How to Store Fruits & Vegetables
- Produce drawer: Spread paper towels on the bottom of the drawer to absorb excess moisture
- Greens: Store kale, collard greens, swiss chard & other hardy greens with their stems in a glass of water. Cover them loosely with a plastic bag in the fridge.
- Potatoes: store potatoes away from onions (onions make them spoil faster). Store potatoes with apples to keep them from sprouting.
- Mushrooms: wrap them in paper towels before putting them in the fridge or store them in a paper bag or cardboard box.
- Onions: put them into pantyhose and tie a know in between each onion to separate them. Onions will keep fresh up to 8 months.
- Berries: Wash berries in water with a little bit of vinegar. Allow to drain in a colander. Store them in the container from the store in the coldest part of the refrigerator.
- Lettuce: wrap the lettuce in a damp paper or cloth towel & store in the fridge.
- Fresh Herbs: To Freeze: rinse a bunch of herbs and put it into a sealed plastic bag and freeze them. To Refrigerate: allow the bunch of herbs to dry on paper towels; then roll them up with the paper towels and put them back in the bag & refrigerate.
- Thyme, Rosemary & Sage: Tie each bunch together and hang it to get air.
- Ginger root: Store in the freezer
- Tomatoes: store at room temperature out of direct sunlight in a basket with the stem side down.
- Green Onions: Wash them, dry them with a paper towel and then wrap them with dry paper towels. Store them in a plastic bag in the refrigerator
- Garlic: keep garlic bulbs in an open basket or a paper bag. It will last longer if refrigerated
- Root Vegetables (carrots, beets, rutabagas, parsnips, turnips): store in a cool, dark place in a pot filled with sand. Learn more about sand storage.
- Apples: don’t store apples with other foods; they cause other foods to ripen quickly. A rotten apple can spoil the whole bunch of apples.
- Asparagus: stand the larger ends of the asparagus in a container of water in the fridge
- Bananas: separate bananas & store them at room temperature. Wrap the stems with beeswax wraps or plastic wrap to slow down browning
- Avocadoes: store at room temperature to ripen; once ripened, store in the fridge. Leave the pit in the half you are storing. Squeeze lemon or lime juice into guacamole to keep it fresher longer.
How to Store Meat, Poultry, Fish and Eggs
- Meat and Poultry: Store in the fridge in the packaging it came in from the store only if you are going to cook it in a day or two. Otherwise, take it out of the packaging and store it in a airtight freezer plastic bag in the freezer or vacuum seal the meat before freezing.
- Fresh Fish: store in a plastic bag sitting on top of bowl of ice in the fridge. Cook the fish within a day or two.
- Eggs: store eggs in the fridge in the carton they came in. To test their freshness, place the eggs in a bowl of water – fresh eggs should sink to the bottom & old eggs will float.
How to Store Dry Goods
- Take your dry foods out of their packages and store them in airtight containers.
- Bread: either store it at room temperature or freeze it in a sealed plastic bag.
- Flour: freeze flour for at least for 2 days to kill any insects that may be in the flour. Then put into an airtight container and store in the fridge or in a cool, dark place.
- Coffee Beans: for most freshness, buy whole beans and grind them as needed. Store in an airtight container in the freezer.
- Keep Weevils away: put a bay leaf in each storage container of dry ingredients (flour, rice, corn meal) to keep weevils away.
- Salt: put a little bit of rice in your salt shaker to keep the salt from sticking together.
- Nuts: store in freezer to keep them fresher longer
- Chop fruits and vegetables just before you are going to use them.
- Put an ethylene gas absorber in your refrigerator to keep fruits and vegetables stay fresh 3 times longer or you can buy green bags or containers.
- Keep refrigerator temperature at 40 degrees or below.
- Be sure not to overcrowd the refrigerator. Food will spoil faster if there is not enough air circulation in the fridge.
- Never put your meats in the same crisper drawer with the fruits and veggies in the fridge.
- Keep your refrigerator clean to prevent mold from spoiling fresh food
- Reusable Beeswax Food Wraps:
How to Store Cheese and other Dairy Foods
- Cheese: wrap the cheese tightly with wax paper & store in the fridge. You can also freeze shredded cheese that has been tossed with a little cornstarch in a plastic freezer bag. Spread butter onto the cut side of the cheese to keep it from drying out.
- Cottage Cheese & Sour Cream: store these containers upside-down in the refrigerator. It prevents mold from forming on the top.
- Butter: Freeze butter for up to 6 months in a sealed plastic freezer bag. Will keep fresh in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks.
- Milk: Keep milk in a colder part of your refrigerator (not on a shelf in the door).
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