How To Store Fresh Strawberries
Learn how to store fresh strawberries so they are washed, ready to eat and will stay fresh for up to a week. This is so convenient for meal prep and having healthy snacks ready to enjoy.
Over the last decade and especially since having my children, I have been on a mission to find out the best way to store fresh strawberries. If you’ve been around for awhile, you know how much I love to meal prep. Along with that, I also have done tons of research to figure out the best way to store fresh produce and the ingredients that I meal prep.
One of the things that spoils fastest is fresh produce and especially berries. We love fresh berries and really enjoy eating them on their own as well as adding them to lots of other recipes. It is SO convenient to have produce washed, sliced and ready to be enjoyed. However, strawberries wilt and get moldy so quickly. Not anymore! Here’s a method that works amazingly well.
How To Store Fresh Strawberries
- Thoroughly wash the strawberries.
- I use kosher salt. Add a few tablespoons of kosher salt to a large bowl of water and dissolve it (I recommend using filtered water). Add the strawberries to the water and allow to soak for at least 5 minutes.
- You can also use any other cleaner of your choice, such as adding vinegar, essential oils or any other fruit and veggie wash that you prefer to your water to wash the strawberries.
- Gently agitate the strawberries to dislodge as much dirt and debris as possible without damaging the berries.
- Next, thoroughly rinse the berries under clean running water. Place in a colander to drain.
- Discard any berries that are starting to wilt or get moldy.
- Remove the stems and I also like to cut off the tops of the berries that we will not eat.
- Next, place the washed and prepped strawberries to drain and dry.
- I use a wire rack with paper towels on top of it. You can also use a clean kitchen towel, but the berries will stain your towel. It is important for the berries to dry as much as possible.
- Lastly, place the strawberries in an airtight container (put a paper towel in the bottom of the jar) and seal with an air tight lid or cover. (I use glass mason jars.)
- Store the prepped strawberries in the refrigerator for about a week. How long they stay fresh will depend on how fresh your strawberries were to begin with. If they were really fresh, they will be good for 7-10 days if you follow the steps I showed you. However, if your berries were already not in the best shape when you start to prep them, they won’t stay fresh very long, but definitely longer than if you don’t do anything with them.
Storage Containers For Meal Prep
Once the berries are washed, prepped and dried, you need to place them into an airtight container. I use glass mason jars. I have many of them since I use them in so many ways. They are very versatile and surprisingly compact. You’ll be surprised how much berries a mason jar will hold.
I usually use either 32 oz or 64 oz mason jars with the wide mouth lids.* I also have a few special edition keepsake jars that I bought many years ago and they are perfect for strawberries and hold just a bit more than a regular 32 oz jar.
You can use metal lids or also plastic lids.* I have both and they both work really well.
*affiliate links
Other airtight storage containers, like these Rubbermaid containers*, work well too, but they don’t hold as many berries, so I prefer the mason jars. (Sometimes I use the Rubbermaid containers for blueberries.)
What Will Keep Fresh Berries Fresh Longer
Fresh berries are delicate and they do go bad much faster than most other fresh produce. The biggest enemies that you need to fight against are other moldy or wilted berries and moisture.
- Remove any strawberries that are wilted and starting to get moldy. Cut off the bad parts and eat the good part of the berries, add it to muffins, make strawberry jam and so much more.
- This is why allowing the berries to just sit in the container makes your berries spoil faster because one bad berry will cause the ones around it to go bad.
- Remove the stems and cut off the tops.
- If you’ve ever grown strawberries or picked it from a farm and brought home a giant batch, you will notice that most berries start to go bad at the top first. That’s why removing the stems and cutting off the tops helps keep your berries fresh longer.
- It’s also SO nice to have the berries ready to be eaten or used in recipes.
- Soaking the berries in a salt or vinegar solution or some sort of fruit and veggie wash will get all the unwanted bugs that may be in your berries OUT.
- After rinsing your berries, it’s extremely important to dry the berries before placing them in an airtight container. If you want the berries to stay fresh for longer than a day, this step is a must.
- If you just place the damp berries in a jar, they will wilt and go moldy really quickly because of the moisture.
- I let the berries sit on top of the paper towel lined rack for at least 1 and up to 2 hours before transferring them to a jar. (Don’t let them sit out at room temperature longer than that since they will start to wilt when they are out in the warmth after being prepped for too long also.)
- Besides cutting off stems and the tops of the berries, do NOT cut the berries into quarters or slices or anything like that. They need to be whole to stay fresh longer.
