Product provided for review purposes. All thoughts are my own, as always.

My family keeps dabbling with the Paleo diet. It’s not a huge hit with my kids, but Tim and I have both noticed that we feel our best eating this way. To over-simplify, it basically means that about half your plate at any given meal is meat, and the other half is veggies (with some fruit sprinkled in here and there).

This definitely has an impact on our grocery budget (meat is crazy expensive, if you haven’t noticed) and it also has an impact on our refrigerator. Our crisper drawers are always stuffed with veggies and there’s always overflow that just has to sit in the fridge without being in a special compartment. And there are always at least 3 different cuts of meat that are in the fridge, either thawing from being previously frozen or in the queue to be consumed in the next day or so.

What does all this mean for the fridge? Frankly, it means that it doesn’t smell great in there. And that’s not really a good thing to be overwhelmed by unpleasant smells when you are reaching for something to eat. Additionally, since we have so much fresh produce, I’m constantly moving things around and trying to shove as much as possible in the crisper drawers in the hopes of increasing the length of time that the fresh produce actually stays fresh.

So when BerryBreeze reached out to tell me about their product that can help eliminate odors and end premature aging of produce, I wanted to try it out.

What I Love about BerryBreeze

So the BerryBreeze has been in my fridge for 4 full days now, and I could tell a significant difference in the odors within 24 hours. It used to smell like an unfortunate mixture of raw meat and wilting produce (and a few forgotten leftovers), and now it doesn’t smell like anything at all. Don’t let the name of the product fool you: it doesn’t emit a “berry breeze” scent into your fridge. It doesn’t mask odors at all, in fact. What it does is emit oxygen so that odors become neutralized. There are no chemicals being used. No absorption packs. No filters that need to be changed. It’s really just the magic of oxygen at work. Pretty cool stuff!

The produce I purchased earlier this week that isn’t in the crisper drawer is definitely holding up better than it would have before the Berry Breeze. I appreciate that fact, and now don’t feel as stressed out about having to rearrange and strategically place stuff in certain spots every day. For example, I bought some mushrooms a few days ago, and I usually find that I absolutely MUST use them within 48 hours of purchase. We are right around the 72 hour mark and they are doing just fine!

For me, BerryBreeze is doing a great job of neutralizing odors in my fridge and based on what I’ve seen so far, I think it will help our produce stay fresh longer, which will make my life as the meal planner less stressful.

What I Don’t Love about BerryBreeze

When I first started using the BerryBreeze, I didn’t really notice any difference at all. And then I realized that the product needed batteries in order to work. Of course I felt like an idiot once I made this realization. Did I think the BerryBreeze was operated by magical miniature unicorns inside of it? It has to have a power source. Unfortunately, that power source comes in the form of 4 size D batteries. That’s a lot of batteries, and a lot of big, expensive batteries. I was totally bummed to realize this, and I honestly don’t know how long the BerryBreeze will operate with them before they have to be replaced. Maybe it will chug along for a year! Maybe it will die in 30 days. I honestly don’t know. But I’m guessing the reality will be closer to 30 days than to 1 year, and that means more large, expensive batteries to buy. I realize it sounds ridiculously lazy of me, but anything that requires semi-frequent battery changes annoys me and is a strike against that product making my life easier. This may be a total non-issue for a lot of people, but I don’t know…I just really don’t like the fact that it requires 4 huge batteries to work.

Where to Buy BerryBreeze

If you have a foodie on your holiday gift list this year, I do think the BerryBreeze is a cool device (just include the batteries with the gift, please!). It’s also a great option for any family that cooks a great deal, as I do think it will help prevent food spoilage, which means lots of money saved! You can buy BerryBreeze directly from the product website for $49.95, and shipping is free.