Some vegetables and fruits keep longer – way longer – than others. And it’s important to know which is which, because while dried pasta might be just fine to eat after the use-by date, food like berries and lettuce can make you seriously sick if they’re past their prime.
Which is why we've compiled an apples-to-zucchini guide to which common fruits and veggies need to be tossed when, as well as some storage tips to keep food fresh for as long as possible. (These guidelines are for food that’s ripe when you bring it home. Unripened food marked with an * below will ripen faster in a paper bag on the counter. And don't store fruits and vegetable together - fruits emit high levels of a ripening agent that can spoil vegetables near them.)
If your schedule doesn’t allow for frequent trips to the market, you might consider supplementing your diet with nutrient-rich, organic cold-pressed juice. Living Juice can be delivered (handy), there’s absolutely no sugar or water added, and has an expiration date a full 45 days after production. Not that they’ll last that long.
Storage Guide:
- Apples: Refrigerate up to 3 weeks.
- Apricots*: Refrigerate up to 5 days
- Asparagus: Refrigerate up to 3 days (trim ends, then wrap in a damp paper towel and store in a plastic bag).
- Avocados*: Refrigerate up to 3 days
- Bananas: Counter for 5 days
- Beets: Refrigerate up to 3 weeks
- Bell Peppers: Refrigerate green up to a week, red, yellow and orange up to 5 days
- Blueberries: Refrigerate up to 1 week (toss moldy berries before storing)
- Broccoli: Refrigerate up to 1 week
- Brussels sprouts: Refrigerate up to 1 week
- Cantaloupe & honeydew melons*: Refrigerate up to 5 days (3 days if cut)
- Carrots: Refrigerate up to 2 weeks
- Cauliflower: Refrigerate up to 1 week
- Celery: Refrigerate up to 2 weeks
- Corn: Consume the first day if possible, but will last 3 days
- Cucumbers: Refrigerate up to 5 days
- Eggplant: Refrigerate up to 5 days
- Escarole: Refrigerate up to 3 days
- Fennel: Refrigerate up to 1 week
- Garlic: Can last in pantry for up to 2 months
- Ginger: Refrigerate up to 3 weeks
- Green beans: Refrigerate up to 1 week
- Herbs: For leafy herbs (like basil and cilantro), refrigerate up to 3 days. Woody herbs like rosemary and thyme can last 2 weeks.
- Kale: Refrigerate up to 3 days
- Lemons & limes: Refrigerate up to 3 weeks
- Lettuce head: Refrigerate up to 5 days (2 weeks for iceberg)
- Mushrooms: Refrigerate up to 1 week in a paper bag. Do not wash until right before using.
- Onions: Up to 2 months in pantry; 4 days if the fridge if cut
- Oranges: 3 days on the counter, 2 weeks in the fridge
- Peaches & pears*: Refrigerate up to 5 days
- Pineapple: Refrigerate up to 5 days (3 if cut)
- Potatoes: Pantry for up to 5 days for new potatoes, 3 weeks for red, russet and Yukon gold
- Radicchio: Refrigerate up to 4 days
- Raspberries: Refrigerate up to 3 days on a paper towel; discard moldy berries.
- Scallions: Refrigerate up to 5 days
- Shallots: Pantry for up to 1 month
- Spinach bunch: Refrigerate up to 3 days
- Strawberries: Refrigerate up to 3 days (toss moldy berries before storing)
- Tomatoes*: Counter for up to 3 days
- Watermelon: Refrigerate for up to 1 week, 2 days if cut
- Zucchini: Refrigerate up to 5 days