your fridge and it will last for weeks. It’s not very easy on the papertowel supply though (but i don’t know why dishtowels wouldn’t work.)

C&C is right, if you cut your veg and keep it seperate, it should keep. Together, though, some things get other things slimey.

[Beka27]

i do what bitterepiphany does. i actually divide up my veggies into rations per day, then roll the whole bunch in paper towels… they will last 5, maybe 6 days, depending on how much i buy…

[Sage Cat]

Yea, something about wrapping them in a paper towel helps veggies last.
I have also found that they need to get some air. I loosely wrap them in the veggy bags from the grocery. If I seal them in a ziplock they do not last as long.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

I line my crisper with papertowels-seems to help them last; Although at the grocery store they keep them wet constantly, it seems at home if they’re wet they’re done!

[pryzmkess]

If you want dry veggies, get a salad spinner. Mine was $20, but I use for my own salads (as I fix Bruno’s portion fresh every night). It uses centrifugical force to dry off the lettuce. Also, I store my salad for my own use up to a week at a time by stashing it in a pot with the lid on. Don’t ask me why, but it works. Storing it in plastic just turns them brown, but in metal seems to keep them in pretty good shape.

[Beka27]

i LOVE my salad spinner! i use mine for their morning salads everyday!

[BookerTRabbit]

Booker stayed at her grandma;s over Christmas and I pre cut all her fruit and veggies. I just put it all in separate Ikea Tupperware. It worked well. We ere gone a week, when we got back even the left overs were still fresh!

[KatnipCrzy]

I buy veggies once a week when I grocery shop.  I wash and clean them when I get home.  I have a salad spinner so I spin them as dry as possible.  I also do not chop them very small- Parsely is cut in half and a romaine heart is about in 3rds.  Only the other limited veggies like brocolli or fennel is cut into smaller pieces.  I usually lay the washed and spun greens out on a paper towel on a cookie sheet to get them drier yet.  Then store the parsley and greens in Green Bags, the solid stuff like Brocolli I have a Rubbermaid Produce container for that seems to work well.  I usually spin the Romaine last and just leave it in my Oxo salad spinner.  The veggies really do last for a week.  If i buy a large pack of romaine hearts- if I do not chop it all- the remaining romaine hearts are still fine a week later stored in their store bag and in the refrig.

When I go out of town I make up individual Green Bags per bun per day- we were gone 4 days before Christmas and I had to make 8 bags of “salad” before I left.  But everything stayed fresh and I know proper amounts were fed.

One tip for drying the veggies- in the summer I aim a small fan at the damp veggies on the paper towel lined cookie sheets otherwise they seem to wilt.  I know they spay the veggies with water at the store- but moisture seems to be their destruction at home!!

[somebunny]

i chop up parsley and coriander and put them in takeawar containers..they last at most 4-5 days…and the same with bok choy.
the coriander gets a bit soggy if i don’t dry it properly.

[jerseygirl]

Well sounds like some experimenting is in order. Thanks for the tips everyone. As I wash the veggies to serve them wet think I’ll try store them unwashed. No point washing twice I guess – living in the driest state in the driest continent etc, best be water wise.

Interesting about the pot pryzmkess, I’ve heard suggestions of wrapping greens, namely celery, in alfoil before so maybe theres something to the metal storage.  Might try those foil take away containers.  Neat and stackable, my fridge might actually look semi-organised!

[hooty22]

I store my veggies the Rachael Ray way. As soon as I get home, they all get washed, dried, wrapped in a paper towel and put in a plastic bag. Seems to work pretty well for me

[DawnT]

I am from Pittsburgh also.  What kind of bunny do you have?  It is so cute

[hooty22]

He is my sweetie pie lionhead.

[Scarlet_Rose]

Store your parsely so the stems are in water, it will last a lot longer.  I also have put some “Extra life” Discs in the crisper drawers of my fridge and it seems to really help.  I found them at BB&B.  For more info go here: http://www.dglproducts.com/ExtraLife.php.  For bananas, I swear by the Debbie Meyer Green Bags again I found them at BB&B. https://www.greenbags.com/?cid=402572  I really like the Extra life discs because they aren’t as problematic and a pain like the bags but the bags work great for bananas and eliminates fruit flies.

[Lightchick]

I do the Rachel Ray thing, too. And I wash and salad-spin and cut all my lettuces when I first bring them home because I’m lazy and can’t be bothered to do it twice a day at feeding times! But even with buying 3 lettuces and 2 herbs at a time, it doesn’t last me more than 2-3 days…greedy beggars! I don’t have room in my fridge to try for a week’s worth of bunny-food!

[Hedi]

I buy usualy 6 bunches of flat leaf parsley every week and I tried storing them in water in the fridge (maybe that was the fault?) and it just took up way too much room and didnt seem to make a difference. I notice the food network people have this stuff out in water on the counters.

I must make so much work for myself. I used to come home and wash everything and put it away in plastic bags w/ paper towel. But for some bizarre reason I stopped.

I have heard that there is something called Keep Fresh (something like that) you buy and put it in your crisper drawer and it keeps veggies lasting a lot longer than even those green fruit/veggie bags out there right now. But this Fresh thing has a website but havent seen it sold in the US..or I missed it..

Anyways, now I come home and just put everything in the fridge in their original plastic bags. I only buy greens once a week and sometimes my greens last 10 days. I have heard before that veggies/fruit cleaned only when used may last longer. So that I guess is my reasoning for this.

Every evening at dinner time I take out 4 different types of greens, tear off what I want, wash it, dry it and then plate it for the buns. The only veggie I have seen that doesnt last is Cilantro. Everything else seems to be just as fresh on day 7 or 8 as day 1. And trust me, my buns are very stuck up about their veggies. I can only get them from one store otherwise they wont eat them. When I buy brussel sprouts on the stem they can last 2 weeks without problem.

The bananas- my dad tried those Debbie Meyer bags and it turned them into mush he said. But I think he said he was given the dollar store knock offs so that might be why his didnt work. Either way I have read that those green bags may not be able to help bananas all the time just because bananas are forced to ripen quickly so we can eat them faster.

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