Tip: How To Remember Where to Store Fruits and Veggies

Sometimes we get home from the market with a fruit or vegetable and can't for the life of us figure out where it should be stored. In the crisper drawer in the fridge? Out on the counter? In a paper sack in the pantry? We finally figured out an easy way to remember what goes where!

Quite simply, we store fruits and vegetables according to where they're found in the grocery store. If it comes from the refrigerator section, we store them in the fridge. If they're kept in open bins, we know they can be stored at room temperature.

Couple this with the idea that root vegetables like to be stored in the dark (since that's where they originally grew!), and it's easy to remember that things like potatoes and onions are best stored in the dark at room temperature.

There are exceptions to every rule, of course! We learned a while back that apples are best kept in a fairly cool environment. So although we find them in the open at the grocery store, we generally keep them in the crisper drawer of the fridge. Some citrus, like lemons, also does better and lasts longer when kept cool in the fridge, although they are fine kept at room temperature for shorter periods of time.

But in general, this guideline holds pretty well! Can you think of other exceptions?

(Image: Flickr member kirrilyrobert licensed under Creative Commons)

Comments (25)

Melons are also kept out in the open at the store but I like mine chilled.

I just toss pretty well everything in the fridge except for potatoes. But maybe my methods aren't the ones to be followed since my vegetables seem to spoil before I can eat them.. but I blame that more on size of them vs the amount we eat rather than mis-storage.

I second the melon comment above and would add grapes, oranges and pears to that category as well.

What about avocados?
I keep them in the fridge as I think they'll last longer there, but not so sure after all

Keep in mind that:

The produce section in supermarkets is always kept a lot cooler than you can keep your kitchen.

Produce and fruits are being restocked throughout the day so what you see in those bins may have been on display for only a couple of hours.

At home keep all vegetables in the fridge, in their produce bags or plastic boxes.

Herbs and all leafy vegetables will dehydrate in no time if you keep them in the fridge without the protection of a plastic bag (even if you put them in the veggie crisper).

Leave tomatoes on the counter for a couple of days as this improves taste.

Leave pears on the counter until the skin around the stem starts to wrinkle slightly then consume right away or move to the fridge. This improves texture and the fruit will taste sweeter.

Melons and pineapples should be kept at room temperature until they ripen. When melons start to smell like melons and pineapples turn orange-y and smell like pineapples, eat them or move them to the fridge.

Green skinned avocados may take between three and seven days to ripen at room temperature. When their skin turns dark/reddish brown, place them in a plastic bag inside the fridge crisper and try to consume them within a couple of days.

Onions will keep well at room temperature for a number of days.

Don't wash anything until you are ready to eat it/cook it -unless you can take the time to wash and let air dry completely.

Most leafy veggies will go bad/start to freeze very quickly if you store them in the fridge while wet.

I remember an episode of Good Eats where Alton Brown said to NOT put tomatoes in the fridge. Other than that...I put just about everything else but bananas in the crisper drawer. :|

Tomatoes get cold damage (they turn mealy) if kept at temps lower than 12C. I keep most other produce in the fridge, excluding onions. I keep my potatoes in the fridge and they keep for months. I find that they lose moisture too quickly if they're kept out of the fridge.

I usually wash all of my veggies in water and white vinegar before I put them away. I find that they keep longer that way.

When I was a kid, we had a summer house on a lake in North Carolina. People would store watermelons in the lake because the water was so cold (and the melons floated.) They'd tie ropes around them and attach the rope to a peg to keep them from floating away.

A lot of my European friends store their food (fruit, veg, cheese, and even leftover cooked food in containers) on their balconies in winter because it's cold enough outside and their fridges are small. They jokingly refer to the balcony as "the world's largest refrigerator."

We have a Victorian house in SF that's over 100 years old. The back part of the house has no insulation and gets really cold in the winter so I store a lot of winter vegs like turnips, rutabaga, etc. there in the winter - saves me a lot of fridge space and it's sort of like a root cellar, I guess. It works really well, you just have to put them on elevated surfaces so air can circulate underneath, otherwise they develop mold and soft spots on the undersides.

Ah, this is the perfect time to ask:

What do you do if the produce you bought doesn't fit in the crisper drawer? I just bought some kale for the first time ever, and it's too long/wide for the drawer.

Ahh! I just hate those tiny tiny veggies & fruits crispers mini-drawers!! When are they going to create big veg & fruit bins in the fridge ?

And yes, when the temp drops down we (well, some people in Canada) do use our balconies... Un heated garages work just as well.

Trish1980:

I, too, have limited fridge space. What I do is determine how I am going to use each piece of produce (sliced, diced, torn, etc.). Then, I prep everything right away and portion it into single use containers. This saves tons of room it makes it really easy for me to throw together meals. Hope that helps.

cabbage/kale etc lasts at least a week at room temperature in my house Trish-unless your house is a lot warmer/more humid it's worth giving a go, especially with something as beautiful as kale-I like it on display! But the kitchen cupboard is fine if you're not as nerdy as me.

I keep potatoes and onions in the fridge in the crisper drawer (separately) - is this bad?

VanBC- I sense you worked in produce as a teenager. :) Thanks for all the tips!

I put everything in the fridge except bananas or fruit (including avocados) that isn't quite ripe yet. But once it's just about right, I stick in the fridge. Oh, I guess I store bags of potatoes in the pantry, but if I buy them individually I put them in the fridge.

Kathryn Hill - My parents always store our huge leftover Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner leftovers out in garage. I'm surprised the cats never get into it!! And the thing about melons in the lake makes me laugh - it just seems it would be funny to see!

Trish1980 - I can never get celery or leeks to fit in my drawers either. I just deal with it and stick on a shelf. I'm sure they go limp faster than it should, but I never use celery that fast and I figure if I'm just cutting it up to cook in marinara or soup then who cares if it's kind of limp!

The best thing I ever did was keep my tomatoes out of the fridge..well I exaggerate when I say 'best ever'. But they are much more tasty and tomato-y than when i used to keep them in the fridge. But, they don't last so long.

saer
http://cravenmaven.wordpress.com

On potatoes:

Genuine new potatoes need to be kept in the fridge because the skins haven't been 'hardened off.'

You are not supposed to store potatoes and onions together, because apparently one gives off a gas that rots the other.

All just stuff I've heard.

D'oh! I just saw that the potato/onion thing is a link up there.

Avocados should never be refrigerated until they're ripe, as they won't ripen after being cold. Tomatoes should not be refrigerated at all.

I also try not to refrigerate most other fruit, other than berries and grapes, until it's very ripe. The other exception is citrus, which can store longer that way.

Leafy veggies all go in the fridge, though a few exceptions can live in a glass of water or a vase on the counter (chive blossoms and other herbs). If I can't fit everything into the crisper then I put the more delicate veggies in the drawer and the sturdier root vegetables out, or store things in plastic bags. (Generally I shop at the farmers market with my own bags, so I store most vegetables loose unless they will make a mess that way.) One trick that really helps in the crisper is to wring out a wet dish towel and line the bottom of it, replacing that at least once a week. The dampness seems to keep everything fresher in there, and the towel makes it easy to clean out the crisper. We try to empty the crisper out right before our major weekly shopping trip, so it's no big deal to clean it and change the towel at this time.

I store sweet potatoes in my fruit/onion basket but I also eat them quickly and it's out of bright light. I store potatoes in a covered ceramic casserole as a sort of mini-crock.

@akbuilt: I might try that. If I'm just using the kale for salads anyway, I can just shred it into the size pieces I want ahead of time.

@Sian: I'd so love to leave things out, but I have to worry about critters. I haven't seen any roaches in well over a year now, and even when I did see the few that I saw, they weren't near food, just wandering in from my old upstairs neighbor's apartment. But I still worry about leaving food out, knowing that there's a good chance the building still has those dastardly creatures in the walls. I'd hate to start making dinner and realize that someone else has been enjoying my kale, tomatoes, bananas, etc. Am I being paranoid, though?

Come to think of it, I have a 5-gallon airtight, plastic box (a la Lock&Lock). Could I put the kale in there on the counter at room temperature, or would the airtightness of the box be a problem?

Seriously? Don't EVER put apples in the refrigerator - they get disgusting and mealy, just like tomatoes!
Good god, there's nothing worse than anticipating a bright, crisp, refreshing apple, only to bite into it and realize it was stored too cold at the store because now it's all sand-textured and mushy.

I never put my avacados in the fridge.. they go bad FAST there... they seem to like the counter top fine. And if they are hard I just put them in a brown bag with a banana.
Bananas also should be put in the fridge, they go brown fast.
My apples live in the pantry on a cold cement floor, and I have had them last MONTHS like that.
I keep my tomatoes in the fridge though, and the store keeps them in open bins. They seem to last longer in the fridge.
Lettuce I keep on the counter in a glass of water and let it re-grow leaves for a week or so.
Green onions I keep growing in a pot in the kitchen.
:)

http://www.amazon.com/Fresh-Farmers-Market-Reissue-Year-Round/dp/0811865908/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274558666&sr=1-2

I always reference this book in case I'm not sure!

I'm surprised no one mentioned strawberries! Those shouldn't be kept in the fridge because they, like tomatoes, can pick up the odors of other things in the fridge. They should be kept in a cool place out of the sun, but consumed as soon as you can (and why wouldn't you, really? a ripe strawberry smells like heaven).

Generally I don't store fruit in the fridge (except rhubarb...which is a vegetable), unless it's on its last legs and I can't use it that instant. I think we Americans have really been sold an over-refrigeration myth in the last half-century: there are so many things that really don't require the deep cold, especially if they're fresh and there's plenty of turnover.