If you are sick of storing your produce in plastic bags, then you’ll be looking for reusable produce bags that will keep your veggies fresh in the fridge. Read on to find out what you should be looking for, and why.
Designed for the fridge
Look for a reusable produce bag that is designed to keep produce fresh in the fridge, not one that is designed for buying produce at the shops. Produce bags for the shops are usually made of mesh, rPet, cotton or muslin. You probably already have some at home. If you try using them to store your veggies in the fridge, you’ll realise they don’t work well at all. Why? They don’t protect your veggies from the drying fridge air, and your produce wilts within days. A good reusable produce bag for the fridge should keep produce fresh for weeks.
You might have heard a recommendation to store your produce in a dampened cotton or muslin produce bag in the fridge. This is an okay storage method, so long as the bag stays damp. But unfortunately, you will find that the bag doesn’t stay damp for long at all, and your produce still wilts in a matter of days.
Slows the rate of evaporation
Reusable produce bags for the fridge usually work well thanks to a damp layer of fabric made from natural fibres. The key not giving up in frustration is using a produce bag that you don’t need to re-dampen every couple of days. Let’s face it, life is busy and re-dampening the produce bag is an easy chore to let slide. As soon as the bag dries out, it stops working and your produce wilts.
The Produce Pod’s outer layer prevents this problem. It slows the rate of evaporation to strike a perfect balance. Condensation and excess moisture escape slowly, and you only need to re-dampen the inner bag every one to two weeks.
Easy to identify and organise
The most frustrating type of waste is when your fridge is so disorganised that you don’t know what foods you already have. Ideally, your reusable produce bags should enable you to create a system for storing veggies in the fridge that works for you and your family and cuts down on waste.
Easily identifiable colours and designs help with this. Maybe you keep salad things in the orange bag and veggies for cooked meals in the green bag. Or maybe you have an “eat me first” bag, or a bag for veggies that are prepped and ready to grab for snacks. Whatever works for you. You want to be able to grab a bag and know straight away what you’ll find inside. Bright colours are a big plus.