How do you store carrots?

[midlifecrash]

Carrots - so useful, for stock, for sofrito, but I only tend to use one at a time. How do you store the rest of the bag so that they don't go soft? I've tried - vegetable drawer in the fridge in a brown paper bag - nope - in the dark in the cupboard in a hessian bag - nope - in a cardboard box on a cold tiled floor - marginally better, but only for a couple of days. They won't keep 5-7 days any more, whatever I do. Does everyone else just say Yum! Carrots! and eat the whole bag?

In the veg draw, not in a bag, on kitchen paper.

In the fridge but they do keep weirdly.

Keep them in the salad drawer, out of their plastic bag.

I don’t do this but apparently they keep well in sand.

In the salad drawer, not in a bag, but carrots don't keep long

Thank you so much for responding to boring question. I'll try the kitchen paper in the veg drawer. Yes I do always take them out of the plastic if I've bought them that way - then at least they don't go slimy, but they seem to shrivel up very quickly. I'm glad no one has said I need to get a box of sand and keep them in the cellar

oh cross post, a sand suggestion! thanks Joy!

I'm sure they used to keep longer? Maybe it is because they are washed very clean before sale now

Thanks to a tip on here, I learned if you soak bendy carrots in water, it revives them. It does work.

I buy them loose. I just get 2 or 3 at a time so they get eaten before they go bendy!

Don’t buy more than you can use before they go funny?? I buy like 3 per shop. No plastic either.

Yes I think you are right, I think I did used to buy 3 carrots twice a week, and it's just in the last year I've gotten in to the habit of buying larger quantities of everything, in case (because what if I had to isolate and had no carrots? Horror!)

I'm intrigued though, that a root vegetable does not last as long as say a pepper. I suppose carrots are very watery.

Take their tops & bottoms off, put in a tupperware box lined with kitchen paper & lid on loosely, keep in the fridge. They're fine for a couple of weeks.

In a freezer bag that seals. Then in the fridge.

It's quite hard to find loose carrots in a lot of supermarkets, or if they do have them, they're what DP and I refer to as 'horse carrots' in that they're massive and don't taste very nice.

So we end up buying the 500 g bags, because the carrots in those are usually smaller and taste better and they only cost about 30 p. We rarely eat cooked carrots, either use a bit in something like a bolognese, maybe stew in winter, but most of them are for salads, so sometimes its an effort to eat more than 2-3 of them before they start to go bendy (which is a random phenonmenon btw, sometimes they last ages, sometimes they look past their best after a couple of days.

But now I've discovered the water reviving trick, we're wasting far fewer carrots.

in the salad drawer of the fridge in their bag but I slit the bag open so they can breathe.
usually they last a couple of months.

got a new fridge though. last fridge had a 'fresh' drawer that was 1 degree cold - too cold for fresh veg/salad. everything got mushy quickly.

I buy them loose. Also, they’re still ok to cook it they’re a bit bendy.

Might be worth looking at your fridge temperature, ours keep fine for a week or two.

I swear by these for all veg tbh. I don’t know how they work but they do!

www.lakeland.co.uk/1094/20-Lakeland-Stayfresh-Longer-Vegetable-Storage-Bags-25-x-38cm

Mine last for ages in the fridge -easily more than a week!

Take tops and bottoms off, chop in half, then store in clean glass jars filled with fresh cold water, so the carrots are completely submerged in the water.

Change the water every few days. The carrots stay fresh and crisp for weeks stored in water.

You didn't ask, but top and tail celery, wrap snugly in kitchen paper, then foil. Change the paper every few days, and celery will also stay fresh and crispy for weeks.

@AlTempleton

Take tops and bottoms off, chop in half, then store in clean glass jars filled with fresh cold water, so the carrots are completely submerged in the water.

Change the water every few days. The carrots stay fresh and crisp for weeks stored in water.

You didn't ask, but top and tail celery, wrap snugly in kitchen paper, then foil. Change the paper every few days, and celery will also stay fresh and crispy for weeks.

I forgot to add that the glass jars should be stored in the fridge

Through experimentation, (not all of it deliberate; the bags of rotten carrot sludge were the worst ) I've found that storing them in the bottom of the fridge in a dry well-sealed plastic bag is best. Every so often, I'll take them out of the bag and dry them and the bag with kitchen paper. We only do a food shop once a month, so it's vital they last that long.

I second the Lakeland green bags mentioned above. They are brilliant.

Wow thanks for all the tips. I'll check the fridge. I'll experiment with my next batch!

In the bottom of the fridge and not in any form of wrapping is what works for me.

I find Morrisons carrots especially go off very quickly. Buy decent produce and it will last longer IMHO

In the salad drawer, loose or with plastic bag torn right open. Usually from Asda and they always last for ages.

If they come with green leaves cut them off - they will lose moisture and go flabby. But even flabby ones can still go in a soup or casserole.