American families waste between $500 and $2,000 worth of food, mostly produce, each year. So how can you avoid throwing out your food — and your money? Public Television's Sara Moulton shares her tips for getting the longest shelf life out of your groceries.

• The two biggest enemies in the fridge are moisture and air, so try to keep those down to a dull roar.

• The temperature of your fridge should be 40 degrees Fahrenheit, anything above that and your food is going to start to spoil. Your freezer should be set at zero degrees Fahrenheit.

• When freezing soup, don't freeze it in large amounts because then you're going to have to defrost the whole thing. Store in smaller containers with the date properly labeled.

• Use plastic storage bags to store liquids and you can utilize more space in your freezer.

• A lot of fruits give off ethylene gas which helps them ripen, but it's also a real downer for the vegetables, which is why you need to keep them separate in the fridge. You can also buy a product such as BluApple that you can place in your fruit drawer to absorb the ethylene.

• The best way to keep soft herbs like basil, cilantro, parsley and dill is to treat them like flowers. Put them in a pitcher or glass of water and put plastic over them and they'll keep for weeks. You can do the same with asparagus and it will keep growing.

• Lettuce is the number one cause of food-borne illness, so don't mess around with it; wash it, and if it says triple wash it, wash it again. If there's an expiration date, throw it out by that date. And if you're getting close to the expiration date, what the heck, sauté the greens!

• If you see a moldy strawberry in the package, don't ignore it — toss it right away because one bad one will spoil the bunch. Store them with a bit of plastic wrap covering them but allow for some air, and don't wash until you're ready to eat.

• If you have a whole grain product, like a whole wheat flour or a wheat grain, because it's got the seed and the germ in it and all those nut oils as well, you want to get them into the fridge. Empty them into a container that you can cover and place in the fridge or the freezer.

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Sara Moulton