Katra wrote:

> Ok, I have a bit of a problem here sometimes...
> I do nearly all of the cooking (by agreement since I'm better at it than
> he is <G>) so I prefer to do the meal planning AND the grocery shopping
> so I know what I have and can use it within a reasonable amount of time.
>
> I've been buying less as I'm on a very strict diet (trying to lose 123
> lbs. and am down by 23 so far since Jan. 4th) so am not eating a lot at
> all. In fact, I fix myself a separate meal from what I cook for dad.
>
> At the beginning of the month, he gets his SSI check and tends to want
> to grocery shop. <sigh> We end up with TOO much fresh produce! I s'pose
> I could blanch and freeze it, but I've run out of freezer space and he
> would just buy more! :-P
>
> Enter the Tilia food saver! I'm finding that it DRASTICALLY increases
> the shelf life of fresh produce! Or at least on the one item that I
> tried it on, plus it should allow me to clean and prepare it prior to
> sealing it into portions. Handy that! :-)
>
> So, dad bought 2 nice big beautiful bundles of Asparagus! I had a lot of
> older produce that I really needed to use up first, plus there were
> about 2 days worth of leftovers in the 'frige. It's been my experience
> that, even at a good regulated 40 degrees, asparagus starts to spoil
> after about 3 days. The tips (which are the best part!) go first, then
> after about 5 days, the stems start going soft.
>
> So I took a large foodsaver bag and undid the wire holders and flattened
> out both bunches of fresh asparagus into the foodsaver bag and "saved"
> it. I got a really great vacuum on them too! :-) The plasic nicely form
> fitted itself around the asparagus spears.
>
> I checked them every couple of days for spoilage and finally after a
> solid 2 WEEKS a couple of stems started going soft and I started to lose
> the tight seal around the spears. I assume that is because spoiling
> veggies produce a small amount of gas.
>
> I opened the package to cook them and I had to toss one entire spear,
> and 2 lower stems. That's it. The rest of the asparagus tips were
> perfect and the stems etc. of the remaining ones were still fresh and
> crisp enough to "snap" the tougher part of the stems off and break them
> up into bite size pieces.
>
> I sauteed' them in butter and olive oil with leeks and shrimp.
>
> I've not experimented yet with any other fresh produce, and am wondering
> if anyone else has or does???
>
> Thanks!
> Kat
>

Congratulations on the weight loss!

I've been foodsaver-ing green onions when they are on sale for
twenty-five cents a bunch. I've used them up before they've gotten
mushy or slimy about 2 weeks in the fridge. Any leftover color bell
pepper gets chopped/sliced and gets the same treatment at $4 a pound I
don't want to waste any, again a couple of weeks. I've gotten about a
week out of flat leaf parsley and basil.

Jessica