Food safety experts say making your groceries last longer starts with knowing which foods should even go in your refrigerator in the first place.
You’ll hear a lot of conflicting advice over what should be refrigerated and what should be left at room temperature.
But foods that don’t do well in the fridge are tomatoes, potatoes, onions, honey and bread.
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All of your leafy greens and vegetables like broccoli, carrots and celery should be refrigerated, along with berries, apples, nut butters and tortillas.
It’s also important to keep certain foods separate.
Avocados, tomatoes and potatoes give off the gas called ethylene that causes other foods -- like bananas and onions -- to ripen and spoil more quickly.
We have a few hacks that could give you more time for your most difficult foods.
Some people swear by pre-washing their berries with vinegar water. The pH in white vinegar is meant to eliminate any spores or bacteria, which will keep your berries fresh. The ratio is one part vinegar to eight parts water.
You can do this for strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries -- but not raspberries. Washing raspberries will actually cut their lifespan.
This next hack will help lettuce last. It’s important to start with the kind you buy.
A head of lettuce will typically last you longer than the pre-cut kind. But all you do is wrap the entire head of lettuce with aluminum foil and put it in the fridge.
You don’t want to wash your lettuce before wrapping it. Moisture is the enemy and the foil is meant to help keep that out. Instead, wash the lettuce after you take off the foil.
And keep your herbs longer by refrigerating them in a mason jar filled with a little water similar to a vase of flowers. This will make your herbs last twice as long.
Finally, the best way to save on food and cut down on waste is to relax about expiration dates. Those typically apply to food quality, not food safety.
A local dietician tells us that if a food is bad, you will know! You’ll see mold or smell a difference.