You purchase fresh fruits and vegetables with the best intentions. You plan to use up all the lettuce, broccoli, and strawberries before your next shopping trip — before they become old, stinky and inedible in your refrigerator.
And then, your week gets the best of you. All of a sudden, your fresh produce is rotting produce and you have to throw it out.
I have a solution to this problem!
It all started about 12 years ago when I was first introduced to Peakfresh bags.
The company’s founders had developed a mineral-coated, perforated bag designed to keep produce fresher during shipping and in home refrigerators, and they came to Frieda’s, since we’ve always been open to new products and ideas.
Because I have to prove everything to myself first, I took the bags home and tested them out with two clamshells of fresh strawberries. I put one strawberry package straight in the refrigerator, and I put the other one inside the Peakfresh bag, then into the refrigerator.
I was impressed. Even after two weeks, the strawberries inside the Peakfresh bag were PERFECT compared to the shriveled up, molding regular strawberries. Then I tested the bags with fresh broccoli, and the same thing happened.
As it frequently happens in the business world, we were “ahead of our time.” Although we enthusiastically introduced these shelf-life extending bags to our supermarket customers, the concept did not catch on.
What did catch on however, were commercial-sized bags. The company went on to develop bags to wrap entire shipments of fresh produce, such as strawberries and chile peppers, to keep them fresh during cross-country transit. Several other companies have gotten into the business, and this segment of the industry is booming.
Then a few weeks ago I saw a display of my beloved Peakfresh consumer-sized bags at my local Sprouts Market. I was thrilled, and I purchased a box of 10. (If your local market doesn’t have them, you can buy them on the Peakfresh website.) The great thing about these bags is that you can reuse them – just rinse them out and let them dry. I call them my new best friend.
If you are concerned about wasting food, or have a hard time scheduling in fresh produce shopping during the week, I encourage you to try these bags. They are a life saver.
Or really – a produce saver!
Karen
