This Super-Simple Grocery Store Hack Will Help You Choose the Freshest Berries Every Single Time

Dai Poole
Dai Poole
Dai Poole is a graduate of Virginia Tech with degrees in Psychology and Music. He is a self-proclaimed dessert connoisseur and a lover of all things seafood. When he is not thinking about food, Dai enjoys live music, engaging in political debates, and watching sci-fi movies. In his spare time, he can be found writing reviews on current and classic R&B music.
published Apr 5, 2023
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Berries (strawberries, blueberries) selection at grocery store
Credit: Studio13lights/Shutterstock

Despite my limited skills in the kitchen, I am hypervigilant when it comes to monitoring freshness via expiration dates. No matter what my friends with more culinary expertise tell me, I won’t eat food once its expiration or “use by” date has passed (except for eggs, thanks to this freshness test). It’s a hill I choose to die on every time. Lately, however, I’ve encountered an adjacent dilemma — how to select fresh fruit during my weekly grocery store trip. 

With spring upon us, many of my favorite fruits — including blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries — are now in season. But getting these sweet berries to retain their fresh flavor long enough for me to finish the entire carton is a struggle that’s dampened my excitement on multiple occasions over the years. Thanks to Meredith Alston’s (@naptown_thrifts) recent video, however — which shows us a simple, life-changing hack that makes finding the best berries in-store a breeze — I think that’s all about to change. 

In the short clip on Instagram, Meredith explains how her husband taught her how to test the berries at the store before she buys them — and it has nothing to do with the expiration date. According to the content creator, if you want to know which berries will last the longest, simply flip the container upside down. If the fruit sticks to the bottom of the container, do not buy it as it will lose its freshness faster. If it doesn’t, you can confidently select that pack as the lucky winner. 

This method is truly so simple, I can’t believe I wasn’t doing it sooner. It’s a game-changing hack that I know I’ll most definitely use during my next trip to the grocery store. And, with longer-lasting berries now, I’ll have more time to enjoy a cold, refreshing blueberry-banana smoothie with cinnamon as I sit outside with a good book on a sunny spring day.