10 Ways To Make Your Groceries Last Longer

Groceries are expensive enough. Throwing away the $7 strawberries you bought three days ago because they've already grown fur is just insulting.

And apparently, some of the way we've been storing our food isn't helping.

So I went looking for simple ways to make groceries last longer. Not ridiculous internet hacks that require special equipment or a degree in refrigerator organization. Things we might actually do.

Here are 10 worth knowing.

🍓 1. Don't Wash Your Berries Until You're Ready To Eat Them

It feels so efficient to come home, wash all the strawberries and put them away ready to eat. Except moisture is the enemy. Berries deteriorate faster when they're stored wet.

Do This: When you get home, remove any smashed or moldy berries, but keep the rest refrigerated and dry. Wash them right before you eat them. 

🥬 2. Put A Paper Towel In With Your Greens

You buy the giant container of spinach with excellent intentions. Four days later: swamp. Excess moisture makes leafy greens deteriorate faster.

Do This: Put a clean paper towel in the container or bag with spinach, lettuce and other greens. It'll absorb some of that moisture. Replace it when it gets damp.

And if you wash your greens before putting them away, get them really dry first.

🌿 3. Treat Fresh Herbs Like Flowers

Parsley and cilantro do not have to become green slime three days after you buy them.

Do This: Trim the bottoms of the stems and stand the herbs upright in a glass with a little water. Refrigerate them loosely covered.

Basil is the exception. Keep it at room temperature with the stems in water. Basically, you've bought yourself an edible bouquet. 

🥛 4. Get The Milk Out Of The Refrigerator Door

Yes, I know. It fits there perfectly. Unfortunately, the refrigerator door is also one of the places that experiences the biggest temperature fluctuations because we're constantly opening it.

Do This: Keep milk and other highly perishable dairy products on an interior shelf, where the temperature stays more consistent.

Save the door for condiments, sauces and pickles. 

🍎 5. Stop Making All Your Produce Live Together

Apples, bananas, pears and avocados produce ethylene, a natural gas that speeds ripening. Produce that's sensitive to ethylene can deteriorate faster when stored nearby.

Do This: Don't automatically throw every fruit and vegetable into the same drawer.

But you can also use ethylene to your advantage. Want that rock-hard avocado to ripen faster? Put it in a paper bag with a banana. 

🥑 6. Move Ripe Produce Into The Refrigerator

The kitchen counter isn't a lifetime commitment. Avocados, peaches and pears can ripen at room temperature. But once they're ripe, refrigeration can slow things down.

Do This: When something reaches the ripeness you like but you're not ready to eat it, move it into the refrigerator.

Especially the avocado. Because apparently an avocado's perfect stage lasts approximately 11 minutes.

🍄 7. Let Your Mushrooms Breathe

If you've ever reached into a plastic bag and pulled out a slimy mushroom, you know the problem. Mushrooms don't love sitting in trapped moisture.

Do This: Store loose mushrooms in a paper bag in the refrigerator. If they come in a ventilated package designed for storage, they can stay there until you're ready to use them.

And don't wash them days in advance.

🍞 8. Freeze Half The Bread The Day You Buy It

Don't wait until the loaf is two days away from becoming a science experiment. If you already know you're not going to finish it, freeze some while it's still fresh.

Do This: Freeze half the loaf when you get home. Pull out individual slices as you need them—they can go straight into the toaster. 

👀 9. Create An “EAT ME FIRST” Section

This may be my favorite because it has less to do with food science and more to do with remembering that you own food.

Half an avocado. Three strawberries. Leftover chicken. That expensive piece of cheese you completely forgot you bought. Put it all together where you can see it.

Do This: Designate one small bin, shelf or section of the refrigerator EAT ME FIRST.

Check there before you make lunch, order dinner or go grocery shopping. Food hiding behind the mustard doesn't exist.

❄️ 10. Use Your Freezer BEFORE Food Goes Bad

This may be the most useful one. Most of us use the freezer as a last-chance emergency room. These bananas look terrible. Maybe I should freeze them.

No.

Freeze food while it's still good. Bread. Meat. Berries. Ripe bananas. Leftovers. Sauces. Soup. Anything you know you're not going to finish.

Do This: If you look at something today and think, We're probably not going to eat this—freeze it today.

Your freezer doesn't make bad food good again. It keeps good food from becoming bad food.

❤️ My Biggest Takeaway

None of this requires reorganizing your refrigerator into 47 matching acrylic containers.

Keep food dry when it needs to stay dry. Store it in the right place. Pay attention to what's about to go bad. And use your freezer before it's too late. But perhaps the greatest grocery-saving tip of all:

Before you buy more food, eat the food you already bought.