About how long fruit & veg last

[NiteFlights]

... and how you store it.

I have read on several Coronavirus threads that some people who are shopping a few times a week cite fruit & veg going off, or not being able to keep them fresh, as a reason for needing to shop frequently.

At first I hoiked up the old judgy pants and thought ‘stuff and nonsense’ but then thought perhaps I am being U.

What kinds of things do people find go off within a couple of days? Are there any tips mnetters could share for helping fresh produce last longer (especially for those with little fridge & freezer space)? And finally, what do you keep in and out of the fridge - eg do you think carrots should be kept in the fridge or just in the dark, etc.

Genuinely interested and not trying to judge or berate others for doing things differently.

will be 10 days between Aldi shops here. We're out of fresh tomatoes but they lasted well in a cool place (not fridge, destroys flavour) except for the one mouldy one. Bananas and apples still fine in fruit bowl. Mushrooms ok in fridge, I break the plastic cover to get some air round them. There's one easy peeler left from about six weeks ago, should still be ok. The cucumber lasted over a week until eaten up.

spuds of all sorts; the salad ones are fine in the fridge even those nearly a month beyond 'use by' - just cut off any sprouts. Others are in the poundland opaque bags, again just cut off the odd sprout. Peppers fine too in the fridge. Carrots nearly a month old, ditto. Onions in a separate opaque bag, again removed from the plastic bag and all good.

this is a fairly cool house though!

I don't find anything "goes off in a couple of days". I normally shop only once a week, and now its clearly less as we're shielding and reliant on on-line delivery. Obviously keep stuff as cool as possible, and check - if something looks as if it's about to turn, meal plans may have to be changed. Stuff doesn't need to be thrown away because it has a soft spot at one end - just cut out the soft bit and use as normal.

Anything likely to rot (carrots, parsnips, potatoes etc) needs to be out of its plastic bag, as do bananas.

Nowadays carrots seem to go rotten easily (in about a week) so I keep those in the fridge, along with lettuce. Everything else is fine outside.

Depends where you buy from. Some places' fruit keeps better than others.

Depends on the type. Your fridge, how much you eat etc.

If you only like the stuff that goes off quicker then you need to shop more.

The only odd thing is modern bananas, They used to last a week and now go from hard to overripe in days. Are they gassed these days?

Ive not found anything gone off in a few days. Some goes in the fridge, others in a cold place.

Never put bananas in the fridge, Get rid of all the plastic. I wish they would stop washing potatoes and carrots they need to be stored dry

Mushrooms ok in fridge I find they're OK for several days not in fridge, provided they're not sealed in plastic. Peppers for over a week out of the fridge. Potatoes just need to be in the dark - I'd never put them in the fridge.

We have managed to go 10 days between shops which is miraculous for us because we’re usually the type of family to be in the supermarket topping up on things most days. We shop at Aldi and I’d say most fruit and veg lasts at least seven days if not more.

If you buy green bananas they last longer and fruit like oranges, apples and pears last a while too. Carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes etc last a while too. I’ve been buying frozen spinach because that does not have a long shelf life and we use quite a lot of it.

The only thing I've had gone off in days are strawberries... But they usually last 4-5 (with careful checking to get any bad ones). I get a mix of stuff to last the 7-10 days between shopping trips (DH day off varies). Potatoes/sweet pots last week's. Cabbage ltd for ages. Carrots need taking out of bags. Cauliflower/brocolli lasts.beans lasts. Also you need to keep an eye of stuff, to make sure you catch anything 'turning' before it spreads.

Keep bananas in a separate place from other fruit.
Take things out of plastic
Keep things out of direct sunlight
If you can, take potatoes out of their plastic bag and keep in the dark (in a paper bag / newspaper / a hessian bag if you have one
In the first instance, buy bananas that are green, alongside the ones you are about to eat
Ditto for other fruits - buy some that are hard / not yet ripe

Also, use frozen stuff for when it is a while since you've been to the shop - I chop and freeze all sorts of veg if I'm not going to use it and it is about to turn - peppers, celery, courgette, mushrooms, beans, carrots - everything really.
Freeze flat on a baking tray first, then only put into a bag once it is frozen, that way you can take out as much as you want, and not have one solid mass of frozen veg in a bag.
Then use up bananas that are on the turn in a banana loaf, or smoothies (with all sorts of fruit that is turning - whizz up with milk or yoghurt or icecream - whatever you have)

I’m really disappointed with carrots these days. Years ago, I kept them in the plastic bag, in the fridge, and they would be fine for ages. (Out of the plastic they’d go soft and bendy really quickly.)

But now they go rotten within days! Why is this?

We're also going 10 days (ish) between shops. Soft fruit doesn't last long, so we don't buy much and eat it straight away. Everything else lasts at least a week. We put a lot of veg (particularly root veg and potatoes) in a cold dry place and it seems to last as well or better than in the fridge.

In normal times we only shopped once a week, so it's fairly second nature to buy a range of fruit and veg and eat the ones that will go off first. I suspect a lot of the "fruit and veg goes off in a couple of days" group are just used to expecting to have what they want on a more daily basis.

I make fruit leathers, I dehydrate and I pressure can but I am a weirdo prepper.

You can keep bananas in the fridge - the skin goes brown but the fruit inside should be fine.

But best to buy some green ones and keep them cool for the second half of the time between shopping.

We're getting a veg box - some stuff goes in the fridge, the rest is in an improvised larder in the garage (a big box with wire mesh over it).

Onions are hung up in cloth bags - at last a use for the ones we accumulated on uni open days.

I meal plan, so some stuff like salad or spinach is used within a few days while broccoli cabbage and potato last a lot longer... fruit is similar, fresh berries get eaten first and later on things like apples and oranges. I also have a good supply of frozen fruit and veg when the fresh stuff is gone. I manage to shop very 14 days, but it's always been like that for us.

We shop once a week unless we really need something mid week (eg, piriton for DS1)

Anyway, we just eat the fruit and veg in the order of lasts least to lasts longest.

Eat in a few days: strawberries, raspberries, salad, cucumber, cherry tomatoes.

Lasts all week: grapes (in the fridge), apples, bananas (become smoothies if they are going brown), green beans, brocolli, carrots and potatoes.

We buy 2 loaves of bread and freeze one for toast.

What do you find goes off OP and what are your tips?

Carrots do seem to go off really quickly, and I'm sure it's because they are washed. I think a rotten carrot smells worse than a rotten spud.
I keep a lot of fruit and veg in the garage as it's generally either cool or bloody freezing in there. Potatoes and onions are kept in the dark.

I find grapefruit, oranges, avocados, carrots and peppers last at least a week in fridge. Bring the avocados up to room temperature out of fridge.

Salad leaves only seem to last a day or two for me, no matter the date on them. Once rocket or spinach is open I slide a piece of kitchen roll in to absorb moisture.

Sweet potatoes and onions go in cloth bags and plastic comes off everything!

I am very interested in this thread. I used to live in the UK but now live near the equator (hot and humid jungle climate) and have had to relearn where you store what. Tomatoes, eggs, ginger, garlic and bananas have to go in the fridge here or they go bad very quickly. So the locals told me. And I've had enough rotten ginger that I've finally started to listen.
But I find keeping my bananas in the fridge makes them go black, and the ginger goes soft? What the heck am I supposed to do now? "Store in a cool, dry place" may as well be "fly back to England and store it somewhere there".

There are no cool, dry places in my new home.

We usually buy bananas, apples, clementines, plums, strawberries, grapes, melon & nectarines.

It lasts us a week. Some of it will have to be eaten at the start of the week and some it needs a bit of time to ripen and is eaten nearer the end of the week.

We keep the bananas, apples, clementines & plums in the fruit bowl. Strawberries, grapes, melon and nectarines in the fridge.

I bought a new fridge/freezer just before lockdown. It's worth it's weight in gold. I haven't kept note of how long things last, but 'ages & ages' whereas the old one was clearly more 'past it's best' than I'd realised.

It's fabulous to have a fridge that does such a great job!

The only thing that goes off in a few days is soft fruit - strawberries and raspberries- but we eat those soon after shopping and apples / kiwis etc then last the week.
Anything in plastic bags needs to be taken out or at least opened; carrots are much better in the fridge; potatoes in a dark cool place.

Soft fruit and bagged leaves go off in 3-4 days, in my experience. Whole lettuces last better. Other things are better the fresher you eat them - like broccoli, asparagus, sweet corn.

I don’t do an extra shop to stock up on these things though - wouldn’t do that in normal times, never mind currently. I just plan to use those things early in the week and switch to other fruit and veg later.

Root veg, cabbages, squash, peppers, potatoes and tomatoes, all easily last a week and in some cases much longer. Apples, pears, oranges and clementines, and usually grapes last a week or two.

I think a couple of things sit behind this issue - one is I like plenty of variety, whereas I think some people want to have eg salad leaves every day, whereas I’d switch to say a warm salad with roast courgette and cherry tomatoes later in the week, or have a sandwich and an apple, or buy a whole lettuce in the first place that lasts longer.

The other issues is where you shop. I used to use a Sainsbury’s in the middle of a busy city, and stuff from there never lasted as long. The refrigerators weren’t great, they seemed to struggle with stock management, so sometimes food on the shelves was already on the edge. I switched to Waitrose in the end, which ended up being better value as I didn’t end up wasting food.

Soft fruit can be made into a compote if you need to store it a day or two longer than you think it will be ok raw.