ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — According to a survey by the American Chemistry Council, the average American household throws away about 640 dollars’ worth of food each year. The problem for many is the food they buy goes bad before they can eat it. But there are ways to keep your food fresh longer.
You buy it, you wash it, you store it, but then you toss it? Do you frequently have to throw out food because it’s gone bad?
There are ways to make food last longer. To keep strawberries at their best, douse them with water, add a splash of vinegar, and then rinse the mixture off. Let them dry and then store in the fridge. To keep eggs fresh, dab some mineral oil on a paper towel and coat the shell.
Bananas will stay at their best longer if you cover the stems in plastic wrap. This prevents some of the ethylene gas, which causes ripening, from reaching the rest of the banana. Squeeze some lemon juice on avocados to prevent them from turning brown too soon. Then, store them in saran wrap with the cut side down.
Always stow tomatoes stem-side down on a flat surface at room temperature. Putting them in the fridge will cause dryness and a loss of flavor. Try storing potatoes with an apple to prevent sprouting. But this is an exception. As a rule of thumb, don’t store fruits and veggies together. Some gas-releasing fruits can make veggies spoil faster.
If you’re not convinced, the CDC estimates that each year, roughly one in six Americans gets sick, 128,000 of them are hospitalized, and 3,000 die as a result of foodborne illness.
Contributors to this news report include: Julie Marks, Producer; Roque Correa, Videographer and Editor.
