The wisdom of generations that have gone before us need to be passed on, but often, those wonderful little tips are lost, especially kitchen tips.  Passed down from my mom to me, I know that this is one of those jewels.

During my 80% off Living talks,  I share ideas to save money on food  and often give this simple tip to extend the life of berries by weeks.

With strawberry season in full force, I’m already frustrated with myself that I allowed berries to mold just because I didn’t take my own advice : a simple vinegar and water bath.

We all know that vinegar is one of the best all natural and frugal cleaners around. It kills any kind of bacteria or spores on contact,  so apply the same principle to our berries. The vinegar kills any mold spores and other bacteria that might be on the surface of the fruit.

As soon as you come home with your berries,  resist putting them in your fridge and just do a simple vinegar wash first. Prepare a mixture of one part vinegar (white or apple cider) with five parts water.

Dump the berries into the mixture and swirl around. Drain, rinse them with water, dry and put in fridge. I promise, they won’t taste like vinegar. Make sure they are completely dry before storing them in the fridge, that is the magic secret. Since strawberries are more firm, you can easily use a salad spinner to help spin the water, but raspberries will mush in there, so just gently lay them out on a towel and pat dry.

Raspberries will last a week or more, and strawberries can go almost two weeks without getting moldy and soft.

Take advantage of all the great stock up prices right now knowing they’ll stay fresh as long as it takes you to eat them or bake with them or freeze them for another time.

Do you have any great tips for extending your produce? There are some great ideas in the comments on the saving money on produce post.

I’ve been cooking up a storm in the kitchen this week and I love additional inspiration. I can’t wait to see what you are sharing for Tasty Tuesday this week. Make sure you link up to your exact recipe url and link back to my blog in your post. Then share the comment love with others. 🙂