Bananas

Given that I spend most of my time writing about our crazy life you might anticipate that this post is about how I am about to "go bananas".  This is partially true.  But in all seriousness I am about to give you the goods on a product that I have been testing for over a week.

How I got to be so cool that I now test products, I don't know.  Humor me here please.

Clearly Fresh Bags were sent to me a few weeks ago but I just started using them on the 20th.  The directions were on the bag and were very straightforward so I didn't have to go to the website though I wish I would have because I really learned a lot about the bags, their technology, and I really appreciated this handy chart:

Cucumbers stored at room temperature?!?
You learn something new every day.

Here is the dilemma I have each week.  I like to grocery shop on Thursday or Friday for the upcoming week and God forbid I have to go back halfway through the week with two children in tow to get the fresh veggies I need for dinner.  So even though once-a-week shopping makes my life easier, it also means that the fruits and veggies I buy may not get used for five or more days after I purchase them.  The raspberries seem to start going bad the second day after I bring them home and the poor bananas - I hate being that person that tears two green bananas from a group and then three yellow bananas from a group at the store and then somehow they all end up brown and gross if we don't eat them quickly enough.  Not to mention when I go to the Farmer's Market or buy organic from the grocery store - those fruits and veggies have to be used within a day or two or they are ready for the trash can.  Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and bananas are staples for us in the fruit section and for veggies we almost always have spinach, asparagus, avocados, mushrooms, and tomatoes (I know, I know, tomatoes are technically a fruit) here at the house.

Here is what I found when using the Clearly Fresh Bags.

Bananas: February 20th, 2012.

The same bananas: February 25th, 2012. 
FIVE FULL DAYS LATER

I actually left the bananas in the bag for longer than five days but I think we should have started eating them within 4-5 days of being in the bag.  If I would have bought yellow bananas they surely would have been brown within days so the bags definitely extended the shelf life but beyond 5 days they turned mushy inside even though the peel was still yellow.

The raspberries look great after five days as well.  No white moldy-stuff on the bottom layer.  I'm doing the happy dance now.

Raspberries

And then there are the organic tomatoes people. I've had these babies for five days and they are still firm, nearly identical to the day I bought them. Wow.

Organic Tomatoes.

Other veggies that I am testing right now are avocados and asparagus.  I usually move the avocados to the fridge once they've reached their peak ripeness so I'm not sure how this will play out since I bought several that were ripe and several that were not.  The asparagus I am not planning to cook until Wednesday night or later so I will post another update when I use those items.

UPDATE: The bags worked wonders with the asparagus.  I normally wrap the stems in wet paper towel to keep them fresh but I just put them in the bag and they were perfect a week after I purchased them.
Clearly Fresh Bags will surely have my business in the future.  What I am really excited about is using them after we go pick strawberries in a few weeks here in Central Texas.  The fresh berries are so delicious but always seem to deteriorate more quickly after picking. Now I'm hopeful that Clearly Fresh Bags will keep the berries fresh much longer.

What I didn't like about the bags was how unsightly they were.  I like the look of fruit and veggies in our basket by the stove (because I'm so Martha-Stewart like that) and having these huge plastic bags sticking out every which way was kind of ugly.  I don't care what they look like in my fridge but on the counter top I didn't really dig them.  Then I daydreamed about having the bags be available in these cute, chic colors and patterns.  I would really like that. 

The other thing that I hope they will offer in the future is different sized bags.  Right now, the gallon bags are the only thing available and I would like to have some smaller ones around my house.

If you're interested in purchasing the bags you can find them here.