You Should Start Adding Paper Towels To Your Produce Drawer. Here's Why

In the kitchen, few things are worse than opening up your produce drawer only to find that half the produce you haven't gotten a chance to use yet has gone bad. Whether you had planned to reach for it to use in your next meal or you noticed it after it was well past its prime, it's so frustrating to let beautiful produce go to waste. But if you're someone who already has a few tricks in place to extend the shelf life of your fruits and vegetables, then you might be able to put a spin on a classic for the benefit of all your produce. 

If you've ever used paper towels inside of a bag of greens, like lettuce or spinach, to keep them from wilting too quickly, then you likely know what a time-buying strategy this can be for delicate produce (via Real Simple). And what seems to be one of the oldest tricks in the book can actually be used on a larger scale, too. You just need to think outside the bag.

Just as Real Simple explains how paper towels can absorb the extra moisture in a bag of greens to keep the leaves from turning bad too fast, the same principle can be utilized in your crisper drawer. According to Reader's Digest, you can do exactly what you would with a bag of greens and place paper towels in the bottom of the crisper drawer to absorb excess moisture. By having the paper towels there to wick, the produce won't be exposed to such high levels of moisture that condense and speed up the process of decay.

The only negative to using paper towels for the larger area is that you will go through more rolls more quickly. In fact, for this produce-saving hack to work at its best, you need to change the paper towels out every time you add more produce. You should also swap them out if you notice more moisture or that the towels have become slightly damp. But if you love this trick for your greens, chances are it will be a game-changing adjustment for the rest of your produce, too.