Triage is a rather important sounding word for what I do with our produce. But it fits.
I first heard of the word triage when watching M*A*S*H in the 70s. The word triage comes from the verb (Fr) trier, which means to separate or select. It's been mostly used in medical settings, as in the TV show M*A*S*H. But I am hearing it used more and more outside of the medical field, such as "to triage an issue".
Basically triage means to give priority to what needs and could most benefit from urgent attention.
If you are on a tight budget, buying produce by the bag can save you a substantial percentage of your grocery budget. But buying bagged produce sounds like a recipe for waste disaster for many of us. Have you ever bought a bag of fruit or vegetables, and had half the bag rot, unbeknownst to you? This has happened in my kitchen.
It's not like I am carelessly picking up the first bag of oranges I see at the market. I actually search the bag, through the plastic, to see if the produce is good all through. But still, there can be that lone orange or onion that has gone soft, and will soon rot, contaminating the entire bag. (And it's the one usually hiding behind the label, hmmm.)
Several years ago, tired of this happening, I decided to make a change in my at-home treatment of produce. I now "triage" all my bagged produce as I bring it into the house.
I go through each bag, and pull out any pieces of produce that look like they could "go" at any moment. I place these in a spot in my kitchen fridge that means, "use this first". The good pieces either get loaded into drawers in the garage fridge (like onions, apples and oranges), or tucked into a paper grocery sack (like potatoes) to store in the pantry.
Just this week, I bought a large sack of onions, and found this one, near the bottom. It was usable. I just had to cut off about a 1-inch by 2-inch chunk. If I had not triaged this bag of onions, this onion would have rotted and caused the rot of several more onions.
I also bought a bag of oranges. In this bag I found several squishy ones. They are still edible, but will be the first to "go" in about a week. So, these have been designated to be used up within a few days.
Here's 10 lbs. of potatoes. They were in a plastic bag. Sometimes the potatoes have sat in a damp warehouse in storage. Moisture covers the potatoes inside the bag and mold forms on the skins. The plastic bags do have some ventilation holes, but even so, my potatoes feel slightly damp on the skins. By transferring to a paper sack, not only does the moisture dissipate, but I can keep these potatoes in darkness better (and longer) in the paper, preventing some of the green that develops on and just below the skin. And yes, not only were these potatoes a bit damp, but I found one potato with a large bruise. I cut off that bruise and cooked the potato the next day.
It may sound like a lot of work, to go through the bags once I'm home, but it's really not. It only takes a few minutes per bag. And I usually only buy a couple of bags of produce at a time. I view it as just another part of putting the groceries away.
I also triage containers of berries right away. I search the sides of the berry clamshell in the store, and think all is well, only to find several moldy berries at the bottom in a few days. So, I gently empty the plastic clamshell onto a dish towel, sort through, set aside those that should be consumed that day, or frozen for smoothies or cobblers later. I add a paper towel or napkin to the bottom of the container, then refill with the berries. A container of berries will keep several days longer, with this extra bit of attention, than when I don't triage them.
I do occasionally buy bagged leafy greens, and I have a way to deal with them, as well. Before I put them in the fridge, I open the bag and dump them into the salad spinner. I pull out any leaves that look like they could get yucky right away, and use or freeze that day. The rest I leave in the spinner, and I add about a spoonful of water to the bottom of the spinner (beneath the basket), and keep in the fridge. I had a bag of spinach keep for 8 days this way once (then we'd eaten it all, no telling just how long it could have kept). As I needed spinach I would pick through the leaves in the spinner and find those which should be used first. The aging leaves were pulled out earliest, plus nothing sat up against the inside of a plastic bag, and I think that's what kept the spinach so fresh, for so long.
I don't seem to have a problem with bagged carrots or celery, so I don't do anything out of the ordinary with either of them.
How about you? What's your best tip for preventing produce waste?
