Testing food-saving gadgets

Prolonging the shelf life of produce makes sense for any number of reasons – saving money, miminimizing food waste, helping the environment, limiting trips to the grocery store, providing incentives to eat more fruits and vegetables. So food gadgets that promise to keep produce fresher longer are always tempting to buy. To help decide whether to invest in these items, The Guardian recently tested a number and published the results in The food gadgets that could save you money.  As they write:

“The past few years have seen a raft of products launched to help households squeeze a few extra days of shelf life out of perishable food items such as fruit, vegetables and bread. Bananas can now be stored in ‘vitamin-enhanced’ polyethylene bags to slow the ripening process, while you can keep your potatoes and onions in breathable polycotton drawstring sacks.

Then there are the ‘ethylene absorbing’ discs you can place in a bowl to keep your fruit fresh for longer; the polyurethane foam cushions designed to prevent fruit and veg from becoming bruised; and the silicone ‘food huggers’ into which you pop your leftover half a lemon or tomato.”

So did they work? Here is a brief summary of the results – the article explains the results more thoroughly, as well as whether they’re cost effective (for non-U.K. residents, you’ll have to read the product descriptions to find comparable products):

• Banana Bag: It worked, keeping bananas fresher two weeks rather than the one week in unbagged bananas. 
• Ethylene-absorbing discs: Nope
• Polythene (“stay-fresh”) bags: They worked on broccoli, but are relatively expensive and didn’t come with a fastener
• Fridge food saver: It worked well on half a tomato
• Food huggers (stretchable silicone covers): Worked very well on half a lemon, plus they’re reusable as they’re washable
• Mushroom preserving bag (breathable polycotton bag with a “blackout layer” to restrict light): Nope
• Bread Bag (polyethylene-lined bread store bag): Definitely no – made things worse

If anyone has had any experience with food savers – esp. those that work – we’d love to hear about them.

Photo of Tomato Fridge Food Saver from Lakeland