It’s Katie. I just found beautiful packs of strawberries at the grocery store yesterday. They had the big boxes of blueberries on sale too! I always get an extra box of strawberries when they look so good. My kids are sure to eat them up. But even they aren’t fast enough sometimes. The worst part about buying berries is only to open the pack the a day or 2 later and find mold. It makes me so sad. Not only was I looking forward to eating those berries but it’s a waste of money too.
Here are a few easy thrifty tricks to keep berries fresher longer!
1. Wash them in a vinegar and water solution. Sometime people cringe when they hear this. They don’t like the smell of vinegar and don’t want it to make their berries taste bad. But they won’t, I promise! I put my berries in a large bowl (big enough for them and water) and then I add cold water and plain white distilled food grade vinegar, ya know the cheap stuff ;). You can do a 3 to 1 ratio, 3 cups water 1 cup vinegar. But I usually just eyeball it. Then I do a quick cold water rinse.
This helps my strawberries last at least 3-4 days longer. Sometimes more! I did this to my blueberries this morning too. I also do this to my blackberries. You just need to make sure you dry them off when your done so the water doesn’t sit on them for a long time. I drain mine in this sieve and then I pat them dry with or roll them around on paper towels (these ones have a coupon!!) or a clean kitchen towel.
I don’t typically do this for my raspberries. Only because I grow my own and they just a need a quick rinse before I eat them.
The vinegar kills off any mold spores that would later ruin turn the berries bad.
2. Cut off the tops. This always helps my strawberries last longer. If I forgot to rinse them and they’re starting to go bad I wash them thoroughly, throw out the offending berries and cut off the tops of the others. I dry them and store them in a container in the fridge. I did this last week and was able to get 3 more days out of my berries!
3. If you aren’t going to eat them right away. Freeze them! If you find a great deal on berries, stock up! The easiest way to freeze berries is to lay them out on a silicone mat (you can also use parchment paper) on a cookie sheet and freeze them for a couple of hours. Then store them in gallon or quart size freezer bags.
I hope these tips help you have fresher berries longer! Tell us if these tips worked for you or if you have any other ideas in the comments.
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