Making the Most Out of Your Produce Purchases

Adam Calder
Wheatsfield Produce Manager

A customer called me up recently to vent her frustrations with perished produce. She was confused, because she bought produce on a Sunday and by Wednesday it had already begun to deteriorate. She didn’t understand why this was so, when historically all produce was raised organically and people would store produce in pantries, cellars and larders for the entire winter.

I can certainly appreciate her concern, and I also understand why this might seem counter-intuitive to a person in this day and age. We try hard at the co-op to sell high quality produce with a good shelf life, and we have a lot of help. Our technology has come far, and humanity has learned much about food storage and safety, then surely it would make sense that food bought today should easily last for months.

Historically, yes, people did store fresh food for entire seasons. They also had to contend with mice, bugs, mold, mildew, blight and rot in their food. If any of those problems afflicted their food, the food was eaten anyway. There was little choice, you either ate the food you stored or you went hungry. They did the best they could, as root cellars were cool year-round and would certainly add weeks and months to the viability of fresh produce. They also did not work magic, and the food retrieved and eaten from those cellars would be bruised, blemished, over-ripe, bug-eaten, shriveled up or otherwise maligned after its lengthy storage. People back then could not afford to be too picky or squeamish.

As long as people have been growing crops for food, they have also figured out ways to preserve that food during times of plenty so it can be consumed when food is scarce. Modern grocery store shoppers have become accustomed to having any fresh food they want, at any time of year, regardless of what season it happens to be. Traditionally, mushrooms were only found by gathering them from forests during the wet months of the spring and summer. You picked everything you found, ate what you could fresh, and dried or smoked the remainder within a couple of days. Blueberries never used to be something you could farm, they could only be gathered in the wild during a brief window in the summer. You ate as many fresh as you could and then preserved the rest by canning them or drying them.

You can extend the life of produce with some of our ancestor’s wisdom and our modern food storage knowledge. Absolutely enjoy the bounty of each season as our ancestors did, but shop for a menu you already planned out so you only buy what you need and can use in a week. Making a menu for a Tuesday that includes leftovers from Monday’s meal is a great way to reduce food waste. Resist the urge to buy more produce than you need, even if it is on sale for a great price, because if you don’t have a plan for that excess it will likely end up in the garbage. Make a casserole or soup out of your sprouting onions, wrinkly-skinned potatoes, limp celery and dry-skinned carrots. You will have a tasty, hearty meal and no one will ever know that the produce that went into it wasn’t perfect. If you make too much soup or casserole, then can or freeze it to conveniently enjoy later.

In a time of rising inflation costs, every small effort that reduces waste can have a positive impact on your grocery budget. When you save money while still enjoying quality organic food and eliminating food waste, everyone in your cooperative community benefits.