This is just an experiment...only an experiment...

I'm trying out something I read on one of my favorite sites recently. No, I don't remember which one, but it was just in passing conversation that someone mentioned things they couldn't stand. One particular writer said she couldn't stand those television commercials selling those little green bags that are supposed to keep your fruits and vegetables fresher for several days.

This brought on a few more replies as to how each contributor had their thoughts and methods for surviving without the little green bags, which are expensive and can only be used for a few times before they are discarded along with the money you spent on them.

One suggestion was to save the inner lining of your cereal boxes, you know those waxed paper linings, and use them to store your fruits and vegetables in them to maintain quality as good as, if not better than, those little green bags.

Since I had just finished a box of cereal this was my time to try out this suggestion. In all truthfulness, I had two bags because I had read this much earlier and had already saved my first cereal liner. The liners I used were from my boxes of 13.5 oz Kellogg's Special K Protein plus. These are thicker bags than the regular old sugar-laden varieties of cereal. You have to replace this cereal more often because there are only about 13 days worth of cereal in each $3.00 plus box, but once you cultivate a taste for it, it's not bad cereal and supposedly much healthier for you than some of the stuff out there. Anyway, you can see your wait won't be long for a new bag.

I had just been to the grocery store and bought several just-right, ripe bananas. It passed through my mind that now I could do my own experiment with my bananas, so I decided to put one of my bananas into the cereal bag and seal it up using a plastic clip and throw it into the refrigerator to see what reaction I would get from that banana.

Little Princesses' mother cannot stand eating bananas that have turned brown from being put into the refrigerator. After all, remember she is the Queen. There's absolutely nothing that changes the taste of those bananas, and the skin will be removed, but she still can't stand the look of those bananas. I've tried putting them into brown paper bags before and while it slows down the change in color of the skin, they still turn brown, just not as much.

I've also sealed them, minus the skin, using my hot shot food sealer gizmo (great thing in my opinion) and then tossed them into the freezer. They don't turn brown through this process and you have some yummy bananas ready for homemade banana bread.

But, for now, I'm wanting to see how long they keep pretty and yellow, just in the refrigerator and not the freezer.

So, I'm pleased to announce that after almost one day, well, alright, since around two o'clock yesterday afternoon until this morning around 8:30, my little banana has maintained it's pretty yellow coloring. I also put a couple on the counter in the other waxed bag and it doesn't appear they have over-ripened, but there is moisture on the inside of the bag left on the counter, but not the one in the refrigerator. Needless to say, those will be the first to go.

So, the experiment goes on. I'm hoping this will work. Maybe it will work for keeping blueberries, strawberries, etc. fresher in the refrigerator. We all know how expensive those things can be especially with the price of food going higher and higher each day.

So try your own little experiment with your cereal bags and let me know how you come out. It's free money except for the ever-rising cost of cereal. I'll maybe try another one later when Granddaddy finishes his cheapo-thino-waxed-paper bag of cereal.

The one who originally suggested this said she wipes out the first time and then washes her waxed paper bags and reuses them the next time. You do the same for the green bags so I'm sure it would be just fine. You might want to confine using strong-flavored things such as peppers to the same bag.

This sounds like a winner for such things as those baby carrots or even that yellow squash that has a tendency to go bad before you use it all up.

Oh, and since I am not familiar with hands-on handling of those green bags I don't know if they come with little holes in them or not, but I didn't add any to my bags. I would think letting any extra air in would cause the food to ripen faster, then again, sometimes the gases inside might cause them to ripen faster.

This is an experiment...only an experiment...so, we shall see.