Storage Guide for Vegetables
- Cool and dry (50-60 F./10-15 C. and a 60 percent relative humidity)
- Cold and dry (32-40 F./0-4 C. and a 65 percent relative humidity)
- Cold and moist (32-40 F//0-4 C. and a 95 percent relative humidity)
What is the best way to store vegetables?
- Garlic Store in a dry, well-ventilated area.
- Onions * Don’t store near potatoes - they’ll both spoil faster.
- Potatoes Keep away from onions; store in a cool, dry area.
- Shallots* Keep in a dry, well-ventilated area.
- Sweet Potatoes Keep away from heat and light.
- Winter Squash (including acorn and butternut squash, pumpkin) Store in a cool, dry place. ...
How to store vegetables to keep them fresh longer?
Keep some vegetables fresh longer in the fridge using the crisper drawer. Store your fruits and vegetables at temperatures between 33 and 40°F to maintain their integrity until you are ready to eat them or use them in a recipe.
How to store vegetables without refrigeration?
These are a few tricks of how to keep your fruits and vegetables fresh even without refrigeration:
- Many fruits such as avocados, bananas, kiwis, mangoes, pears, plums, and tomatoes, produce a gas called ethylene as they ripen. ...
- Some vegetables lose their flavour when kept in cold. ...
- Green leaves are known to lose their freshness very quickly. ...
How to keep vegetables fresh in the fridge?
Method 1 Method 1 of 3: Storing Vegetables Properly Download Article
- Keep vegetables in the fridge for 7 to 12 days. ...
- Keep vegetables with other, similar vegetables. If you keep your vegetables in bags in your refrigerator, do not mix the types of vegetables inside of a single bag.
- Separate vegetables that wilt from those that rot with humidity drawers. ...
Harvest
When harvesting vegetables, be careful not to break, nick or bruise them. The less you handle your vegetables, the longer they will last in storage.
Storage
Different vegetables need different storage conditions. Temperature and humidity are the main storage factors to consider. There are three combinations for long-term storage:
Buying Vegetables That Will Be Stored Without Refrigeration
Having veggies last a reasonable amount of time without refrigeration actually begins with how you choose the vegetables in the first place. This is probably the most important part of the process and the one usually overlooked.
Bringing Veggies Home
To wash, or not to wash your vegetables when you bring them home? You’ll find cruisers who are adamantly in both camps. The argument for washing is to get any critters off before they cause damage or infest other food, and also to have food ready to use when you want it.
The Basics of Storing Vegetables without Refrigeration
Storage areas need to be well-ventilated, dry and as dark as possible. Bins need to be something that can be easily washed— plastic works the best as you can use bleach on it and it dries quickly. Wire baskets and gear hammocks cause “pressure points” that will bruise, so these need to be well padded.
The Basics of Cold Storage
The term "cold storage" does not mean storing vegetables in a refrigerator. Refrigerators are relatively moist environments that are best for storing vegetables that will be used within a few days. Rather, "cold storage" refers to storing large quantities of just-harvested vegetables in cool but not freezing conditions.
5 Tips for Effective Cold Storage
Most homes will have areas that are naturally well-suited for long-term cold storage of harvested vegetable produce.
Tips for Specific Vegetables
Cabbages: Harvest cabbages when the heads feel firm and full. Remove outside leaves. Cabbages like high humidity and can be stored in perforated plastic bags. Any plastic bag will do if you punch some hole in it for excess water to escape.
How to Store Vegetables 1O1: Core Factors that Influence Shelf Life
Precise harvest times must be respected for produce to retain its peak quality. Vegetables may be harvested at different stages of maturity depending on the type of crop, distances they travel, as well as storage conditions they’re expected to withstand. As a rule of thumb, it’s always best to buy locally sourced produce.
How to Store Vegetables 1O1: 4 Common Mistakes to Avoid
Not regularly cleaning your fridge and other storage areas in your house is a big no-no. Also, check it regularly for early spoils, which could compromise entire healthy batches, and wipe off any spills using hot, soapy water. You should also take everything out once in a while and give your fridge a thorough wash.
How to Store Vegetables – Wrapping Up
Keep these key principles in mind, and the amount of food waste in your house should decrease considerably. Not sure you’ll remember all the details on storing your freshly-bought vegetables? Luckily, USDA has launched this great thing called the FooKeeper App.
Tender Salad Greens and Lettuces
Your tender fresh greens, like arugula, baby spinach, mesclun, spring mix, and so on, are the most fragile category of vegetable, so it’s best practice to eat them quickly once you have them, rather than let them sit around.
Hardier Greens
Here I’m talking about kale, collard or mustard greens, bok choy, Swiss chard, full-grown mature spinach, and other greens that typically come in a bunch, rather than a clamshell or bag. Spinach, like our tender green friends, should be kept in a bag, bowl, or clamshell with a paper towel in the fridge.
Bell Peppers and Fresh Chiles
Bell peppers, whether green, red, orange, or yellow, keep for up to two weeks in the fridge with very little intervention. Just put them in a plastic bag, and put that in your crisper drawer. Same goes for hotter chile peppers, from habaneros to jalapeños. If you want to store them for longer, you can freeze peppers pretty easily.
Cucumbers
If you’re getting your cucumbers from the store, you probably don’t have to wash them before you store them. But if you’re getting them from a farmer’s market or garden, wash and dry them thoroughly to get rid of any lingering dirt that might cling to them and hasten their demise. Then you have a few options.
Root Vegetables
If you’re looking for produce that will last you awhile, root vegetables are where it’s at. These include carrots, parsnips, turnips, beets, radishes, rutabagas, sweet potatoes, yams, and regular old potatoes. What’s great about these varieties is that, in many cases, you don’t even need to keep them in the fridge.
Asparagus
One of the first few harbingers of spring, asparagus is a vegetable I’m particularly fond of. But it’s also one that gets limp fairly quickly in the fridge. Like your tender, leafy greens, asparagus are best eaten fairly quickly after you buy them, but you can prolong their life a bit.
Corn
If you live near a cornfield, or a farm, you might be familiar with the school of thought on cooking corn that is, basically, don’t pick an ear until the pot of water is already boiling. Unfortunately I live nowhere near a corn field, so I just get mine from the supermarket, and sometimes from a farmstand.
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Warnings
If your vegetables smell bad, don’t eat them. They’ve probably gone bad in the fridge.
About This Article
This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Hannah Madden. Hannah Madden is a writer, editor, and artist currently living in Portland, Oregon. In 2018, she graduated from Portland State University with a B.S. in Environmental Studies. Hannah enjoys writing articles about conservation, sustainability, and eco-friendly products.