SALT LAKE CITY – The following is a common scenario in many American households. We buy fruits and vegetables. We're going to eat those fruits and vegetables.
But for some reason, many of us are unable to eat all of our produce before it spoils, and a large portion of it ends up in the garbage uneaten.
KSL researchers scoured the internet for tips, tricks, and “ex-husband” stories on how to keep produce fresher longer.
We found a lot of advice, some contradictory. The only question I had was whether rinsing produce before storing it was a good idea.
We also found many products that claim to extend the life of fruits and vegetables. But do these storage containers live up to the hype? We put a few to the test.
our little experiment
I purchased two sets of food storage systems. One retails for a fairly inexpensive price of $22. Another set – a more “Cadillac” version – will retail for $55.
Both sets included a colander that was placed inside a plastic container. More expensive sets included dividers and vents that could be opened and closed. The set included instructions informing users to keep the vents open when storing fruit and closed when storing vegetables.
I bought 4 containers of strawberries, 4 containers of spinach, and 4 bunches of grapes at the supermarket.
Neither food storage container we tested offered any guidance on whether to wash produce first. So I rinsed some of the produce and didn't rinse the other produce.
We divided half of the produce into colander containers and stored the other half in the original store containers. Then I put it all in the fridge and waited.
Over the course of four weeks, we checked on the experiment every few days.
For the first few days, everything seemed fine, more or less. After a week, the difference between the produce in the Food Saver box and the sample still in its original container was still small. Visually they looked the same, but I noticed a slight change in taste.
But after two weeks in the fridge, the difference was no longer subtle. There was a noticeable change in color and texture between the samples in their original containers and those stored in Foodsaver containers. Visually, the grapes and strawberries in the bin held up better, with less spots, mold, and texture changes. And the smell of rotten spinach was more pronounced in the original container.
After three weeks, the difference became even more quantifiable. The strawberries, still in their original container, had become noticeably softer.
It had a springiness that freshly made strawberries don't have. However, the samples in the Foodsaver container looked fresher, were firmer, and showed no noticeable browning. One strawberry in a more expensive vented container was surrounded by a thick, fluffy layer of mold.
For spinach, the leaves that were washed and returned to their original container at the beginning of the experiment were more damaged. The original store container seemed to have excess water collecting at the bottom, causing much more damage than the sample in the food saver container with the colander.
final check
A final check was carried out in the fourth week. His one fuzzy, moldy strawberry, stored in a more expensive container, caused the whole lot to rot. Almost everything was covered in a layer of mold. Were the two lots kept in their original packaging? They were spoiled beyond edible. Surprisingly, strawberries stored in cheap ventless food savers were generally still edible with little change in taste.
What about spinach? Both third-party containers seemed to do a decent job of staying relatively fresh throughout the month. Yes, some of the leaves were pretty wilted, but nothing I wouldn't throw in a smoothie. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for the lots I kept in their original containers from the supermarket, especially the rinsed ones. The smell and, well, the slimy feeling are gone.
All grapes stored in their original packaging became soft. I washed it off. Unwashed. It didn't matter. However, the bundles stored in the Food Saver box were generally edible.
The conclusion from our experiments is that food saver containers can extend the lifespan of produce. And you don't necessarily have to shell out money and buy the most expensive set to keep your fruits and vegetables fresh for longer. But it certainly doesn't hurt to make a concerted effort to use that produce in your kitchen as soon as possible.