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Treat yourself or a loved one to the gift of “No Smell Freshness”!
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Fridge Fresh-N - $9.95
Car Fresh-N - $13.95
Pet Fresh-N - $19.95
Did you know that you shouldn’t keep all your fruits and vegetables in the fridge? I knew that bananas were kept on the counter, but I didn’t know that nectarines, plums and tomatoes shouldn’t be refrigerated either.
Other fruits and vegetables shouldn’t be stored together in your fridge. That’s why you have two crispers. Apples, apricots and cantaloupes emit a large volume of ethylene gas as they ripen. They shouldn’t be stored with your broccoli and brussel sprouts.
You can download a pdf from the Suzuki Foundation which talks about which fruits and vegetables should be refrigerated, which shouldn’t be and which ones can be kept together. The pdf has some great tips – click here for the pdf.
Our local radio station has a report each day by the “Queen of Green” from the Suzuki Foundation. Lindsay Coulter is the Queen of Green and she has some great tips on greening your environment.
Frozen Vegetables Belong in the Freezer, not Your Crisper
Has this every happened to you?
You go to the fridge to grab a head of green, leafy lettuce, envisioning a wonderful salad, and instead pull out a frozen, crispy ball of greens. What happened? How is it possible that fresh vegetables can become frozen in the crisper?
You’ve changed the fridge settings to a warmer temperature, and you’ve adjusted the crisper’s humidity levels and yet, there are still some items that continue to have icicles on them. And to add insult to injury, there is a puddle forming on the bottom shelf of your fridge, where a recent thaw has occurred.
Are you as frustrated as I am with this? Well, it appears there is a reason that this happens. When moisture is introduced to the fridge, via our vegetables, which our local grocers insist on misting, along with the normal process of condensation, the result is a buildup of moisture that the fridge is not equipped to diminish. When there is too much moisture in the fridge, the fridge needs to work harder, and therefore; the temperature swing begins, with the collected moisture freezing, and affecting anything near it. Then when the fridge stops running, the temperature gets warmer and the thaw begins…. And the cycle continues.
I have done lots of research and found that this is a common concern, and one that seems not to have lasting solution; however, we have found that our Fresh-N Fridge and Fresh-N Crisper pouches not only reduce the moisture in our fridge, and stop the freeze from happening, but also lessens the running time, as it the fridge doesn’t have to work as hard to regulate the temperature. The result of all of this is that our fresh vegetables stay crisper, longer.
Do you remember the days when you went to the grocery store and were handed a paper bag full of groceries, and maybe it was even double bagged because the groceries were heavy. Those bags were used for lunches and then for garbage. When they were transported to the landfill, they decomposed. Those were the bags that fit over your brother’s head when he was being a pain – and you didn’t have to worry about suffocating him. You could even make a mask for Halloween, cutting eye holes and drawing a face on them. Where did paper bags go?
With all the paper we recycle, why can’t we make paper bags again?
Plastic bags are now taboo too. You receive evil looks at the grocery store when you’ve forgotten the cloth bag and agree to pay $.05 for the privilege of having a bag to carry your groceries home in. Plastic bags were great to have around the house. They made great lunch bags to send to school in Vancouver when it’s raining. They are essential when you’re walking the dog and can even be worn as rubber boots if absolutely necessary!
Now we have cloth bags. They are in vogue. I would love to have the cloth tested to see how much of it is made from recycled plastic. We send so many of our bags to recycling where it’s compressed into plastic pellets and reformed into many different things. I just bet that one of those things is “cloth” bags.
Another challenge with cloth bags is the contamination that has been reported lately. Meat packaging that has leaked into the bag can cause harmful bacteria to grow inside the bag which may result in illness.
The Edson Leader reports that the Canadian Plastics Industry recently commissioned an independent study on a random sampling of cloth bags showing that 30 per cent of the sample had unsafe levels of bacterial contamination. Forty per cent of the sample had yeast or mold. Cynics in the crowd, (those in the blogging world) hinted that the study was the plastic industry’s way to lobby against cloth bag manufacturers to protect their own turf because less people are using plastic bags in favour of cloth. There is probably a grain of truth to this accusation.
As cloth bags are sold almost everywhere and are highly recommended, here are some tips to keep them healthy and ready to use.
Avoid cross contamination – place fruits and vegetables in one bag and meat in a different one.
Wash your bags regularly with soap and warm water.
Store bags in a well ventilated area.
Make sure the bags you leave in the car are washed and clean.
Keep Crisper Fresh-N pouches in your bags to absorb all smells.
I was watching the news last night. Metro Vancouver is in a heated debate about what to do with their garbage. The Vancouver Sun says, “The Metro garbage debate is likely to keep raging until September — when the region releases a draft of its new solid-waste management plan — and beyond.”
A deal was signed with Fraser Richmond Soil and Fibre Ltd. to take 50,000 extra tons of organic material and turn it into soil and mulch. This soil is extra rich and will naturally help to grow greener, lusher lawns, firmer vegetables and brighter flowers.
It looks like we will be starting kitchen composting as early as February 2010.
Some tips for getting a jump on this ruling.
1. Look for a ceramic jar with a lid or a metal pail to put your compost in. Plastic pails will start to stink very quickly, but a ceramic jar or metal pail won’t smell as bad.
2. Most organic scraps can be added to your kitchen compost bin.
Vegetable scraps, onion and potato peelings, apples cores, lettuce cores, banana peels, rinds from cantaloupe or watermelon…
3. Chop or shred the pieces into small pieces so they’ll break down and decompose faster.
4. Coffee grounds and tea bags are also great to add to your compost bin. They are rich in vitamins and nutrients which will help to reduce odors produced by rotting organics.
5. Paper and cardboard is also great to add. It will contribute to a richer compost.
6. Add a teaspoon of Bin Fresh-N to the compost bin a few times each week. It will absorb the methane gas and carbon dioxide released as the organics decompose.
7. When you mix your organics from the kitchen with your garden compost, dig, bury and cover the kitchen organics to create a richer soil.
8. Mix the compost into your garden and spread over your lawn.
Every once in a while I look in the fridge and think, “It’s time”. Out comes everything. The kitchen counter is loaded with ketchup, salad dressing, marinades, jams and other sundry jars and bottles.
The crisper drawers are pulled and washed, all the shelves get washed, expiry dates checked and cultures of unknown food thrown out.
One thing that has changed is the smell. Fridge clean outs used to happen when something died in the fridge. Cucumbers used to climb into the back of the fridge and go soft, mouldy and liquefy (only occasionally), but that was the signal that the fridge needed an overhaul. Or there would be spaghetti sauce that should have been in the freezer, but ended up in the fridge as one of the kids did cleanup. If you’ve ever smelt dead cucumber or moldy spaghetti, you know what I mean.
Since we’ve put the Fridge Fresh-N in the fridge, we don’t smell anything. I’m finding that I’m more aware of the contents of the fridge – because I have to be. Quite a while ago, a rogue cucumber climbed into the back of the fridge and lay there, right next to the Fridge Fresh-N pouch. When I moved the tupperware in front of it a while later, I was amazed to find the the cucumber had dissolved into a science project, but there wasn’t a smell. The Fridge Fresh-N pouch has absorbed the moisture from the cucumber as well as the smell.
Maybe I shouldn’t share my cucumber stories, which does point towards my lack of kitchen skills, but really, it’s only the cucumbers and the occasional tub of spaghetti sauce that rots in my fridge. I haven’t managed to poison anyone and my daughters are 6 feet tall at 15 and 5′9″ at 12, so I’m must be feeding them quite well.
I remember using the baking soda boxes and being very annoyed (I toned down what I really wanted to say) when someone pushed something on a shelf and the box went over and spilt down the back of the fridge. I also could never remember when I had last changed the box, so it really never seemed to work.
Now, when I’m inspired to clean the fridge, usually a few times a year, I take my Fridge Fresh-N pouch and place it in the sun to re-energize it. Then the pouch returns to the fridge for several more months.
For more info on the Fridge Fresh-N pouches and to order yours, go to our Kitchen Products page and place your order. You’ll be happy you did.
