Kitchen Tips and Tricks: The Beginner's Guide To Storing Groceries
Get the most for your money by properly storing all of your groceries.
We're all guilty of storing our groceries incorrectly at some point, but probably not on purpose. It's habit to generally put all vegetables into the refrigerator and call it a day. For certain vegetables, storing them in the fridge does more harm than good. Also, many foods have a shorter shelf life than you would think. Keeping your food properly stored is the first step in food safety, so this will also help keep you and your family safe from foodborne illnesses.
A good rule of thumb to follow is "when in doubt, throw it out," because it is always better to be safe than sorry. You won't be sorry after following this guide, Kitchen Tips and Tricks: The Beginner's Guide To Storing Groceries--and you'll get the most of your grocery money!
Learn how to cook all of your properly stored vegetables with this guide: Cooking Vegetables: The Best Kitchen Tips and Tricks
How To Store Your Groceries
Refrigerator
Meat Drawer
Beef: in the packaging it came in; will keep for 2 days
Poultry: in the packaging it came in; will keep for 2 days
Cheese Drawer
Semi-Hard to Hard Cheese: wrapped in parchment and then plastic; will keep for 1-2 weeks
Fresh Cheese: store in water, change water every 2 days; will keep for 7 days
Crisper Drawer
Greens: in a large plastic container with dry paper towels; will keep for 10 days
Green beans: plastic bag with dry paper towel; will keep for 1 week
Celery: wrapped in foil; will keep for 2 weeks
Grapes: perforated plastic bag; will keep for 1-2 weeks
Broccoli: wrapped in plastic; will keep for 5 days
Cauliflower: wrapped in plastic; will keep for 5 days
Cabbage: wrapped in plastic; will keep for 2 weeks
Berries: vented container; will keep for 3-5 days
Winter Squash (cut): wrapped in foil; will keep for 2-3 weeks
Apples: unwrapped; will keep for 3 weeks
Shelf
Summer Squash: wrapped in plastic; will keep for 5 days
Fish: sealed bag with no air; will keep for 2 weeks unopened or for 5 days opened
Mushrooms: paper bag; will keep for 3 days
Counter
Tomatoes: unwrapped; will keep for 5 days
Bananas: unwrapped; will keep for 3 days (once ripe)
Melons: unwrapped; will keep for 5 days (once ripe)
Pantry
Potatoes: brown paper bag; will keep for 1-2 months
Sweet potatoes: brown paper bag; will keep for 2 weeks
Winter Squash: unwrapped; will keep for 1 month
Garlic: plastic bag with paper towel; will keep 2 weeks
Onions: unwrapped; will keep 1-2 months
More Helpful Tips
1. Keep your fridge clean. The air in the refrigerator (and any spills) can contribute to cross-contamination and make your food go bad faster.
2. Keep gas-releasing food away from gas sensitive foods. For example, peaches are gas-releasers and bananas are gas-sensitive, so unless you want your fruits to ripen faster, keep them away from one another.
3. Make sure your fridge is set to 40 degrees Fahrenheit or lower to prevent foodborne illnesses.
4. Be sure to also wash all produce before eating it.
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mg57
Dec 14, 2016
Very helpful article! Keeping fresh food fresh is getting harder and harder. Strawberries barely make it home anymore. Great tip about wrapping celery in foil! I always end up with limp celery. I always freeze meat immediately, unless I am planning on cooking it that night. I found out that some grocery stores repackage their meat (take meat with expired dates and repackage it with a new expiration date) and it is older than you think!
Toby K Editor
Aug 09, 2016
This is super helpful! And now I feel a little guilty of not following these rules all the time, haha
Sara R
Jul 15, 2016
I learned about the gas releasing foods the hard way. I bought a bunch of bananas and set them next to peaches I got at the farmer's market and my bananas went bad so much faster than normal and I had no idea why!
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