We all know that we’re “supposed” to wash our fruits and veggies before we eat them. But lets be honest… how many people actually do? Or if we actually do try and wash our produce, how many of us simply just run water over it and call it “good enough”?
Been there. That was me.
But something recently has been firing in the back of my mind that perhaps I should care a little bit more about the cleanliness of the produce that my family and I eat. Eating healthier is a process and if anyone has embraced this “healthier lifestyle”, we are all going to be a different stages and levels at different times. This is where I am today with our family.
Thoughts crossed my mind like: I don’t know who handled this food, or where has this food been, or what was sprayed on it, or what animal came in contact with it out in the field or garden… or who touched it at the grocer? Especially with cold and flu season just around the corner! My mind was filled with a whole lotta “ewww”. And the more time I spent pondering this, the more I started getting grossed out and worked up. So I began looking for ways to get the gunk and grime off our food!
Ideally, I’d like our family to go organic. But there are (8) of us living under this here roof and where I won’t say it’s “impossible”… I will say it’s impractical. Let’s be real… it can take a lot of money to eat organic. And our grocery budget is already tight. So is there any we could get “kind of” or “mostly” organic?
**It dawned on me at some point that pesticides are designed to be able to withstand rain… so how would just rinsing produce off with plain water get it off?
Bacteria, germs, icky farm/grocer unknowns…
Pesticides, herbicides, and icky unknown “icides”…
As I started doing research, I realized you could most definitely get commercial Veggie Wash sprays. But… this mom (yours truly) is always looking for a way to do things homemade– it’s just fun, usually cheaper, and almost always healthier. So I found several articles that talked about using “vinegar water”. Sounds pretty daggone easy to me! And it is!
Gonna share how I now wash our veggies.
But first of all, if you’re interested, check out this brief article online: http://goodgreenhabits.com/wash-your-fruits-veggies-with-vinegar/
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We have a giant kitchen sink. I ♥♥♥ it! If you’re ever considering updating your kitchen, considering getting one of these kinds of sinks. They are fabulous!
Anyways… I placed my produce in the sink and covered everything with cold water.
I then added 2 Cups of white vinegar and let it soak for 15 mins,
often swirling it around with my fingers because some stuff floats.
Actually… I easily conned my kids into it. They LOVE water and so
are thrilled to help me in this endeavor.


Then I rinsed everything off with cold water and dried it/bagged it.
The stuff I bagged, I put a piece of paper towel at the bottom to keep
the moisture at bay.
**Supposedly washing the grime off your produce makes them last longer. I’m not really sure about this personally as our food gets consumed within the week. But apparently the bacteria or whatever that is on the produce starts the break-down/decomposing process right away on fruits & veggies. So if you remove it, the produce can last longer. If you decide to vinegar wash your food, please let me know if it does prolong the life of your produce. I’m quite curious.
This is another batch I recently did.
After doing further research I have decided to pull out things like lettuce a bit earlier, like after 5-10 mins. They apparently don’t need to be in the wash as long as smoother veggies & fruits do.
It’s amazing how dirty the water is when I get ready to drain the sink!!!
Another yuck… check out the who-knows-what that I often find at the bottom of my Romaine lettuce bag. This is the part of the bag near the stems. I have no idea what it is but it’s slimy. Ewww.
So wash those veggies if you’re now feeling the pull to!
And if any of you have some other tricks of the veggie-washing trade to share with me, I’d love to hear about it. I’ve just started, so I’m open to further learning.
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**Note: you can also make a vinegar-water spray. Simply mix water to vinegar with a 3:1 ratio and put it into a spray bottle. Shake the bottle and spray your produce and allow to sit for approximately 5 mins. Rinse with cold water.
**I’ve also read that you can SALT your vinegar water, too, to further draw out bugs, bacteria, dust, dirt, and other unwanted things. If you’re going to salt your water in the sink, add about 2 Tablespoons of salt. In a spray bottle, just adjust the salt content down to maybe a teaspoon for a small spray bottle and increase for larger bottles.
**Another Spray recipe I saw was:
1 T fresh lemon juice
1 T baking soda
1 C water
I hesitate to make this just because I know what lemon juice and baking soda do when mixed and I’m just imagining a big mess on my hands. So I’m personally going to stick to vinegar water…
Although next time, I may try adding salt to my vinegar water and see how that does.
Happy veggie washing!!!