Holy Week is a week-long commemoration of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ in the Christian faith. While some religious groups consume meat during the Holy Week, some opt to fast and have non-meat dishes, resorting to eating fish, vegetables, and fruits during this holiday. One of the things that we must consider in light of this commemoration amidst the Enhanced Community Quarantine in the country is the preservation of the fruits and vegetables.
Here are some tips on purchasing and storing fruits and vegetables during the holiday:
- Purchase firm and unblemished fruit and vegetables and store them separately.
- Damaged fruits and vegetables should not be kept with the good ones to avoid faster spoilage of the latter.
- Trimming and drying the unwanted part of the vegetables before keeping them is an effective way of keeping your vegetables fresh.
- As much as possible, avoid buying ripe fruits for longer shelf life.
- Choose to buy unrefrigerated vegetables as much as possible. Once vegetable has been refrigerated, it needs to stay refrigerated, or it will have a shorter shelf life.
- While citrus fruits last longer than other fruits, keeping them in a cool dark place in a perforated plastic bag will make them last up to even a week.
- Green leaves are known to lose their freshness very quickly, store them in bags filled with a little air then seal it tightly to keep them longer and fresher.
- Do not buy more than what you need. Vegetables and fruits in the market can only last for a few days (or weeks depending on the storage method), and thus, storing only what you need is best to keep and eat fresh fruits and vegetables at home.