Today was Marketing Day and for the first time in two weeks, I've brought some vegetables home - a bag of organic carrots, two bunches of celery hearts, and a bag of pre-shredded cabbage. (I'd have bought this by the head, but went to a smallish grocery store this evening and they didn't have any heads of cabbage.)
Those of you who've been following my blog may have noticed that the breakdown I've been keeping for "My Food Dollar" isn't exactly heavy in the fruits and veggies. Part of the reason is that I eat a lot of prepared or frozen foods and decided to clump these into the Fats, Sugar, and Miscellaneous Items category - unless they quite obviously belonged to another category.
The reason I brought home so much fresh produce today? I'm planning on preparing the first of the 1945 dinner menus in a few days. Friday, at the earliest. The difference between my usual groceries and today's groceries is pretty striking.
At any rate, one of the recommendations in The Good Housekeeping Housekeeping Book (1947) is that the housewife wash and trim the fresh vegetables she brings home on Marketing Day before putting them away. That way they'll be ready to go whenever she's preparing a meal. Makes lots of sense for some veggies, I think. I puzzled a bit over what to do with the carrots. I could definitely wash them, but should I scrape and trim them now or wait until just before using them? Wouldn't the carrots get all dried out? As I was washing them, I suddenly realized something that should have been obvious. Most 1940s housewives would have brought carrots home with the leaves still attached! Trimming that bit off would have made storing carrots much easier even if you didn't do anything else. The carrots I buy these days haven't any leaves, so some of the prep has already been done for me.
When it came to the celery, I cut off the base and cleaned out all the soft yellow stalks on the inside before washing the celery. The clean veggies are drying now on a clean towel. I haven't yet decided what kind of container I'll store them in... Should I be storing them lose in the crisper? I'm embarrassed to feel so unsure of myself about such basic things. It forces me to face just how little my meals resemble whole, natural foods (breakfasts now excluded!)...
Okay, I just took a look in the fridge. The crispers are going to need a thorough cleaning before I store anything inside 'em!
9 comments:
If you wrap your celery in aluminum foil, it'll last much much longer than if you just put it in the crisper.
I'm enjoying your blog and your journey!
Aluminum foil (which my spell-checker (and Spouse) insists is "Aluminium") works? I've never heard that before. I'll have to try it an see if I can save some celery from having to end up in the stock pot.
it's aluminium.... :P
perhaps you should store them in some glass dishes in water so they don't dry out...or tupperware... when was that invented?
ok, I was going to post the tin foil things as well, but others have, obviously...it does really keep celery crisp for a couple of weeks or more
Blessings,
Niki
Aluminum foil, huh? Neat!
I checked on Tupperware, and it turns out that it was patented in 1947.
I'm really curious now how '40s housewives stored their fresh produce...
Pyrex. It's been around since 1915 and is still made here in the USA. Wrapping the veggies in damp towels before storing helps as well.
Kimberly, I found an interesting tip on this subject that I want to include in my next post. I'll bet you're right about the Pyrex though. I know they used to store eggs in Pyrex bowls.
I'm constantly using my Pyrex bowls from the 30's 40's and 50's. I even have some of the brand new ones since plastics are getting so freaky. Good luck!
The plastics are getting a bit worrisome. You have to wonder when you buy something like that not only what leach into the foods you're storing in it, but how long it's going to be sitting in a landfill before it breaks down...
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