Storage solutions for produce, now that "regular" grocery produce bags are disappearing

[Smithy]

Over here there's a discussion about plastic clamshells and plastic waste in general: how to avoid it, whether to avoid it, what to do instead. I'm writing about a related problem: what should we use to store produce for best refrigerator life and quality?

 

My best friend is not prone to overbuying produce, but she does like to have a variety of fruits and vegetables in the refrigerator in small quantities. She does not like to waste food. She lives in San Diego. Now that the plastic produce bags ubiquitous in most of the USA have disappeared from California grocery stores, she's looking for good solutions to the produce storage question. For example: she used to wash lettuce, wrap it in a cotton towel, and put that in a plastic produce bag and into the refrigerator. It would last for a week or two until it was used up. She'd keep the sturdy vegetables, like carrots, celery and broccoli, in the plastic bags in which she'd bought them until they were used up. And so on.

 

The California grocery stores now only provide compostable produce bags. As noted here, the bags don't keep the produce nearly as long or as well. Now the question is: what to do instead? What qualities are needed for a good storage solution?

 

1. She doesn't want to buy plastic storage bags (Glad, Zip-lok, etc).

2. In her household, containers of water with vegetables stored in them (celery, green onions, herbs) are an invitation to disaster in the refrigerator.

3. She wants some sort of flexible bag material to envelop said vegetables, for storage in the crisper drawer. She doesn't want a bunch of glass (or hard plastic) containers.

4. She can sew.

 

That leads to the question: what exactly is it that made those plastic bags so good for produce storage? Was it their ability to cut off oxygen? Moisture? Something else? More to the point, what's a good substitute? 

 

Right now she's looking at rip-stop style nylon, that we all use(d) for backpacking stuff sacks. It's flexible, washable, and helps cut off oxygen. But is that what's really needed? What materials, or material characteristics, do we need as a substitute for those wasteful plastic produce bags?

[TdeV]

I find that the hard vegetables (squash, carrots, celery) tend to do better in the crisper drawer outside of any plastic bags.

[Maison Rustique]

I agree with Tdev on hard veggies. When I was getting a CSA and had lots of stuff regularly, I'd take all the leafy stuff, wash it well, leave wet and enclose in large muslin clean kitchen towels and store that way in the crisper drawer. It would last a very long while. I'd check each time I was using something and if it was getting dry, I'd sprinkle with a little water before re-wrapping the towel.

[weinoo]

Even though your friend doesn’t want to, I find that zip-lock bags, into which I repack produce mostly well wrapped in Tri-fold paper towels, to be the best way to store produce.  I reuse the zip-locks many times, alleviating any potential guilty feelings.

 

The only produce that gets other treatment before storage are lettuces, which get rinsed and spun and wrapped in kitchen towels before going into a plastic bag.  

[Tropicalsenior]

I have to agree on using plastic bags. They're indispensable when it comes to separation, protection, and identification. I can't imagine not being able to use some sort of plastic. Fortunately here in Costa Rica they have not dispensed with the produce bags. Some stores are just giving you the little bags but at least, I have something. I do have other means of storage that I use though.

 

Michael brought me these net bags that are handy for buying produce and some kinds of storage. They are a fine nylon net and I have used them for a couple years. He bought them from Amazon and I no longer have the link but they are about $10 for 15 bags of three sizes.

I can also buy two sizes of plastic bags in the grocery store. Sandwich size and one about 8x10.

We can also buy plastic bags by the kilo here.

Everything from very very small bags to large garbage bags.

All the plastic bags that I use get used several times before they go into the garbage. And all my garbage gets packaged in smaller bags before it goes in the large garbage bags because all the garbage bags that they sell here are biodegradable and tend to start degrading before they reach the curb. Biodegradable bags are a great idea if they could just get their timing right.

As to your friends question about material for bags, I would definitely recommend the very fine nylon net material for transparency and maybe some kind of light waterproof raincoat material for other bags.

[blue_dolphin]

Good food for thought. I buy most of my produce at the farmers market. They aren’t affected by the grocery store regulations and still offer plastic bags.  I limit my use of them but still use some occasionally.  In particular for collecting food scraps and waste that must be segregated from the regular trash but oddly, in my area, can’t go in a compostable bag. 

The Wirecutter found the reusable bag best at keeping veg fresh were the towel-like Vejibag that you dampen and re-spritz when they dry out. Just the ticket if you want your veg to have a spa experience. They’re also expensive and bulky but some less expensive draw-string top cotton bags also performed well. 
Edited to add that a nice feature of those bags for use at a grocery store is that each has a little tag with the tare weight stamped on it. 
I might rifle through my stash of kitchen towels (or pick up some new ones from TJs) and try stitching up some drawstring bags of appropriate sizes.  I know the towels tolerate washing in hot water and bleach as I’d want for something like this.  
And as others have said, I routinely wash greens and store them wrapped in damp towels.  
I’ll report back on how this works. 
 

 

Edited Wednesday at 07:31 PM by blue_dolphin (log)