How do you store vegetable for more than a week?

[Jessica1501]

I go to grocery stores once week, but I really want to go less often if I can find a way to store vegetable.

I think of frozen vegetable but some kinds don't taste very well when frozen such as cabbage, bok choy, green leaf veggies...

Do you usually freeze cooked or uncooked vegetable?

Thanks.

[Alyantavid]

Most veggies I freeze, I blanch first. I've never frozen leafy stuff though so I'm not sure what you'd do with those. I can't imagine them freezing well. Have you tried those green bags? They really do work pretty well.

[chaoticzenmom]

I store onions in the pantry in a basket. I'm not very good with potatoes, but I store them in the bottom of the fridge or in a bowl in my pantry. Red ones always sprout on me, so I store them in the fridge. My salads are washed right away and kept in my spinner. The whole spinner goes into the fridge, but I used to have a salad ball thingy that was great at keeping salad for longer than a few days.

Fruits go into a bowl in my kitchen. Avocados go into the fruitbowl until they're ripe and then into the fridge. All other vegetables go into greenbags and into the vegetable drawer. I've had zuchinni last for a very loong time in those.

I go through the veggies I have and plan to use up what spoils fastest. I get a box every week from a local farm, so I don't control what comes, except for the things I add to the order.

You have to be careful when you buy veggies to get stuff that will be ripe at the same time. Tacos? Better make sure your avocados will be ripe at the same time as your tomatoes! I usually get hard avocados and firm tomatoes and plan to eat them later in the week.

[kaaris]

I also get a CSA box, and in previous years I have frozen some leafy greens when the box gets full to overflowing, so that we can have some of the veggies in the winter. I found that kale froze very nicely, simply washed, chopped, and vacuum sealed.

The other thing is that if you get your veggies from the farmer's market, or better yet from a CSA, they are SO MUCH FRESHER than the grocery store stuff that they will last much longer in your fridge.

Case in point: We got our CSA box last Wednesday, then we had to tear up the whole kitchen to fix a ceiling problem (kids flooded upstairs bathroom - ack!), and then repaint. I didn't get to really do much with my veg box until tonight, and everything in there was as fresh as could be, including sensitive things like parsley and lettuce. I love CSAs!

[LDSmomma]

I wash romaine lettuce, and store in a tupperware in the fridge with a napkin between each leaf. It stays in the fridge for 2+ weeks.

I wash celery, and chop to lunch sized portions (DH loves to dip in pb), then store in a tupperware full of water. I just dry it off when we're ready to use it. It also stays for 2+ weeks. We usually eat it by then!

[cristeen]

If you have a source to get it fresh (farmer's market, CSA, etc.), most vegetables will happily last 2 weeks in the fridge. Unfortunately, if you're shopping at the grocery store, that's not usually possible.

I get a CSA vegetable box every other week and I've had some stuff happily last 3 or 4 weeks in the fridge.