Training & Nutrition - Keeping fresh food fresh

I live by myself and one of the problems I have is that I buy fresh fruit and veggies but they get soggy and go bad in just a few days. I am throwing out as much food as I'm eating.

Does anybody have any good tips for storing foods like canteloupe, honeydew, pineapple and fresh salads? I've tried freezing but it just turns to mush. Apples and oranges are the only fruits that really seem to keep.

This may sound like a dumb answer, but what I do is just go to the store every day or two and buy exactly what I know I will eat. I hardly every throw out food.
Another choice would be vacuum sealers.

Cut your fruit and put it in a ziploc bag. Put it in the fridge. They will stay fresh for awhile. Don't do it with apples and pears though. They'll just get brown and yucky.

Lettuce should be fine for at least 4-5 days in the fridge. If you're up to doing a bit of extra work, chop it up, rinse it but don't dry it, put it in a bag but don't pack it too tight. Put it in the fridge. Don't let it freeze.

Want something to munch on without too many calories? Get Jicama. Peel it, slice it, eat it like celery. Don't put it in water though like celery. The water robs Jicama of what little taste it has.

Also tear your lettuce.
Don't cut it with a knife, it will start going bad, and taste bad where the knife
cut it.

Does anybody have any good tips for storing foods like canteloupe, honeydew, pineapple and fresh salads? .
Salad is pretty tough, melons are moslty water and freeze very well. Cube up watermelon and cantelope and freeze them that way you can throw some in a food processor for a quick desert or thaw them out and they just have the cosistency of over ripe melon but still taste great

I was thinking about going with a vacume pump that can handle those vacume jars. I heard they are good for strawberries and such, might be good for other fruit too

That might be my best bet short of making a homebrew nutrino emmitter to steralize my food. Hehe.

QVC sells these things : http://www.qvc.com/asp/frameset.asp?fs=/scripts/ddframes.tpl&focus=/scripts/detail.dll?item=K5519

They are supposed to make fresh veggies and fruit last a lot longer by getting rid of gasses that they give off. I dont know if they work or not but may be worth the money if they do.

Stop on the way home from work and buy it daily, parking at the far end of the parking lot. Not only will you get fresh produce, but you'll burn a bunch of extra calories doing it. :)

I started getting my veggies at the local farmer's market this year and I'm amazed at how fresh the local produce stays. I mean I bought a variety of lettuce that has stayed crisp and good for 2 weeks now. All of the other veggies that would usually stay good for only a few days now stays good for at least 2 weeks. If you can find a local farmers market you can get some good food and it'll last you a lot longer.

I put on a rack and panniers.

Now i buy a single bag of groceries every 2 days or so while on my daily bike route. This way i buy less snack food, more fresh veggies and fruit.

Doing the once a month shopping cart load, I always added in a couple junk snack foods, now i never do. Helped me lose weight by not cheating as much, gave me an excuse to ride even on crappy days. Win win situation all around :)

I live by myself and one of the problems I have is that I buy fresh fruit and veggies but they get soggy and go bad in just a few days. I am throwing out as much food as I'm eating.

Does anybody have any good tips for storing foods like canteloupe, honeydew, pineapple and fresh salads? I've tried freezing but it just turns to mush. Apples and oranges are the only fruits that really seem to keep.
Meh. I live with a wife and 2 kids and we still can't manage to keep everything fresh.

FXJohn's suggestion of going to the market every couple of days, buying smaller amounts is about the best thing if keeping things fresh is the utmost priority. Main problem is it can be very time consuming. Though I suppose if it becomes habit and part of your routine it's no big deal.

Melons don't take well to freezing as you've found. They should keep for several days in the fridge, though. We usually end up bingeing on them when we have them (fit them into every meal somehow), or have friends over to help eat, or just deal with the fact that we have to toss some.

Also I will second the notion that farmer's market stuff seems to keep much better than stuff from the store, so you might consider shopping at one of those if that's an option for you.

I also agree with buying the fresh stuff everyother day at the least, sometimes everyday, besides, it gives you another excuse to ride your bicycle!

another possibility is hooking up with a csa (community supported agriculture) farm frogram where they actually deliver fresh produce on a weekly basis. as was mentioned earlier the organic stuff lasts longer and with a csa you get whatever is freshest at the time.

if interested check out http://www.localharvest.org/csa/ where you can find local farms for your area

Stop on the way home from work and buy it daily, parking at the far end of the parking lot. Not only will you get fresh produce, but you'll burn a bunch of extra calories doing it. :)I bet you'd burn about 12 calories this way. Or less. Ride your bike to the store and you'll actually make a difference.