This Potato Hack Will Revive Your Limp Vegetables

Oh, that darned crisper drawer. If you're anything like us, it can sometimes seem like a place where vegetables go to die. Although we have the best intentions, filling the refrigerator with lovingly selected vegetables from the grocery store or farmers market, often life gets in the way and those veggies quickly go from pristine to past their prime. Unfortunately, food waste is a huge problem in the U.S. today. 

According to Rubicon, the average family of four tosses about $1,500 worth of food each year. Overall, that translates to 30 to 40% of the country's food supply gone to waste each year. Understandably, many of the folks — ourselves included — who toss food into the trash without ever cooking it often do so because they're left with limp, lifeless veggies, and they don't know what to do with them. Luckily, there's an easy tip for re-crisping and reviving vegetables, so that they don't have to go to waste. 

Have your veggies gone limp in the refrigerator? Once that happens, produce often loses its appeal, and is at risk for being thrown out. But before you toss items such as radishes, carrots, and celery, consider this tip — fill a bowl with ice water, pop in a slice of raw potato, and let your lifeless vegetables take a nice soak. According to Country Living, this hack will bring life back into the veggies, restoring their crunch and palatability.

Though the magazine only lists the three above vegetables, we're willing to bet that almost any root vegetable, such as parsnips, turnips, and beets are eligible for the treatment, as well. We haven't been able to find a scientific explanation for the potato soak method, but it's well known. The book "Passion of a Foodie," for example, declares that "celery and lettuce crisp very quickly if stood in a bowl of cold water with a few slices of raw potatoes added." So there you have it, the next time your once-tasty vegetables go limp, treat them to a cold, potato-laced bath to restore their youthful crunch.