The Double P’s are always trying to eat more fresh food. And while stocking up on fruits and vegetables has plenty of pros, the downside is they spoil quickly. Enter the President’s Choice Fruit and Vegetable Keeper ($9.99). I jumped at the chance to try this product because I wanted to know if it’d really prolong the fridge life of my produce. I decided to test it out on an item that always goes bad in a matter of days — fresh herbs.
On February 10, I purchased some flat-leaf parsley. Usually I keep these in the plastic bag from the grocery store and within a few days the leaves wilt, and by week’s end it’s a gross, wet mess. I transferred a bunch into the keeper and adjusted the vent dial to “open” and added two tablespoons of water.
It took me a few minutes to understand how the vent works, but the words on the side of the container tell you when the vent should be set to closed (carrots, berries and mushrooms), when it should be open (spinach, lettuce and herbs) and when to add 1-2 Tbsp of water (broccoli, celery and herbs). The produce sits on a perforated tray which keeps it away from the moisture that collects on a tray in the base. The container is also BPA-free and doubles as a colander.
I know it sounds like I’m peddling this product, but the verdict speaks for itself. When I checked the container on March 1, this is how my parsley looked. A couple of pieces near the bottom were discoloured, but the majority of it was completely usable. This was after 19 days! I was shocked the length of time it stayed fresh. (Alas, this was the end of the road for my parsley because by the next day most of it had wilted.)
My quest to extend the life of my fresh herbs has officially ended. I also own a Cuisipro Herb Keeper and it’s quite honestly a pain in the ass to use (and twice the price). Since the herbs must stand upright, it requires too much effort to assemble them in any kind of orderly fashion. After using it twice, I gave up and stuck it at the back of my cupboard. My new PC Keeper, however, will remain on a shelf in my fridge, and I’ll be tossing in whatever produce I want to stay fresh…for longer.
Available from PC Home at Loblaw Superstores across Canada.
Tags: president's choice
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I was just tackling with this problem last night. As a single gal, everytime I buy vegetables and herbs, they always spoil by week’s end – or longer if I hadn’t been cooking much that week – and I have to throw them out. It’s so frustrating. I’ve switched from buying all my groceries on the weekend, to buying them when i know what i’m cooking that night. But that can be inconvenient. My friends and I even joke about opening a single people’s grocery store (if anyone steals that idea I’ll hunt you down) with single serving sizes on everything from bread to broccoli. (i know, awesome idea, right!)
Anyway I bought some lettuce not even a couple of days ago and I can already see it wilting. I keep going back and forth between what’s better – keeping stuff in plastic or taking it out, but I don’t see any discernible difference. Thanks for writing about this, I’m def going to try it.
And to think, I was so desperate I almost committed myself to a relationship just to save my vegetables.
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We picked one up the other day and jammed it with basil and parsley. So far everything is fresh and tasty. We saw a Rubbermaid brand that is similar but it was twice the price so the PC is a good deal.
This is nice addition to the magic kitchen! Thanks for the post!
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