The first rosey red, crisp and crunchy, juice dribbling apples are ready to pick.

Hurrah!

Apple picking is one of my favourite things every year.

We live in the heart of the city in south London.

But the lovely old apple orchards of Kent are right on our door step.

So come August, we do what south Londoners have always done and go apple picking.

It's a wonderful, simple way to let kids connect with nature and the seasons.

We hop on the train to our fave local PYO farm - if you're a fellow Londoner there's a list here of local PYO farms - and come back laden with big bags of apples.

We always munch a couple each on the train.

But they keep us going for months.

And taste a zillion times better than shop bought fruit.

For a fraction of the price.

But how do you keep them fresh I hear you shout?

Don't they go all wrinkled and soft and attract flies?

Storing Apples

Well, here's the thing.

You don't need fancy apple storage racks or such like.

Not at all. The trick to storing apples is plastic bags!

And YES I know plastic bags are in general a very bad thing and should be avoided at all costs but this is only a few and we make them last.

We just give the apples a quick rinse and discard any baddies or little creatures that have snuck in.

Then pop them all in plastic bags in the bottom of the fridge.

Where the apples will keep and keep and keep.

And stay as crisp and juicy as when they were first picked.

Our first haul of apples keeps us going into October.

When we go back to the orchards for the later autumn varieties.

It's another lovely outing on a windswept autumn day.

When the skies are starting to turn all spikey black and gothic in time for Halloween.

By storing apples in plastic bags in the fridge, that second haul will keep us going until after Christmas.

Almost everyday we get to enjoy lovely crunchy apples.

And for just a moment relieve those special memories of picking food together as a family.

So there you go, the simplest ever trick for storing apples.

I hope it helps.

For more simple food storage tips that help us all cut food waste do follow me on Pinterest and have a read of these posts:

• How To Store Potatoes
• How To Store Milk
• 50 Frugal Food Tips
• Grow Your Own Spinach
• Fast Growing Fall Veggies
• Foraging for beginners
• Blackberrying for beginners

Photo: Apple on a White Background by Marco Verch under Creative Commons 2.0

Original image source of cut apple.