The Best Way to Store Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

Here are some of the methods for storing fruits and vegetables that help us keep from losing our produce before we can eat it.

So you ended up going to the store to buy a ton of fresh produce preparing to incorporate a new healthy diet into your life or continue with your current diet. You put everything into the fridge as soon as you get home, then life happened. You forget about some of the produce items you bought. A couple days later and they’ve gone moldy or mushy. It happens to the best of us. However, with the correct food storage techniques, you can ensure that your fresh produce lasts a lot longer than a couple of days. We’ve experienced that problem time and time again and want to share some of our methods for storing fruits and vegetables.

How to clean your produce

The first step we take when storing fruits and vegetables is clean them. The best cleaning method I’ve found is filling up the sink with warm water, about a cup of white vinegar, and a teaspoon of salt. Both salt and vinegar are known for their antibacterial properties. Vinegar is such a good cleaning agent that it is even one of the main ingredients in our homemade all-purpose cleaner. Not only will the salt and vinegar kill the bacteria on your fruits, but they can also help break down dirt and the leftover residue from the pesticides most fruits and vegetables are sprayed with.

Tips for Storing Fruits and Vegetables

How to Store Berries

1. Soak berries in the warm water, vinegar, and salt solution for no longer than 5 minutes.
2. Let the berries air-dry in a sunny location until no water remains on them.
3. Grab a glass mason jar and put in a napkin or a paper towel at the very bottom of the jar. Then, gently fill the jar with the berries. Seal with an airtight lid and place in the fridge.
4. If you wish to freeze your berries you can put them into a mason jar without a paper towel or napkin at the bottom of the jar.

We suggest soaking the berries in the vinegar solution for less time than the other fruits and vegetables we mention here. Softer berries, like strawberries and raspberries, can soak up the vinegar in the solution, which can lead to them developing an alcohol-y flavor and get mushy even faster.

How to Store Grapes

1. Soak grapes in the warm water, vinegar, and salt solution for 5 to 10 minutes.
2. Let the grapes air-dry in a sunny location until no water remains on them.
3. Grab a mason jar to store the grapes in. For the average bag of grapes, you will likely need multiple jars. You can store them on or off their stems.
4. Then, seal the jar and place the grapes in the fridge or freezer.

You can store grapes in the fridge for about two weeks. However, we usually put ours in the freezer. Due to the various compounds that make up a grape’s flesh, they don’t fully freeze. Instead, they turn into little slushie balls that make for the perfect icy treats on a hot day.

How to Store Pomes Fruits

Common pomes fruits include apples, pears, and quinces. Because pomes fruits generally have tough outer skin, they store well in most environments. They will overripen more quickly at room temperature, though. A cold and dark environment, like a root cellar, keeps them fresher for longer. A root cellar is a great place to store pomes fruits. If you don’t have a root cellar, however, we’ve found that just storing these fruits in our crisper drawer in our fridge yields the best results.

How to Store Stone Fruits

Common stone fruits include peaches, nectarines, plums, and cherries. Pretty much any fruit with a hard pit is a stone fruit. Unlike pomes fruits, many of the stone fruits we have tried have a soft outer skin that can be damaged easily. So it’s important to store them correctly to prevent any exterior damage such as cuts, dents, and gashes. You can place unwashed fruits in an open container or paper bag in your crisper drawer. Be careful not to stack too many of these fruits on top of each other so they don’t bruise themselves.

How to Store Root Vegetables

Root vegetables are essentially any vegetable where the part you eat grows underground. With such a loose definition, there are countless different vegetables that are considered root vegetables, such as potatoes, garlic, onions, carrots, etc. For the most part, storing root vegetables is a relatively easy process compared to softer things like leaves and fruit. Most root vegetables have a hard outer skin that protects them. Because of this, many root vegetables can be stored in a cool, dark place for over a month. The temperature and level of light are important because root vegetables are tough. Under halfway decent conditions, vegetables like onions and potatoes can sprout even weeks after being pulled from the ground.

Because many root vegetables can be safely stored at room temperature, we generally don’t wash them until the day we use them. When we do wash them, we also skip the vinegar soak, instead opting for rinsing them in cool water and scrubbing the dirt off by hand. Similar to berries, root vegetables can absorb the vinegar during the cleaning soak and become mushy and alcohol-y tasting.

If you find your root vegetables have sprouted, don’t throw them out just yet. The sprouts can cause sickness if consumed, but cut the sprout out and the rest is usually good to go!

How to Store Leafy Greens and Herbs

It seems like leafy greens like spinach, arugula, lettuce, and even herbs often go bad before you have a chance to use them. The biggest problem with leafy greens is that leaves are exceptional at holding water, making it easier for them to grow mold and bacteria and rot faster. The best storage method we have found for leafy greens is to take them out of their original packaging and discard any bad leaves. Then, place a paper towel or two in a glass or a new plastic container with the leaves. Similar to how we store berries, this sucks water away from the vegetables, keeping them fresh and crisp for longer.

We will also chop leafy greens and store them in a bag in the freezer. They’ll come out a little mushy when thawed, but we typically don’t use frozen leaves in warm dishes. They primarily serve as an ingredient to boost our frozen smoothies.

How to Store Peppers

Though technically berries, peppers act more like root vegetables and pomes fruits when it comes to storage. Peppers are fairly easy to store because of their thick, protective skin. They can be stored at room temperature, but they will continue ripening and might not last more than a few days that way. After being washed, peppers can be stored in the fridge for one to two weeks. You’ll know you need to eat your peppers quickly once some of their skin begins to wrinkle. In our experience, once peppers wrinkle, they only have a day or two before their skin starts breaking and growing mold.

How to Store Carrots and Celery

Despite both technically being root vegetables (or the stalks of a root vegetable in celery’s case), we actually store both carrots and celery in the fridge rather than a dark pantry. In our experience, celery stalks are more likely to dry out and go bad faster at room temperature, and the carrots sprout and get moldy before we can use them all. We rinse both vegetables in the vinegar solution for about 10 minutes, dry them, wrap them in aluminum foil, then store them in the refrigerator crisper drawer.

How to Store Cucumbers

Cucumbers are notorious for quickly getting mushy in our household. To prevent this, wash off any dirt and grime in the water, salt, and vinegar bath. Let them air dry, and cut off any bad parts of a cucumber. Then, wrap each cucumber in a napkin or paper towel and place in a plastic bag. Leave a corner of the bag open and place it in your crisper drawer.

How to Store Tomatoes

The best way to store tomatoes is actually at room temperature. This prevents their insides from getting that weird, mushy texture that they’ll sometimes get in the fridge. All you need is to place a napkin or paper towel in a tupperware container, and place your unwashed tomatoes stem side down. Cover your tomatoes and discard any tomatoes that are moldy or leaking liquid immediately.

Notes on Storing Fruits and Vegetables

There are a ton of different fruits and vegetables, and each one has a unique storage method that keeps them fresh for longer. The major thing to note is that you should clean your fruits and vegetables of any dirt, residue, or debris. And for storing them, cool dark, and dry are almost always safe bets for extended storage. Are we missing any of your favorite fruits or vegetables? Comment below and let us know your preferred way to store them!