Paige Knight - 31 / Aug / 2024
5 Food Storage Hacks to Save Money and Reduce Waste
Food storage is often taken for granted. In school, they taught us about fractions and metaphors, but they didn’t teach us how to store our berries so they won’t rot within 48 hours. To some, this may not seem like an important oversight, but what if I told you that mindset is having a huge impact on our planet?
Each year, 92 billion pounds of food are thrown away in the United States. For reference, that’s roughly 145 billion meals that go uneaten and end up in landfills. According to the EPA, annual food waste in the U.S. causes the same amount of carbon emissions as 42 power plants. Worldwide, 6% of greenhouse gas emissions come from food loss.
Having an eco-friendly kitchen goes way beyond recycling. By engaging in proper food storage, you can save time, money, and the planet. Follow our 5 food storage hacks for fresher groceries, better-tasting food, and a thriving planet.
Food Storage Hacks to Fight Waste
Properly storing your food can help your food last longer. Not only does this make your meals taste fresher and minimize strain on your bank account, but it also helps to fight food waste. By following our hacks, you’ll save the environment, one properly stored broccoli floret at a time. We’ve included our top 5 food storage hacks to make your food last longer, plus a few bonus food storage tips for the road.
Food Storage Hack #1: Understand Your Produce
The first step to storing your food properly is to understand the ingredients you’re bringing home. What’s the #1 most important thing to know about produce? One word: ethylene.
Charles Viancin makes food storage covers that are a versatile and eco-friendly answer to all of your food storage needs.
Ethylene is a gas that is released by many fruits, and it speeds up the ripening process. Since it speeds up the ripening process, it’s often thought of as the “bad guy” in food storage. However, by understanding ethylene and its impact on your produce, you can minimize its damage and even use it to your advantage.
The Bad Guy of Food Storage: Which Fruits Produce Ethylene?
Some foods produce way more ethylene than others. Likewise, some foods are way more sensitive to ethylene than others. By understanding the complex relationship between produce and ethylene, you can learn to engage in intentional food storage practices.
Ethylene Producers | The Best of Both Worlds (Producers + Sensitive) | Ethylene Sensitive |
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Intentional Food Storage: Teaming Up With Ethylene
With the proper knowledge and skills, ethylene doesn’t have to be your enemy. Use the chart above as a frame of reference when storing your food. Store your ethylene sensitive items together and keep them apart from producers.
You can even use ethylene to your advantage to get your produce to ripen faster. I often find myself doing this with under-ripe avocados that I need to use in a pinch. To get them to ripen faster, I’ll stick them in a sealed food storage bag with an ethylene producer, like a banana or apple. Then just sit back and relax as nature does its job.
Food Storage Hack #2: Utilize Your Fridge and Freezer
It’s obvious that the fridge and freezer are useful tools for proper food storage, but are you using them to their full potential? Read on to learn how to get the most out of your fridge and freezer.
Salad dressing containers make at home dressings easier than ever to store.
Fridge Zones
Fridge organization is an ever-present battle, especially with a big family. If you don’t stay on top of it, there’ll be food haphazardly stacked and going bad before you know it. But did you know that there’s more to fridge storage than just finding sport for everything to fit?
Every fridge has “zones” that are colder, warmer, more humid, and less humid. Learning the zones of your fridge can be a game changer when it comes to proper food storage. Here’s a brief overview of fridge zones and how to use them for intentional food storage:
Fridge Zone | What to Store | Why? |
Top Shelf | Ready-to-eat foods: Leftovers, cooked meats, salads, and perishables in sealed containers | Cooked food is more susceptible to cross-contamination and should be stored away from raw meats that could contaminate them. |
Middle Shelf | This is one of the colder areas of the fridge, making it perfect for preserving more perishable dairy products. | |
Bottom Shelf | Raw Meats: Red meat, poultry, fish, and cold cuts | This is the coldest area of the fridge, so it’s perfect for preserving raw meats that are more vulnerable to spoilage. Additionally, the bottom shelf prevents cross-contamination from raw meats leaking on other items in the fridge. |
High Humidity Crisper Drawer | Ethylene Sensitive Produce: Spinach, lettuce, broccoli, fresh herbs, etc. | You should adjust one of your produce drawers for higher humidity and stock it with ethylene-sensitive produce that needs high humidity to avoid wilting. |
Low Humidity Crisper Drawer | Ethylene-Producing Produce: Apples, pears, kiwi, berries, etc. | Adjust another one of your drawers for low humidity and stock it with produce that tends to rot easier (which also tends to be the produce that releases more ethylene). This helps to keep ethylene-producers separate from ethylene-sensitive produce. |
Door | Less Perishable Foods: Juice, condiments, pickles, jam, etc. | The fridge door is the warmest zone, so this should be reserved for foods that don’t spoil easily. |
Knowing your fridge zones makes food storage and organization infinitely easier.
Fridge Food Storage Tips
Now you know where to store your foods in the fridge, so the only other question is how? Lucky for you, there are lots of great tips and tricks for keeping food, especially produce, fresh for longer in the fridge. Let’s talk about how to store some of your perishable favorites.
Berries |
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Asparagus, Cilantro, and Parsley | |
Tender Greens and Cucumbers |
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Celery and Carrots |
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Mushrooms |
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Lemons |
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Cheese |
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Leftover Love
When storing leftovers in the fridge, they should be kept secured in air-tight containers. For leftovers that you want to keep around for longer than the recommended 3-4 days in the fridge, we recommend utilizing your freezer. Souper Cubes are great for freezing larger leftover portions in ready-to-eat portions. Meanwhile, silicone molds, ice cube trays, and muffin pans can be used to serve smaller servings of broth or sauces to be added to recipes in a pinch.
Souper Cubes make storing leftovers that much easier, with a space-saving design that will make you a food storage expert.
Carafes For The Win
One way to save fridge space (and make your fridge look extra pretty) is to store juices and broths in sealed carafes in the fridge. This will ensure that your liquids are kept in standard-size containers that fit your fridge, and your guests will be jealous of your level of organization.
Food Storage Hack #3: Know Your Pantry Powerhouses
We often think of the fridge as the epitome of freshness, but there are some foods that get less fresh when stored in cold environments. Not to worry, though, because these pantry powerhouses can last a while if stored properly.
Potatoes | Potatoes are sensitive to temperature and sunlight, which can cause discoloration and premature sprouting. Therefore, potatoes should be kept unwashed in a basket in a cool, dark, and dry place for 1-2 months. |
Onions | Like potatoes, onions should be stored outside of the fridge to prevent sprouting. They should be stored somewhere cool, dark, and dry in a breathable bag or basket for up to 1 month. Because onions are ethylene producers, they should be stored away from your potatoes, which are sensitive to ethylene. Once you’ve cut into an onion, it can be stored in an onion pod in the fridge for about a week. |
Garlic | Garlic should be kept whole and unpeeled in a dark, dry spot to prevent sprouting. Keep them together in a small basket or garlic keeper (do we still have this?) for up to 6 months before they need to be used. If you find you’ve got a surplus of garlic, you can make a garlic confit, keeping it in the oil it’s cooked in for up to 1 month. |
Tomatoes | Storing tomatoes in the fridge can ruin their texture and flavor, so they should be kept in a bowl or basket on the kitchen counter to be able to ripen to their full potential. Once you’ve cut into a tomato, it can be stored in a tomato pod in the fridge for a few days. |
Bananas | Bananas are another fruit that should be kept on the counter. They should be stored away from other ethylene-producing fruits on a hanger to slow ripening and allow air to circulate. You can also wrap the crown of your bananas in plastic to slow the release of ethylene and lengthen their lives. |
Prepara keeps your pantry staples fresher than fresh with their innovative lids, which are able to be adjusted to vacuum seal based on the quantity of the item being stored.
Get Creative With Containers
We all know the pain of opening up a box of cereal only to find that it wasn’t properly closed. A great way to keep your pantry staples fresh is to store them in the proper containers. Once you get home from the store, immediately transfer your cereal, pasta, coffee, etc. out of their original packaging and into air-tight containers. This will help to keep your pantry staples fresh and will keep your pantry well-organized.
Beyond the Basics: Bonus Food Storage Hacks
Food Storage Hack #4: Shop What’s In Season.
A sure-fire way to have fresher, better-tasting produce that lasts longer is to plan your meals around fruits and vegetables that are in-season. As you peruse your recipe books, look up which fruits are in season for your area and the time of year.
Food Storage Hack #5: Give Your Food a Second Life
Oh no! Your celery has gone limp, your herbs are starting to wilt, and you feel wasteful as you throw away food scraps. With a little creativity and care, you can give your food a new life. Here are some of our top tips for reviving food you thought was gone for good:
- Reviving limp celery: If your celery is on its last leg, it’s probably just dehydrated. Simply soak it in a container or bowl full of water for a few hours to bring it back to life.
- Saving soon-to-spoil greens: Even with all of these hacks, your greens are bound to go all limp and soggy faster than you’re able to use them. When this happens, simply blanch them in a pot of boiling water to preserve their flavor, dunk them in a bowl of ice water, and lay them out flat to freeze on a baking sheet. Once frozen, transfer to an air-tight container to keep in the freezer. Otherwise, blend your blanched greens and freeze them in ice cube trays for ready-to-go smoothie enhancers.
Silicone molds, ice cube trays, and Souper Cubes can be used to save everything from soon-to-be spoiled greens to sauces and stocks.
- Using up your scraps: If you feel wasteful tossing out broccoli stems and leafy carrot tops, you’re not alone. Luckily, you can give this food a second life in your cooking. With a good stock pot and some patience, the leafy portions of carrots and celery, the skins of your potatoes, and even even cooked chicken bones can be repurposed into delicious stocks. Even broccoli and broccolini stems can be cooked and blended into rich sauces, so be daring and creative as you cook to prevent food waste.
- Goodbye brown sugar rocks: Brown sugar is notoriously difficult to store. No matter how well you seal it, it always ends up getting hard and developing pesky clumps. What’s the secret? Moisture. This brown sugar scoop is made of terracotta clay, which can be soaked in water and placed inside your brown sugar container to maintain moisture.
- Freezing flavor bombs: Herbs, tomato paste, broth, you name it. Ice cube trays or silicone molds are perfect for creating frozen flavor bombs to be tossed into any dish, exploding with flavor. Our favorite tip is to take herbs that are about to go bad and freeze them in olive oil for a flavor-packed addition to your favorite recipes.
Start Your Food Storage Journey at Blackstone’s
At Blackstone’s, we care about the planet just as much as we care about your home and kitchen. Visit our store to talk to our friendly staff about their food storage tips as you browse through our inventory of kitchenware, home decor, and Boston-themed gifts. If you don’t live nearby, visit the Blackstone’s of Beacon Hill website to browse our inventory, read our blogs, and find the right tools for your food storage journey.
