Best ways to keep produce fresh? Tips and tricks

Another vote for the Debbie Meyer green bags. They really do work.

I have these in my vegetable bins and love them

OXO Greensaver Grips for Produce bins

I think we mostly base our eating habits around how long we know food lasts for us. For instance, we eat strawberries right away, but blueberries last a long time for us, so we don't worry about those at all. Baby spinach always lasts longer for us than actual leaf lettuce, and we always rip lettuce from a head, not cut it.

Apples we can barely make last a full week, despite the ridiculous amount we buy. While bananas we just keep an eye on and if they start to look too ripe by our tastes, then we freeze them for use in recipes.

We've been shopping once a week for a long time, and for us, the number one thing is that if we see the produce, we'll eat the produce. We always make sure produce is on eye level shelves in the fridge. Never in crisper drawers. Fruits that others may keep in the fridge, we keep in bowls on the counter. It's when produce gets "lost" in the back or bottom of the fridge that it goes bad here.

I also break some rules by washing produce ahead of time. If someone can open the fridge, grab the fruit, and go, it's one more way to have it move faster, and then it's gone before we have to be concerned on whether or not washing it makes it go bad any more quickly.

Someone once "scolded" me for prewashing all of the table grapes, saying they would go bad if I washed them.  But they can't go bad if they've already been consumed.    

Put a paper towel (or something absorbent) in a carton or salad greens (baby spinach, mixed lettuce) etc. Moisture plus oxygen seems to make them go slimy faster. Change out the paper towel as needed.