The Strawberries Were Easy...

...but then there was the greens: baby bok choy, salad, tatsoi and baby spinach .  And that was only the "small" greens, there was another choice of "larger" greens: spinach, chard (with its bright red and yellow stalks), and kale (both Dinosaur and Red Russian).  And to round it off, there was purple kohlrabi, left over from the winter share, and green kohlrabi fresh from the field. 

I took the large bag of vegetables home with me and began to prepare them for storage for the week.

When I started with Simple Gifts for my first CSA share I had a difficult time keeping my vegetables fresh for the week. I am still working on a few and hope to work those out this time around.  However, back then when I expressed my frustration with my greens turning brown, or my broccoli going limp a friend suggested shoe boxes. 

Yes, shoe boxes.  The plastic ones that those folks who organize all things would buy to give each pair of shoes a place to live in the closet.  So, I have about five or six shoe boxes in my fridge. 

I purchased mine at Target for about five dollars a piece.  And they have paid for themselves several times in the amount of fresh, organic vegetables they have saved from the compost bin. 

My "plan" is to have time as soon as I get back from the farm to take another half hour and store the vegetables away in the bins...their are times where I rush home, take the old boxes in and shove the whole Simple Gifts bag into the fridge.

When I do get to it (and it is important to get to within a day) I place a few paper towels or a cloth napkin at the bottom of the shoe boxes.  I then fill one with the salad greens. I have already mixed them up into the salad bag at the farm with the baby spinach and tatsoi.  I put the baby bok choy on top and place these in a separate shoebox.  Generally in this box there is enough room for me to gently push them over and put the larger spinach leaves in also.  I continue until all the greens have a place.  Then I put the harder vegetables: kohlrabi, broccoli, radishes, etc., in another shoebox.  I have found that if I do not take off the tops of the carrots, beets, turnips, etc., that the vegetables will go soft.  I then stack them up and place them in the fridge.

There is an interesting side effect to this method.  Because the shoe boxes fill up refrigerator shelves, I end up placing cheeses, breads, eggs, meats, and other types of food in the crisper at the bottom.  Hidden away from view, these foods, the ones I try to use as enhancements to a meal, are not consumed quickly.  When a family member opens the fridge they see through the plastic shoe boxes at apples, nuts, vegetables and either decide, "Awesome!  Look at all this great food to eat," or "Ugh! There is nothing to eat."  We are working on solutions to the last exclamation, however, they are at least not eating the higher fat foods hidden away in that bottom drawer--out of sight, out of mind.