Keeping greens fresh

by Peggy
(Independence, MO)

I am trying to get back into juicing and eating salads. It's a start. I have a hard time keeping my greens from going bad before I can eat/juice them. Kale, celery, parsley are the most troublesome. Do you have info on your website or is there a good book on how to store veggies? Sometimes I don't eat or juice every day. Can you eat veggies when they are starting to turn yellow especially kale and parsley? Thanks for a great website. I have been trying some new recipes.

Peggy

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Sassy Sez:
Hi Peggy! Very cool that you are getting more salads and fresh juices into your diet. These two ideas are very easy, effective ways to supercharge your nutrition! Awesome, girlfriend! :)

Firstly, I would buy less produce more often. It sounds like you are buying way more than you can use and it is sitting there getting old and yucky on you. Unless you are picking them fresh from a garden, fruits and veggies are already on their way to "old" when we buy them in the store; by the time it is picked and shipped and put into a display in the store - well, let's just say it is BEST to eat your fruits and veggies as soon after purchase as possible.

So the best advice I can give is to buy less produce more often. Jeff and I shop once every week or two for non-produce items, but we head to the store twice/week to pick up fruits and veggies that will last us the next few days.

While this is a best-case scenario (short of growing your own food!), I realize this isn't always do-able for everyone. So simply do the very best you can to eat whatever you buy as soon as possible. It's better to eat all your produce up while it's fresh, then to have it sitting in your fridge waiting for you to get around to eating it as the nutrients slowly but surely say goodbye.

By the way, you might invest in some Debbie Myers Green Bags to keep your produce in until you can eat it - these bags seem to be available everywhere. I also like Tupperware's Fridgesmart Containers, which work beautifully, especially to keep my just-cleaned lettuces crisp.

Hope this helps. xo