Never Waste Your Produce Again!

My husband and I love to garden and we continually look for ways to improve and increase our harvest. This can be a challenge living here in the New England area.

Our growing seasons are short, the temperature changes at the drop of a hat and you never really know how much sunshine there will be.That being said, we still need to go to the market for our fruits and vegetables.

There is nothing more irritating than spending both your time and hard earned money on fruits and vegetables that seem to spoil shortly after purchase. My husband gets so upset when he has to throw the spoiled produce away. So we got creative, expanded our thinking and solved some of the waste problem.

Green Smoothies are a great way to utilize your fruit and leafy vegetables . For example; bananas that are starting to turn black can be peeled and broken in half to store in the freezer.You can also freeze fresh spinach or kale that is beginning to wilt. Use these in your smoothies as they also double as your ice component. The key is freezing then just before they spoil.

Another great way to save your produce is to dehydrate your fruits and vegetables to make your own fruit trail mixes and vegetable chips. For example; evenly slice your apples ,bananas,grapes,cucumbers,tomatoes erc...... and place them in a dehydrator and dehydrate until chewy or crispy depending on your personal preference. I dehydrate mine for approximately 12-19 hours at 105 degrees. Tempeture and drying times will depend on your particular dehydrator and what size you cut your fruit and vegetables. Some dehydrators recommend drying fruit and vegetables somewhere in the range of 135 degrees, however I do not. I set mine at 105 degrees as to preserve the living enzymes for nutritional purposes.This is not an exact science, so trial and error will be par for the course. I have simply given you some guidelines from my personal experience.

So there you have it, a few great ways to save your produce and hard earned money. I will say that my husband has been much happier now that we are no longer wasting our produce or money. Happy savings!