fruits and veggies perishable

I buy less perishable produce (ie apples, winter squash) or buy frozen. You can go to the store several times a week as well but that might be a fair amount of time out of your week.

I try not to buy greens or other really perishable produce unless I have plans to cook it that day. Once in the produce drawer it's out of sight, out of mind and doesn't get eaten.

I buy vast amounts of produce weekly. We go through 5 or 6 bunches of bananas, a couple bags of apples, a few pounds of grapes, 3 or 4 bags of spinach broccoli, avocado, etc etc. The only time recently I can remember tossing produce is when we all had the flu. No one felt like eating. I shop once a week, but sometimes I have to go back for more. Family of 5 vegans. We are fruity people.

I live really close to a decent small supermarket, so I visit it several times a week. I count on the short walks back and forth to top off my active minutes many days LOL.

I eat a ton of produce, but on the whole I only buy what I'm going to eat in the next 3 days.

My supermarket opens at 7:00, which is right around when I'm finished at the gym. It's pretty easy for me to swing by and pick up some produce a few days a week that way.

I've had luck with buying packaged romaine lettuce (Foxy or store brand). Usually there are three small heads of lettuce in a zip lock bag. It's more expensive than the loose-leaf lettuce, but it lasts much longer. I also buy bagged salad, just put a small portion in a bowl, and then restore it in a zip lock. I find the little grape tomatoes also keep longer than the large, slicing tomatoes. I stopped buying cucumbers, though, because they rot before I use them up.

Usually I'm the only one eating the produce, unless it comes to the tomatoes. We buy tomatoes and bananas regularly- I eat two bananas a day most of the time. I do feel bad when the produce goes to waste, but it can't be helped. Sometimes I'm just not around to eat the veggies. (Very little does end up going to waste though.)

I used to throw many bananas away every week. But now I store them in the fridge and they keep for ages. The peel goes a yucky Brown colour, but the inside stays perfect.

When berries are in season I buy LOTS of them on sale and freeze them. This works great for strawberries (I slice them up first), raspberries, and blackberries. I recently learned a secret to keeping bananas fresh. But a stalk. When you get home break off each individual banana and wrap just the stem in saran wrap. I then refrigerate them and they last as long as 2 weeks. As the other poster said the skins turn brown but the inside stays perfect. I used to get a week out of refrigerated bananas but am thrilled to get 2 weeks with the addition of saran wrap. I love bananas. I freeze lots of other fruits and veggies but have not found an answer for fresh spinach. It wilts quickly no matter what I do.

Also, RE the original post... Meal planning. Buy only what you plan to use and no more. With this approach, I've managed to eliminate 99% of wastage and just about all food is used up before going bad. I also tend to plan meals according to what will spoil first, so all items that spoil quickly are eaten at the beginning of the week.

I end up throwing produce away. But really, in the off season, you're better off buying frozen produce, because unlike the fresh produce, frozen produce is harvested ripe and packaged within a few hours. On top of that, if you don't use it, it can keep for months or even years in the freezer.

I never have to throw out anything. Its rare. We shop once in 10 to 14 days. And i have a bit of a system. Like bananas i buy two bunches One very green other one more yellow. When they start to go bad i freeze them also. Aples Oranges etc stay good a long time. Now for Lettuce i have a little trick. I buy a iceberg lettuce. When i make salad i peel every day the outside leafs off for the salad. So the inside stays fresh for more than a week. As long as you dont cut them in half or quarter to use them. All the veggies get weight in portions when i come home from shopping. Cut chopped and frozen if there is much. All the cut offs, like celery and broccoli, cauliflower etc i make straight away a veggie soup. Its boiling while i am cleaning and cutting and bagging up the veggies. Its enough for a week. I do chicken in it. The meat goes the same way. Cut up, weight and bagged and frozen. The chicken i make nice filet out of them and the cut offs go straight in the soup that is boiling.

Sometimes we need a fill up in some milk and than i grab also more tomatoes and radish and cucumber.
Cucumber is the one thing that i always run out for. I only buy 2 because indeed they go bad to fast. But the rest np at all.

Lets say i soup, freeze and bag things up lol

I tend to buy veg mostly weekly then make a big batch of curry/chilli whatever while it's fresh. Some of it I freeze but leave a few days worth in the fridge.

Each time I reheat a portion, I cook up and add anything else that needs using that I didn't add the first time around. Like mushrooms, greens, etc. That way I try and mix it up, and not to waste too much...

Hope that makes sense!