Refrigerators and produce

[mattl]

I have a 20 y/o whirlpool SxS and have no issue keeping produce fresh.  I was gone for 10 days and had a partial bag of Artisan lettuce that was still in passable shape.  I can keep a large tub of Spring Greens for a week to 10 days if I line the tub with paper towels.  Spinach will keep for weeks. BTW I had a gallon of milk that was good 3 weeks or so also.

 

That said, I was at my cousin's for those 10 days and she has a WP French door fridge.  Stuff lasts only days in it.  Spinach  was slimy after 4 days, greens may last a few days at most. She tosses out half the produce she buys, what a waste. I'm at a loss as to why the difference.

 

The temp of the fridge is pretty much the same, the difference may be that I have 3 large bins, meat, veg, and snack that I keep my stuff in and she just shoves her big plastic keepers anywhere she can, her crisper drawers are filled with odds and ends. She keeps buying anything that claims it keeps stuff fresh, none work in my estimation.

 

Thoughts?

 

 

 

 

 

[ea56]

I keep my lettuce in a large rectangular Rubbermaid storage container, along with other salad vegetables that I will use in a day or two. In another Rubbermaid storage container of the same size I keep carrots, celery and green onions. I only buy what I can use in a week or 10 days and rotate the produce keeping the freshest on the bottom the oldest on the top and use that first.

In the crispers I keep apples and other fruits and tomatoes, bell peppers and avocados in the other, if I have a partially used onion I’ll keep it wrapped in plastic wrap in this crisper too, If I have a 1/2 tomato or avocado they get wrapped in plastic wrap and kept on a upper shelf in plain sight so they get used the next day.

We have either salad or carrot and celery sticks with every dinner and having those two dedicated Rubbermaid containers make the preparation of both easy. I just pull them out and put them on the counter and prepare the salads or raw carrot and celery sticks from these storage containers and put them right back into the fridge when I’m done.

I keep our fridge like a file cabinet. Everything has its place and gets returned to the same place when I’m done with these items. It’s kind of like a braille fridge, I can find anything I want practically blind folded. Nothing goes to waste. We only have a 15.5 cu ft. top freezer fridge and its plenty big enough for a weeks worth of groceries and can accommodate 10 days worth if need be. I prefer this smaller fridge because we have a small kitchen and I don’t want it to be wall to wall refrigerator. We could afford any of the huge french door or side by side models, but we like our small top freeze fridge because its esthetically appealing it the space we have for a refrigerator.

Any leftovers are used in a planned fashion either within the next day or two or frozen for future use.

I think most people are very unorganized with the way they keep their refrigerators and freezers, which leads to a lot of waste. I take pride in keeping an organized fridge and freezer. I wipe up any spills right away, wipe off any drips on jars and bottles before they go back in the fridge and because of this I never have to drag everything out of the fridge for a major cleaning and throw away of spoiled food. I clean as I go and rotate the food so its always fresh. To me this is a lot easier than having to spend an hour doing a major fridge clean out.

Eddie

 

[launderess]

Crisper, meat, fruit/veggie and few other drawers in fridges were invented for a reason. We touched on this discussion in a thread about "cold wall" and "moist cool" fridges...

What Exactly Is "Moist Cool" Anyway?

Have seen in various adverts vintage and not so much makers of refrigerators touting "moist cool". Supposedly this kept foods fresher longer all without need for crisper drawers and or other closed off areas. Only time see any sort of condensation in my GE fridge is during humid weather when...

www.automaticwasher.org

 

[oliger]

Fruits and vegetables last quite a while in my 70's Sears fridge. If I run out of space in the drawer, anything outside of it doesn't fair as well. I keep lettuce in a green Tupperware container as old as the fridge, and it lasts a very long time. I've also found that temperature makes a big difference. Blueberries will wrinkle and mold faster and celery will turn into mush if the fridge is set colder. Oranges and apples practically keep forever.

 

[vacerator]

Milk, produce, etc;

Do not store milk in the door. It is exposed to warmer air each time you open it. Produce is perishable period! Depending on wehter you buy from a chain market, or a small one can mean fresher. Large chains buy larger quanitities and it's warhoused longer, and makes more transit stops before the store ever gets it. Smller markets buy daily or at least twice weekly from local wholesale distributors closer to the main rail and truck terminals. Selling higher volume does not always mean fresher. If a less experienced manager over orders, it sits too long in the stores walk in cooler. Also floor staff who do not rotate older product to the top of the displays enough. Surely it eventually is, but then if you buy it, it's old.
So you can have the best fridge around and store it all correctly, but it won't keep longer.

 

[mattl]

I keep milk in the door no issue. as stated right now I have a gallon of 3 week old milk and it's still good. My WP fridge has a port the directs cold air at the door shelf that holds the milk. Works well.  

 

My produce mostly comes from Krogers, my relatives come from Jewel in Chicago, hers will have much more turn over in produce than my small town Kroger so I don't think the freshness has an impact.

 

[ea56]

I have always kept the milk in the door too whenever the shelves were deep enough to accommodate the containers and the only time I ever had an issue with milk spoiling quickly was in an 19 cu ft Amana bottom freezer refrigerator we bought in 2001.

That was the most expensive refrigerator we ever bought and the WORST! In addition to the milk spoiling quickly the lettuce and produce frequently was frozen, plus it was black and showed every finger print. I was more than happy to see it go out the door forever 4 years after we bought it..

After that we got a white GE 18 cu ft top freezer fridge with wire shelves it was great. The we replaced it in 2016 with our current 15.5 cu ft white GE top freezer fridge again with wire shelves. There was nothing wrong with the 18 cu ft model, we just wanted a smaller footprint model with recessed handles. To me simple is better, less to go wrong.

Eddie[this post was last edited: 9/19/2021-00:20]