You buy those fruits and veggies with the best intentions, but somehow you never get to them. If you can see they’ve become a science experiment, better take care (see notes on mold here) But sometimes, it’s not as bad as you think. What do I do with produce having problems? Cut around it!
I think this idea came from my grandparents…farmers who lived through the Depression. Money was super tight, and they had to make the most of what they had. Not so different from us today.
Are you watching the prices creep up and feeling some tension? Here’s some items I’ve dealt with lately. Keep in mind these were perfectly fine when I purchased them.
Potatoes
Even in my dark pantry, these guys sprouted. Since I’m not planning on growing potatoes in my little garden, I needed to deal with them.
After a good wash and digging those eyes out, I found I actually had a reasonable amount of potatoes…enough to cook and mash to top my favorite shepherd’s pie.
Strawberries
These were a great deal…though not so much after I let them sit too long. Some had gouges, some bruises, some unripe spots. So, I cut around those. Yes, I threw away this pile of the cuttings.
But I saved and froze this tray of pieces for snacking later. My husband’s current favorite dessert is some of these babies covered in coconut milk…yummy!
Apples
Buying any fruit or veggie in a bag almost guarantees you’re going to get some bruises. I always check over the produce in the bag when I can and ONLY buy what looks good at that moment. Sometimes though, I get the bag home and the day after, all the bruises start showing up!
Like with these apples! I love apple slices with nut butter for snacks, so I buy the apples in a bag that are smaller (kind of lunchbox sized) and a little cheaper. These went south super quickly.
As it turned out, while they looked awful, the bruises really didn’t go as deep as I had expected. I’ve only got one apple pictured here, but you can see the two small pieces I discarded on the left…there’s was a lot of apple left to enjoy!
Onions
Keeping my onions in the dark didn’t stop them from beginning to decay…but just on the outer layers. It’s super easy to peel these away due to the very nature of the onion and its layers. Here’s before and after removing the offending layers…I had enough onion to get through the dish I was making!
Does all produce having problems need to be trashed?
No, I don’t think so, but I’m not an expert here, so eat at your own risk. There are specific problems that are worse than others (some of those are listed here like certain dark spots), but many things can simply be cut out. We like our food to be picture perfect in every way (I struggle with this myself), but in times of tight wallets, we need to be safe but frugal as well.
Any wisdom or tricks you can share in this season of food and gas inflation? Use that comment box to let me know! We gotta all work together to get by!
Here’s one way to keep track of what you have so you use it up!
