# Best way to store vegetables?



## hamlet_cat

Hi 

My husband and I are growing garden vegetables and I am also on a special diet so I have to look at storing vegetables so that they don't go bad in our refrigerator.  What is the best way to store them?  Freezer?  Jars?  I have tried using sugar free pectin but they come out tasting like lemon juice and it is unpleasant.


----------



## GotGarlic

Hi. It depends somewhat on what vegetables you're talking about, but in general, they can be trimmed, blanched, cooled in a water bath, and then frozen in plastic freezer bags. Or you can make salsas or other sauces and freeze those in jars.

What did you use the pectin in? Which vegetables are you growing?


----------



## Rocket_J_Dawg

When we had our big garden we would freeze most vegetables. Potatoes and carrots we kept in the cold celler. Check out the link below. Hope it helps.
http://www.cpma.ca/files/cpma.freezing_guide_fresh_vegetables_en.pdf


----------



## StuartCooks

Raising the dead! I have had tremendous success with storing and keeping vegetables incredibly fresh with a vacuum sealer! I vacuum seal them in a jar, this way I don't have to can, or freeze them, they keep for a long time. I get to keep them fresh this way


----------



## heimerdinger

Vegetables shouldn't be kept for long time, for real. But there're still many ways to store fruit and vegetables to maximum time. 
https://www.realsimple.com/food-rec...more-shopping-storing/how-to-store-vegetables
Check out realsimple article, may be you guys would catch some great idea.


----------



## larry_stewart

Potatoes I leave in the ground and use them as i need them until about december or so, then I store them in the make shift root cellar, which has worked well.

Onions usually last for several months, and garlic even longer than that if cured properly

Tomatoes I run through a mill and then store it in quart sized containers in the freezer.  I also have a food dryer, and Ill make " sun-dried " tomatoes, which i then freeze.  Im still working off the ones from last year, and they taste great even after all that time.

Peppers I roast, then freeze in portion sizes.  Sometimes ill dice them and  freeze 

Eggplants Ill bread, fry and store them for future eggplant parm

String beans, cut, blanch cool and freeze.  I finally just about finished last years crop up, so thats a good 7 or 8 months.

Cucumbers ( kirbies) I pickle, but they don't last long in our house, cause we eat them up right away.

Cabbage make sauerkraut , which lasts awhile 

Parsley usually lasts well into the winter.  Ive even had to dig it out of the snow just to get some, and the plant seemed fine.

Thats how I make my stuff last.  A lot depends on what you eat, how you eat your vegetables, where you live ( climate) and to what extent and how much effort you want to put in to preserving the veggies.

I never really got into canning. Im always afraid Im going to screw it up, then waste a years worth of growing.

My diet during the growing/ harvesting season is geared around whats ripe in the garden.

I have a garden more so i can have fresh veggies, than for storage purposes, so I eat as much fresh as I can.  That being said, my garden is way to big and I get way to much for me to eat everything as it ripens, which forces me into finding ways to use the veggies in the future.

Another good thing ( especially with tomatoes), is you can get different varieties that mature fast different time frames.  This way it will spread out your harvest over a longer period of time.  For example, I have a variety of tomato that ripens in like 60 days, another in about 70 days, another 80 days, and another closer to 85 days.  If I had all of one variety , id have hundreds of tomatoes ripen at once.  But, by spreading the ripening times out, Im not faced with everything ripe at once.


----------



## GA Home Cook

try this trick for onions.  When Vidalia come in we buy a big bag.  I go to the dollar store and buy ladies pantie hose, XL Tall (or whatever its called).  Drop one in and tie a knot, drop one in and tie a knot.  hang them up in the closet so they don't touch anything and when you need one cut one out.  they last for a long time.


----------



## blissful

I can tomatoes because we go through so many. I wasn't sure how many so last year I canned 80 quarts and I had about 15 quarts, just tomato sauce, not the salsa, not the pizza sauce, not the ketchup. There are 3 of us, there are 30 quarts left, so to have enough, I'll need to can 50 or 60 quarts again this year. If you calculate using 1 to 2 cans a week, well, then it's easy to see why we use so much.

Each time I make them, it takes between 6 and 8 gallon (50lbs) ice cream pails of tomatoes. Once I core them and squeeze them out, I get a 4 gallon roaster full. I cook them from one day into the next and get 10 quarts each time. So I'll probably can 5 or 6 batches of them this summer.

It's fun to go shopping in the gardens. Last year my son would come over to visit and we'd go out with pails and pick everything that looked ready, sort it on the table on the deck before bringing it in to the kitchen. We'd keep the not fully ripe tomatoes (that fell) in boxes on the deck covered with a tarp and then we'd check it each day to see what was ripe and ready to bring in. I'd send him home with grocery bags of food.

Garlic lasts until about now, with about 1/2 the cloves drying out and the other ones getting tough but usable. The harvest for garlic is in July. I keep garlic butter frozen and lots of it.

Onions. Walla walla and Candy onions only last about 3-5 months and must be chopped and frozen. Copra and Patterson are still good from last year with losing about 1/3rd of them now starting to sprout. Mako is supposed to be a good keeper onion too. 

I have dehydrated greens, celery, and tomato powder. My pantry is full of jellies and jams, pickles, pickled green beans, pickled garlic scapes, sauerkraut, ketchup, pizza sauce, and salsa.

We just finished off the last of the kennebec potatoes and when they started to sprout, we planted them.

If I get the pressure canner out, I'll can green beans this summer, dried beans (northern, pinto, kidney), baked beans, and I want some canned greens somehow because there aren't enough greens in the winter.

Whatever you decide for keeping your vegetables, make it things you like, if you like canned corn, then can it, if you like frozen corn, then freeze it. A big food waste is keeping food in ways that you don't really like, then it gets thrown out or barely eaten.


----------



## Stock Pot

With celery I've found that wrapping it tightly in aluminum foil adds at least a week to normal refrigerator storage time.

Also I just got a vacuum food storage sealer so I am experimenting with that with refrigerated veggies. I have an asparagus experiment going on right now. Jalepenos are planned next.


----------



## Caslon

Here's the best way that I've found for some vegetable (salads, etc.).  First, I buy those Debbie Meyer green bags that store veggies and can be re-used.  Second, I purchase the replacement packets for "Bluapple" balls that absorbs ethylene gas. (link below).  I add a paper towel to the green bag, add in a packet of Bluball replacement packet, then add my veggies. I've had packaged salads last for 3 weeks when normally they start to get soggy after one week. Each packet can be taken out and used once more.

https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/st..._id=41024201&gclid=CMnY98qA_dMCFRSGfgodV1MNBA

https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/product/debbie-meyer-green-bags/1014948821


----------



## Cooking Goddess

Stock Pot said:


> ...I have an asparagus experiment going on right now...


Are you storing them like cut flowers? I've had tremendous luck just cutting off the bottom inch, putting the stalks into a glass, add enough water to cover the bottom couple inches of stalk, then find a place in the fridge where they won't get knocked around. I wanted to see how long they could go before looking old and gave up after two weeks. I wanted to eat the darned things!

If you have wrinkly cucumbers, put them into a bowl of water for a few hours or overnight. They plump right up. I figured if it works for them right before putting them up as pickles (which is what my Dad taught me to do as part of the process), it should work if I want them crisper for a salad.


----------



## Beelost

Hi there! If you have a big freezer storing vegetables is not a problem. You can also prepare vegetables and keep your jars ready to open when you need it. To freeze vegetables you just need to blend them (or even not) and pack. Everything you might need for food storage you might find here https://allipackaging.co.uk/food-packaging/ Hope it helps!


----------

