This method definitely keeps things fresh (no pun intended)! My kids are really good about eating fresh produce but I've noticed that they also appreciate rotating new things in every few weeks/months.
Use plastic bags or containers to keep vegetables fresh in the fridge. Things like carrots dry out in no time in a fridge but stay usable for weeks if you simply keep them in a plastic bag. I've thrown away vegetables for years before figuring this out.
> Going once a week is efficient, but a little difficult to match up to a diet full of fresh fish, fruits, & vegetables.
This has never been a problem for me. Many fresh fruits and vegetables will easily last for a week in your refrigerator (some for longer), and fresh fish or meat can be frozen for later use. Fruits such as berries that degrade rapidly can be eaten first, and fruits that last longer, such as apples or oranges, can be eaten later. Fruits like peaches or avocados can also be bought in varying states of ripeness, which means that different ones could achieve ripeness over the course of a week.
Cabbage, for instance, keeps longer than lettuce. Pluots keep, too, much better than peaches. Oranges, tangerines, and grapes keep well. Carrots keep pretty much forever.
We’re still buying fresh produce because there’s plenty of it and we don’t have a ton of space to store frozen/canned food. I’ve been washing produce with soap and water for 20 seconds and then rinsing it before eating it. We also roast most of our vegetables so the risk seems small, to me.
The recommendation I received was to store produce the same way your grocery store does. They've spent a lot of time and effort on this, so their method probably works. Sorry I can't address the real meat of your question though.
where I live the groceries are in the next town over and most people I know go once a week. At the end of the week you have improvised casserole to get rid of anything that is on the verge of funkiness. Always keep some amount of frozen and shelf stable in reserve as well.
I also do canning out of my garden and that stuff will last for ages.
My parents are in Ireland and they're saying the same thing as we are - shelf life for fresh produce has dropped. Anecdotally, we've noticed that all our seasonal produce (e.g. strawberries right now) seems to have a decent 4-5 day shelf life.
The rotation is important. Your stash needs to be a FIFO buffer that gets refreshed reasonably often. Otherwise you're just stockpiling really old food and watery gas etc.
Also surprised the wasn't an answer. Here's mine: Putting vegetables in a wet canvas bag in the refrigerator keeps them fresh for much longer. This way you can store things for weeks which would otherwise spoil in days.
Some things you don't have to can right away. For example, we found that we can pick strawberries in-season, wash and top them, freeze them in gallon ziplocs, and then make jam later in the fall and it comes out the same as if you jam them same-day.
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