How to Prepare and Keep Chopped Vegetables Crisp and Fresh for Days

You love eating fresh and healthy salads as a part of almost every meal, but your hectic daily schedule does not allow you to prepare them individually for every course. So, you have endeavored to pre-cut those crunchy lettuce leaves and different kinds of fresh vegetables and keep them in the fridge for later use.

The result has utterly disappointed you after a couple of days. The vegetables have become mushy and withered, losing their taste and vibrant natural colors. This is an inevitable biological decomposition process, which is accelerated with cutting.

But this problem can be solved – there are some relatively easy methods that will prolong the life of your pre-cut produce and help it retain freshness without losing any nutritional value.

Here is how you can keep cucumbers fresh and crisp:

Chop them into pieces about 1/4–inch big and place them into an air-tight container. Put a folded dishtowel over the cucumbers and close the box. You should then tip over the container, positioning the towel at the bottom.

The purpose of this is to absorb excess dampness and to slow down the process of decomposition. This method can keep your veggies in perfect condition for up to ten days.

How to store peppers:

Don’t you enjoy eating those beautiful bright-colored and succulent bell peppers? They are delicious cooked, but even more so when consumed raw. To keep them fresh and crisp for a healthy meal, use a sharpened knife to prevent damage to the outside part of the peppers.

First discard the seeds and the stem, and chop them into bits or slices.  Wrap them up with a paper towel and put them into a dish filled with a small amount of cool water. The peppers should maintain their freshness and crispiness for around 7 days using this method.

And here is how you can preserve the most delicate veggie for storage – the lettuce:

You will need a plastic box and paper towels for this method as well. First wash and dry lettuce leaves, then chop them into smaller pieces if you prefer smaller bites. Cover the whole inside part of the container with towels, then distribute the lettuce leaves evenly at the bottom and again place a second layer of paper over them.

Then close the container tightly. It is important to use a bigger and harder container to provide enough airflow for the lettuce and to protect the content from being damaged by other products in the fridge. Your greens can last up to 10 days being stored in this way.

Another way is to distribute the washed and dried lettuce leaves onto the towels evenly, roll up the towels, and put the content in a plastic zip-lock bag. Then you need to squeeze out excess air and seal the bag before putting it in the fridge.

What about carrots?

Remove their green top parts and place them in a different box if you desire to add them to your soup or stew. Place the cleaned carrots in a dish filled with some water and they will last for a couple of weeks. You can alternatively cover them with wet dish towels.

Broccoli and Brussels sprouts

These two cruciferous vegetables will retain freshness if you wrap them in damp kitchen towels and keep them refrigerated. Do not store them inside a hermetic container since the vegetables need to have airflow.

Radishes

These crisp and nutritious vegetables are a wonderful and enriching addition to every healthy snack. Cut them to your preferred size and either wrap them in damp towels or dip them in a bowl filled with cool water. To protect the content from unwanted particles, cover the surface lightly.

Asparagus

First remove the asparagus ends and put them in a water filled container in a similar way you would do with flowers. Then cover the top of the stems with a plastic bag, but not tightly. This will prevent the vegetable from taking in smells from other products in the refrigerator.

We believe that these suggestions will simplify your daily preparation of food and make it a lot easier. A variety of greens must be included in a healthy and balanced diet, so these tricks are really worth trying.






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Source: Diet of Life