How to Store Vegetables So They Last Longer

Short answer: most vegetables last longest in the fridge’s crisper drawer, unwashed, in a bag or container that lets a little air in. A few do better outside the fridge: potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, garlic and winter squash like a cool, dark, airy cupboard, and tomatoes keep their flavor best on the counter until they are ripe. Keep fruit like apples, pears and bananas away from your vegetables, because the ethylene gas they give off makes greens, broccoli and cucumbers spoil faster.

That covers about 80 percent of it. Below is where each common vegetable should go, why some spoil so fast, and a few tricks that save a lot of wilted cilantro.

The basic rules

• Do not wash vegetables before storing them. Extra water on the surface speeds up rot and mold. Brush off loose dirt if you need to, and wash just before cooking.
• Give them a little air. Most vegetables still breathe after harvest. A loosely closed bag, a container with the lid slightly open, or a bag with a few holes works better than a tightly sealed one.
• Keep fruit and vegetables apart. Many fruits release ethylene, a natural ripening gas. More on that below.
• Use the crisper drawers properly. If your drawers have a humidity slider, set one to high humidity for leafy greens, herbs and anything that wilts, and the other to low humidity for fruit.
• Check every few days. One rotting piece spreads to the rest. Pull out anything soft or moldy right away.

Where to store each vegetable

These are rough guides. How fresh the vegetable was when you bought it matters more than anything else.

Vegetable	Where	How	Keeps roughly
Lettuce, spinach and leafy greens	Fridge, high-humidity drawer	Dry, wrapped in a paper towel inside a bag or box	3 to 7 days
Cilantro, parsley and mint	Fridge	Stems in a jar of water, loosely covered with a bag	1 to 2 weeks
Carrots	Fridge, crisper	Tops cut off, in a bag	3 to 4 weeks
Broccoli and cauliflower	Fridge, crisper	In a loose or open bag	3 to 7 days
Zucchini and cucumbers	Fridge, crisper	Dry, in a loose bag	About 1 week
Bell peppers	Fridge, crisper	Whole and dry	1 to 2 weeks
Green beans	Fridge, crisper	In a loose bag	About 1 week
Mushrooms	Fridge, on a shelf	In a paper bag, not plastic	About 1 week
Tomatoes	Counter, out of the sun	Stem side down	Until ripe, then a few days
Eggplant	Cool spot or fridge crisper	Whole and dry	A few days
Potatoes and sweet potatoes	Cool, dark, airy cupboard	In a basket or paper bag, away from onions	Several weeks
Onions and garlic	Cool, dark, dry, airy place	Loose in a basket or mesh bag	Several weeks or more
Winter squash and pumpkin	Cool, dry spot	Whole, not touching each other	1 to 3 months

Why some vegetables do not belong in the fridge

Potatoes

Cold turns some of the starch in potatoes into sugar. They taste oddly sweet, and they brown too fast when you fry or roast them. Keep them somewhere cool and dark, like a cupboard away from the oven. Light turns them green, and green patches should be cut away.

Onions and garlic

The fridge is too damp for whole onions and garlic, and they turn soft or start sprouting. They want a dry, airy spot. Once an onion is cut, though, it goes in the fridge in a closed container.

Potatoes and onions together

They are often sold side by side and stored in the same basket at home, but they are better apart. Onions give off moisture and gases that can make potatoes sprout sooner. A shelf or two of distance is enough.

Tomatoes

Cold dulls the flavor of tomatoes and can make the texture mealy. Leave them on the counter until they are fully ripe. If they are ripe and you will not use them in the next day or two, the fridge is fine. Just let them come back to room temperature before eating, and save the softest ones for cooking, like in zaalouk or a pot of loubia.

Ethylene: why your fruit bowl is killing your vegetables

Some fruits and vegetables release ethylene, a natural gas that tells produce to ripen. It is the reason a banana next to an avocado makes it soften faster. You can read more about it on Wikipedia’s page on ethylene in plants.

That is useful when you want something to ripen. It is a problem when the gas reaches vegetables that are sensitive to it, because they yellow, wilt or turn bitter much sooner.

Gives off a lot of ethylene	Sensitive to ethylene
Apples	Lettuce and leafy greens
Pears	Broccoli and cauliflower
Bananas	Cucumbers
Avocados	Carrots, which can turn bitter
Ripe tomatoes	Cabbage and Brussels sprouts
Stone fruit and melons	Fresh herbs

The fix is simple: keep fruit in one drawer and vegetables in another, and keep the fruit bowl away from the vegetable basket on the counter. If you want to slow down ripe bananas, our post on how to keep bananas from turning brown has a few tricks.

How to keep fresh herbs from wilting

Moroccan cooking goes through a lot of fresh cilantro and parsley. They go into tagines, soups like harira, salads and marinades. And fresh mint is the heart of Moroccan mint tea. Bunches like these wilt in a day or two if you leave them in the bag from the store. This method keeps them much longer:

1. Remove the rubber band and any yellow or slimy leaves.
2. Trim the ends of the stems, like you would with flowers.
3. Stand the bunch in a jar with an inch or two of water.
4. Cover the top loosely with a plastic bag.
5. Keep the jar in the fridge and change the water every couple of days.

Basil is the exception. It turns black in the cold, so keep it in a jar of water on the counter, away from direct sun.

If you would rather not use a jar, wrap the herbs in a slightly damp paper towel and put them in a container or a loosely closed bag in the crisper.

How to store leafy greens

Lettuce and spinach need to be dry and kept cold, with a little moisture in the air around them but no water sitting on the leaves.

• If you wash greens ahead of time, dry them really well in a salad spinner.
• Line a container with a paper towel, add the leaves loosely, put another paper towel on top and close it.
• Change the paper towel if it gets soaked.

Whole heads last longer than loose leaves. Our guide to the best lettuce for salad covers which types hold up best.

How to store cut vegetables

Once a vegetable is cut, its clock speeds up.

• Put cut vegetables in the fridge within 2 hours.
• Use an airtight container.
• Plan to use them within 1 to 3 days.
• Carrot and celery sticks stay crunchy longer in a container of cold water in the fridge. Change the water every day or two.
• Wrap a cut half of onion, pepper or cucumber tightly, or keep it in a small closed container so the smell does not spread to everything else.

The FDA’s guide to selecting and serving produce safely recommends refrigerating cut and peeled produce for the same reason.

How to bring limp vegetables back

Carrots, celery, lettuce and herbs that have gone soft but are not slimy or moldy can often be revived. Trim the ends and put them in a bowl of ice water for 15 to 30 minutes. They soak water back up and firm up again. This works because they lost water, not because they went bad, so it will not save anything that smells off.

When to freeze vegetables instead

If you bought more than you can use, freezing beats throwing it away. Most vegetables need a quick blanch first, which means a short dip in boiling water followed by ice water. Blanching stops the enzymes that make frozen vegetables lose color, flavor and texture. The National Center for Home Food Preservation has blanching times for each vegetable.

A few things are easy to freeze without blanching: chopped onions and peppers for cooking, and fresh herbs chopped and frozen in olive oil in an ice cube tray. For more ideas, see our list of foods you can freeze to save money.

Signs a vegetable has gone bad

Throw it out if you see:

• Slime or a wet, mushy surface
• Mold, especially fuzzy spots
• A sour or rotten smell
• Leaks or liquid pooling in the bag

A few soft spots on a firm vegetable like a carrot or potato can be cut away with a good margin. A soft, slimy or moldy leafy green should go in the bin. If something does spoil in your crisper, clean the drawer before you fill it again. Our post on how to remove mold smell from the fridge shows how.

FAQ

Which vegetables should not be refrigerated?

Potatoes, sweet potatoes, whole onions, garlic and winter squash are best kept in a cool, dark, airy place. Tomatoes and basil are best on the counter.

Should you wash vegetables before putting them in the fridge?

No. Water left on the surface speeds up spoiling. Wash them just before you use them.

How do you keep cilantro and parsley fresh?

Trim the stems, stand them in a jar of water, cover loosely with a bag and keep them in the fridge. Change the water every couple of days.

Can I store potatoes and onions together?

It is better not to. Onions can make potatoes sprout faster. Keep them in separate spots.

Why do my vegetables go bad so fast in the fridge?

The usual causes are too much moisture, fruit stored next to them, bags sealed too tightly, or a fridge that is not cold enough. Keep your fridge at 40°F (4°C) or below.

How long do cut vegetables last in the fridge?

About 1 to 3 days in an airtight container. Carrot and celery sticks last a bit longer stored in cold water.