r/adhdwomen • u/GhoeAguey • 29d ago
Cleaning, Organizing, Decluttering Using paper organizers for produce
Found idea in Facebook. I knew someone here would appreciate the ingenuity.
Love you
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u/Ms_Nosy 29d ago
Is you try this, make sure to keep the potatoes separate from the onions! The onions give off a gas that makes the potatoes go bad faster.
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u/Delores_Herbig 29d ago
I always hear this, but how far away do they need to be from each other? I have a very small pantry, and I can keep them on separate shelves, but they’ll still be in a small enclosed space together.
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u/bapplebop 29d ago
So the ripening happens due to ethylene gas. Its a hormone released by fruits/veg as they ripen and it signals other nearby fruits & veg to ripen. Having the potatoes & onions in a small, enclosed space will trap the ethylene gas. It really depends if you're having issues with your taters sprouting too fast. If they are, try moving them to another cupboard. You might be able to get away with storing the taters in their own sealed tub in the same cupboard, but I'm not sure if lack of airflow might cause them to rot quicker.
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u/Kiwikid14 29d ago
I now keep the potatoes in a different cupboard and they keep much fresher. But love the file boxes- much better sized for my space than wire baskets :-)
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u/pfifltrigg undiagnosed 29d ago
Interesting. Both potatoes and onions are supposed to be stored in the dark but I only have one pantry where I store food. My cupboards are all full of storage containers and small appliances etc.
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u/bapplebop 28d ago edited 28d ago
Yeah it's tough when there's limited space! But it really just depends how long you need to store the veg before use. Onions and potatoes both store very well, and for short term use (within a couple weeks) I really don't overthink the storage. Even with my long-term storage I am pretty lazy, and I've kept onions for months after harvesting by throwing them in a basket in a cold room. They're pretty forgiving that way.
Veg infodump incoming. With onions, rot and sprouting are the two longterm storage concerns. Rot is pretty easy to prevent with good airflow and low humidity. For sprouting, it's more about keeping consistent low temps and low light. Onions are biennial plants, so they go to seed in their second year. The bulb waits out the winter, and once spring hits (temps rise and days get longer), it sends out a flowering stalk to spread seeds. So basically you just wanna make the onion think it's not time to flower yet by keeping it in a cool dark place. Store bought onions can be more prone to sprouting quickly, just cos there's so much time in between harvest and take home where conditions might not be ideal. The onion might already have picked up on signals such as temperature changes that cause it to start sprouting. It can also just panic sprout due to "stress" from quick changes in environment.
Storing Potatoes, you're looking to avoid sprouting, greening, and rotting. Potatoes are perennial tubers, so the plant comes back from the potatoes underground each year. Same as onions, when they start to sprout its cause they think it's spring. Potatoes benefit from a bit colder of storage than onions, and should receive NO light. Light causes the potato to green. I find potatoes more prone to rot than onions at home, so I try to take a little more care with giving them the right airflow and humidity.
I lost the point a bit here but basically -- if stuff isn't rotting before you can use it, just don't overthink it. Even then, if you don't have a space that works for long term storage of veg, just buy less veg at a time. It's really in long-term storage of large amounts of veg that you have to start worrying about storage conditions and factors like ethylene gas.
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u/bahdumtsch 29d ago
And apparently potatoes can become poisonous if exposed to sunlight? So they should be in a dark area.
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u/Foreign-Cookie-2871 27d ago
They are fine as long as you remove all of the green parts.
Solanine is the problem; if you don't eat solanacee plants often (tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, chili peppers, ...) and you take care to remove most of the green they are fine.
If you boil them in water you remove even more solanine.
Also, green tomatoes have way more solanine than red ones. So if you eat those it's best to reduce other sources of solanine for a few days.
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u/boompoppp 28d ago
TIL, thanks!
& thanks OP - I’ve screenshotted this so I can grab some of the cheap ones from the shop next time I go. Great idea!!!
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u/haleynoir_ 29d ago
I like to keep the onions in the bags and hang them, there's a different color mesh for each kind of onion, and when I see the soft afternoon sunlight shining on my rainbow of onions I feel whole and complete
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u/Starboard44 29d ago
I keep seeing this on multiple subs and platforms... Please be careful, or add a parchment paper liner if you must.
The coating on that metal is absolutely not food safe! It is probably the worst/cheapest paint that's legally allowed on office supplies.
I love an Upcycle (nearly all of my art is upcycling), but this is not a good idea. Make sure you only use food safe materials for storing food.
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u/Delores_Herbig 29d ago
Does it matter though if it’s a food that has its own cover? Like most people are going to discard the onion paper and outside layer. And I’d imagine for most applications the potatoes will be peeled (although I get the concern if they’ll be skin on).
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u/Starboard44 29d ago edited 29d ago
Sure, it may work for peelable things (oranges, etc.?) but something to be aware of when upcycling anything for food use. Potatoes probably fall into an iffy category, but who can say. Hence why these items have standards around their coatings to make sure they're fit for use. ♥️
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u/forsakeme4all A.D.D. Type II - Unattentive 28d ago
What if it doesn't have any paint on it?
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u/Starboard44 28d ago
The black coating in this case is what I am referring to
But if you mean more generally, it applies to any material - metals can leech metals and other chemicals; plastics have food safe and non-food-safe formulations.
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u/orgelbrus 28d ago
Would painting over it with food safe paint (if that's a thing) be ok? Or is shitty stuff gonna seep through?
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u/hola-_-hello 29d ago
What a great idea! My problem though, if I had this setup, would be to immediately go out and buy more produce to fill it up to make it more visually pleasing to me. Then eventually all of it would rot bc I can't get myself to cook enough
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u/FatalisTheUnborn 29d ago
Potatoes should be in the dark.
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u/GhoeAguey 29d ago
…ok. I wish the perfect amount of darkness for your potatoes
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u/FatalisTheUnborn 29d ago
Sorry, I didn't want to be offensive. Keep your potatoes however you want.
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u/GhoeAguey 29d ago
I didn’t mean to come across offended. I genuinely wish you the perfect amount of darkness for your potatoes!
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u/Foreign-Cookie-2871 27d ago
Just be aware that potatoes will produce solanine when exposed to the sun, even while sitting in your home. They are very much alive :)
Remove the green parts and peel them if they get a greenish hue.
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u/3plantsonthewall 29d ago
Make sure the container you use has a solid bottom. Otherwise, you will inevitably end up with rotten potato liquid (a horrific smell) seeping into your shelf.
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u/candidcoco 29d ago
You’ll wanna make sure these are food safe so as not to inadvertently consume toxic metals/paint. But I do love the idea! ❤️
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u/petielvrrr 29d ago
Idk how you can keep that many in your house before they go bad. I feel like I have to use onions and potatoes within a day of buying them.
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u/GhoeAguey 29d ago
Not my house lol it’s an idea I saw on fb. Very much still in the aspirational category for me
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u/PsyCurious007 29d ago
Properly stored, onions & potatoes last ages
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u/petielvrrr 29d ago
Not if the stuff you get from the store was about ready to go anyway. I know how to properly store fruits & veggies, but I haven’t been able to find good ones from the store since before COVID. The stuff I get from the farmers market lasts, but that’s only open every other Sunday.
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u/Unsd 28d ago
OKAY YOU GUYS. I saw on a cooking sub, don't remember which, that there's a whole-ass racket going on with potatoes and onions. I guess onions right now are getting hit with some kind of fungus, but stores are still selling. BUT potatoes and onions do store for a long time, so suppliers will literally just keep warehouses full of them for long periods to control the supply. Then they'll release em shortly before their end of life. I didn't verify, so it could all be crackpot nonsense, but everyone has been having the same realization. That's why I'm growing my own.
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u/Foreign-Cookie-2871 27d ago
Iirc onions are completely out of season now in the northern hemisphere, and at the end of their storage life.
So the local onions you can get are the old ones (for the northen hemisphere) and tend to be weaker in quality.
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u/PsyCurious007 29d ago
Ah, I’m in the UK. Sometimes batches of veg can be mank but it largely stores ok. At one point, carrots were turning bad really quickly with brown patches that would turn slimy in just a day or so. Some kind of blight perhaps.
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u/kiss-shot 29d ago
Are you kidding me? I've been randomly throwing fruits and root veg in a fruit bowl for years for nothing?!
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u/dietdrpeppermd 29d ago
You can get plastic versions of these that are bigger and fun colours, which are more visually appealing to my dopamine decorator eye. They use them in elementary schools. They’re under all my sinks holding blow dryers, cleaning supplies etc etc
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u/psyducker8 29d ago
Someone on our local buy nothing group gave me like 75 of these, but bamboo, and we use them for absolutely everything. We go through produce fast enough that I feel like this would work even though they're not as ventilated as yours, good idea.
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u/MrMiyamoto611 29d ago
Seems like a good idea! I'd put something there to keep them in darkness while they're stored, or they'll germinate faster (especially the potatos).
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u/Happy_Confection90 28d ago
Nice. I use a set in my kitchen to store rolls of foil, parchment paper etc.
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u/--2021-- The joys of middle age 28d ago
That's what I use for potatoes, garlic and onions! Except that the magazine files are plastic so I can wash them (because sometimes they get rotty).
Though I keep the potatoes on a separate shelf, not sure if they're far enough apart. We have trouble with both onions and potatoes going bad before we use them.
Also the light does cause them to sprout. I have tried to shade them a little, but if I put them in a paper bag like recommended, then I'll completely forget about them (out of sight is out of mind).
Mostly we just try to use things up fast before they spoil.
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