What to Do with All the Sad (But Precious) Produce in Your Fridge

Wilted broccoli? Bendy carrots? Don't despair — get cooking.

During COVID-19, cooking took many forms for different people. There were the ardent sourdough novices and the hoarders of dried beans; the persistent spaghetti drainers and the cookie bakers under quarantine who yearned for the return of nightly takeout. However, the majority of us were cooking more than ever, and that was a constant. And a lot of us had started a grudging race against time to finish up all the produce we overordered online or purchased in excess on our most recent biweekly shopping trip before it went bad. It was tense.

"I love to cook but I don't usually do it that much," remarked Hannah Goldfield during the pandemic, who'd been eating at restaurants many nights a week for her position as food critic of the New Yorker before to confinement. "I have found myself buying way too much food and in a general panic about wasting anything. There is a head of celery in my fridge that is haunting me."

Whatever the situation, you should adopt a chef's approach to using fresh products if the expiration date is approaching for your produce. the initial defense line? Source and strategically produce. Then cook and store it in ways that will increase its shelf life. And when something unavoidably falls between the cracks, pull it out of the crisper's depths and give it a second chance on the burner. I looked to chefs and other culinary experts for their creative methods of crop preparation.

Take inventory: Make a list of everything you currently own before heading to the store or placing an online order. Chef Sawako Okochi, who along with her husband Aaron Israel operates Shalom Japan in Brooklyn, advises "taking everything out of the fridge and reorganizing it." In this manner, you avoid unintentionally purchasing more cucumbers when you still have a few stashed away under a bag of carrots. Arranging items while unloading is also beneficial. "I take a grocery store-stocking approach and put the fresher produce in the back of the refrigerator," explains writer and recipe developer Katherine Martinelli. "If I buy apples or lemons but still have a few left in the crisper, I move the older ones forward so we reach for those first."

Buy unripe produce: Not every fruit ripens evenly in the refrigerator or on the counter. However, purchasing those that do—among them, avocados, peaches, bananas, cantaloupe, and kiwi—while they're still a little bit green allows you more time to preserve and consume them.

Prep and store: Organize your food such that it has the best chance of survival. "Mushrooms should go in a breathable paper bag, not plastic," Israel claims. Wash and spin-dry lettuce leaves, then store them in bags or Tupperware that has been coated with paper towels to absorb moisture. "They last much longer that way." Follow Goldfield's advice when it comes to celery: "I kept the stalks in a vase of water, which kept them crunchy," she explains.

Cook according to lifespan: Certain fruits and vegetables are more resilient than others; an orange will keep fresh in the refrigerator for weeks, but a pint of strawberries will rot in a matter of days. The secret is to prepare your load based on longevity. "The first thing we do when we get home from the farmers market is make a game plan about how to consume what we bought," declares Israel. "We begin with produce that will expire, so we may decide to eat the heartier Tuscan kale later on and save the mizuna greens for tonight."

Cook to keep produce “fresh”: Strangely, cooking is one of the best ways to preserve the freshness of fruits and vegetables! Several more days can be gained by roasting or grilling large quantities of perishable root vegetables. This also fills your refrigerator with ingredients for quick dinners. Blend up a vibrant pesto for more delicate food, such as tender greens and fresh herbs. Food writer and recipe developer Sarah Karnasiewicz says, "I keep a jar of mixed-herb pistou in the fridge covered with a thin layer of olive oil, and stir it into soups or anywhere that needs a final layer of green flavor." Similar to several sauces made with herbs, pesto is adaptable and may easily accept different ingredients. Don't have basil? Use parsley, cilantro, mint, arugula, or the tips of multiple herb bunches.

Fight food waste with stock and smoothies: Chefs and other food waste minimization specialists advise freezing vegetable peels and scraps to create stock. And fruit is also subject to the same wisdom. "If the kids don't eat all of their oranges or bananas, I throw it in a bag in the freezer to eventually make a smoothie," Martinelli explains.

Work with what you’ve got: You can cook from your refrigerator for extended periods of time if you know how to swap out one veggie for another. Example: a recipe for roast chicken nestles the bird on top of a mixture of carrots, parsnips, and sweet and gold potatoes. Slicked with the schmaltz that renders out of the chicken as it roasts, however, they will taste just as good if you happen to have, say, delicata squash and brussels sprouts instead. "I used fennel fronds instead of dill in my matzo ball soup this Passover," adds Goldfield.

Embrace catchall dishes: Thankfully, there are recipes like a Cauliflower soup that use a whole unit of produce—in this example, a whole head of cauliflower. However, the majority of recipes leave you with random ingredients sitting in the crisper, like a few carrots, half a sliced tomato, and a few wilting scallions. With versatile recipes that utilize everything you have, you may save these abandoned vegetables. Karnasiewicz declares, "I love garbage soups." "Every other day or so I will start a pot of something on the stove and just keep throwing things in." Other versatile, vegetable-focused meals include stir-fry, lasagna, flatbreads, and fried rice (example: a gingery fried brown rice would go nicely with sautéed bell peppers, bok choy, or leafy greens). "The other day I made pizza dough topped with two inches of a heel of salami, the butt of a fennel bulb, and half a red onion," recalls Karnasiewicz. Furthermore, eggs are a catch-all hero. "It turned out great." Add a few cooked potatoes from the previous evening, those yellowing broccoli florets, and the leftovers of a batch of roasted red peppers to a scramble or frittata. Add some cheese on top of everything and bake your way to a delicious dinner.

Use your freezer better: Food may be preserved well in freezers, but they fill up rapidly. Israel and Okochi recommend condensing stocks (such as their tasty mushroom stock, which they produce from leftover mushrooms) into concentrates that may be reconstituted as needed in order to conserve space. "We cook five quarts of stock down to one quart, freeze the concentrate in ice cube trays, and use them like bouillon [cubes]," Okochi explains.

Know when to throw: Almost every piece of produce can be saved by cutting off the sad sections with a paring knife in hand. But fruits and veggies eventually move over to team compost. Squash that is so mushy it starts to fall on itself, moldy black patches on greens and watery veggies (like zucchini), and tomatoes that are leaking liquid and have turned slimy or stinky are all beyond rescue. These pointers should assist you in using your vegetables before they suffer that unfortunate fate.