Plastic. We use it everyday, whether it’s as a bag, to store food in or to cover something up. But do we really need to use it or is it just a bad habit that we have gotten into?

Food Storage

One of the biggest users of plastic is food. How many times have you come home from the supermarket and looked at all the plastic packaging that is in your shopping bag. We only have to look at how quickly our recycling bins gets filled up to realise how much plastic we have in our homes.

So what is the solution?

It’s great that the government is banning plastic carrier bags and that plastic drinking straws are ‘no more’ but to be honest, we all need to take responsibility and consider whether we can reduce the amount of plastic we bring into our homes and the amount we use on a daily basis.

It’s not that it is difficult, it’s just that we need to break the habit and re-educate ourselves on how to store food without using Gladwrap, Ziploc bags or plastic bags.

So, here are some simple solutions to storing food that you could try:

• Wrap your lettuce in a tea towel and put it in the fridge
• Use Beeswax wraps to store cheese
• Wrap beans and peas in a damp cloth to keep fresh and crisp
• Put leftovers in a jar or just put a plate over it and leave in the fridge
• Stand celery and float carrots in water
• Cut off the ends of stems like kale and fresh herbs, then store in glasses of water in the fridge or on the counter.
• Store onions and potatoes in a basket or a dark space in the cupboard
• Use steel or glass to store food – it also freezes well
• Wrap bread in a cloth or pillowcase and store in a wooden bread bin
• Store stone fruit whole in the freezer

You may think that storing food in Gladwrap prolongs the life but give some of these solutions a go and you may just be surprised how much longer they last…