You've just hauled home a big bunch of fruits and veggies. Question now is – how should you best store them, so they last longer and stay fresher?
We've foraged to bring you the best food freshness tips. Not only are these good for your wallet, they're also good for the planet. After all, Aussies throw away up to $10 billion of edible food every year – that's 4 million tonnes!
Now for the basics
Fruit and veg to store in the fridge
- Berries
- Grapes
- Cherries
- Corn
- Cauliflower
- Broccoli
You should also keep apricots, rockmelon and figs in the fridge. These fruits release gas (called ethylene) that ripens up other food around them.
Fruit and veg to keep on the bench
These guys are also gas producers that shouldn't be popped in the fridge:
- Kiwi
- Pears
- Lemons, limes, pineapple
- Avocados (you can speed up the ripening process if you pop them in a brown bag with bananas)
- Pears
- Plums
- Tomatoes
- Nectarines
- Unripe bananas
Fruit and veg to keep in a cool, dark spot
- Onion
- Garlic
- Potatoes, including sweet potatoes
Fruit and veg to keep away from others
Back to the gas. These foods should be kept away from gas-producing fruits and veg:
- Bananas
- Broccoli
- Brussel sprouts
- Cabbage
- Carrots
- Cauliflower
- Cucumber
- Eggplant
- Lettuce
- Parsley
- Peas
- Herbs like parsley
- Watermelon
Other freshness tips
- When you get your haul home, be sure to refrigerate the varieties listed above as soon as possible. The longer you leave them out, the sooner they'll go off.
- Rinse lettuces and other greens. Some people recommend chopping celery stalks and popping them into a glass container with some water.
- If you have potatoes, onions or other cupboard foods wrapped in packaging, remove it before storing them. But if you're buying at markets or reputable suppliers, you hopefully won't be buying fruit and veg in unnecessary packaging!
- Another top tip: eat the most perishable items first, like avocados, cherries, bananas and mushrooms. You can keep eggplant, lettuce, cucumbers and zucchini for later in the week. And your tomatoes, spinach, citrus, leeks, cauliflower and blueberries will likely last to the weekend.
