Transform Your Kitchen: The Money-Saving Gadget That Boosts Healthy Eating

A few years back, I found myself in a significant cooking slump. I was feeling thoroughly exhausted regarding grocery shopping, meal preparation, cooking, and the subsequent cleaning up. Not even indulging in extravagant ingredients such as vanilla bean paste or exciting new kitchen tools could lift me out of my slump. The convenience of takeout became overly relied upon, compelling me to establish a “Takeout-Only-Once-A-Week” policy for our home.

It was at that moment that I decided to enroll in my community’s local CSA (community-supported agriculture) to support a nearby farm and to receive more fresh fruits and vegetables at our doorstep. Every fortnight, we commenced receiving a wonderful assortment of seasonal produce including bundles of garlic scapes, heads of white cabbage, pounds of eggplant, handfuls of cherry tomatoes, baskets of strawberries, and even eggs.

What took me by surprise was the abundant amount of fresh seasonal produce that compelled me to become incredibly inventive in the kitchen with items I would not typically select at the grocery store. We crafted garlic scape pesto using our food processor, prepared stewed plums with cinnamon for our morning oatmeal, shredded cabbage for homemade vegetable dumplings, and even created homemade gazpacho during summer’s height using only the ingredients from our farm box.

Having an abundance of fresh produce available also pushed me to learn how to adequately preserve all that produce to prolong its freshness, which turned out to be a bit more difficult. That’s when I acquired two sets of these Kitchen Spaces colander food storage containers. I quickly discovered that to prevent lettuce from wilting, berries from rotting, and radishes from becoming soft and soggy, we had to enhance our food storage in a smart and efficient manner to keep our food fresh for two weeks or more.

I’ve had these containers for almost four years and still utilize them on a daily basis. What I appreciate most about these food storage containers is that the inner liner of each can be detached and used akin to a colander, allowing you to easily wash, dry, and store produce in one tool. The liner is raised above the bottom of the storage container to ensure moisture — the nemesis of fresh produce — does not come into contact with your fruits and vegetables.

The containers come with lids featuring adjustable air vents and can be conveniently stacked. The vents allow for controlling airflow and humidity to maintain the freshness of your fruits and vegetables for up to two weeks.

I find it especially beneficial that the medium and large containers are equipped with a divider that can be utilized to either segregate produce at the bottom from those at the top — for instance, placing parsley below and basil above — or can be folded to split the container in half to keep grapes separate from tomatoes, for example. The possibilities are genuinely limitless.

Whether you’re seeking a straightforward solution to keep your refrigerator organized once and for all, or are committing to consume more fruits and vegetables in the upcoming year, this collection of food storage containers is undoubtedly one of the finest methods to maintain food freshness for longer — and to save you precious money.

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