Help your pricey produce last longer

It’s true: we paid $8.99 for a cauliflower last week (the first time ever that vegetable has made headlines). The cost of food is climbing fast as the loonie plunges, leaving shoppers stuck with the fallout north of the border.

And unfortunately, it’s not about to get better soon. According to a study from the University of Guelph, our household grocery bills are set to increase an average of $345 for the year, with the price of food rising 4.1 per cent.

While you can’t control the cost of food, you can control how much of it you buy. Stretching your food budget doesn’t just mean changing your eating habits — it can be as simple as taking a better approach to how you store your food to make it last longer.

Believe it or not, you can substantially cut down the trips you make to the grocery store and extend the life of all your pricey produce with a few simple tricks.

Keep your bread in the fridge: Instead of going mouldy on the counter, it lasts several days or even a couple of weeks, depending on what kind of loaf it is. The trick is to heat your slice up or toast it before serving so it’s good as new.

Keep things in a dark place: Store your potatoes, garlic, onions and winter squash out of the light to keep them fresh. But don’t store onions and potatoes together: it will speed up spoilage because they both emit gasses and moisture.

Don’t put all your produce in the fridge: If you’re a regular basil user, guess what? The fridge is the worst place to keep it — it rots faster there. Instead, trim the stems, put it in water and keep it on the counter. Same goes for tomatoes and avocados — put them in the fridge and they stop ripening and lose their flavour and texture.

Remember, apples are troublemakers: Fruits and vegetables all emit gasses that help speed ripening (and spoilage) of anything around them. Apples are among the gassiest — for example, keep them away from peaches and bananas (unless you want them to ripen faster).

Treat your cheese well: Change the wrapping regularly and keep your fingers from touching it (that makes it go mouldy faster).

Wrap your meat before putting it in the freezer: Take your meat out of the Styrofoam packing and wrap it tightly in plastic before you freeze it.

Keep your ginger in the freezer: It won’t dry out that way, and when you take it out you can still grate it (in fact, it’s easier).

Don’t wash produce until you’re about to eat it: Washing adds moisture, which speeds up rot.

When all else fails, make a smoothie: In our house, smoothies are the best way to use brown bananas, past-it berries and anything else that’s not getting eaten up (even kale!). Blend them up into a tasty breakfast.