Ripen fruit at room temperature. Once they are ripe, refrigerate. Apples, cherries, grapefruit, grapes, oranges, pineapples, strawberries, tangerines and watermelon are received ripe and should be refrigerated.
If you don't plan to use them quickly, consider storing your oranges in the refrigerator to help them last a few weeks longer. The best option is to keep your oranges whole when storing them in the fridge. This way, the natural peel protects the orange and prevents the fruit from wilting.
The length of time oranges last completely depends on if they're kept whole or cut and where they're stored. 6-7 days is about the maximum amount of time whole oranges will last at room temperature. In the fridge, oranges will stay fresh for about a month. In the freezer, you can stretch it out to almost a year.
Fruits That Should Not Be Stored in the Refrigerator
Apricots, Asian pears, avocado, bananas, guava, kiwis, mangoes, melons, nectarines, papayas, passion fruit, pawpaw, peaches, pears, persimmons, pineapples, plantain, plums, starfruit, soursop, and quince will continue to ripen if left out on the counter.
They may be stored in a cool, dark spot for a few days, but ideally should be refrigerated to extend shelf life up to 2 weeks.
Storing fruit in the fridge
Most fresh fruit, including apples, berries and grapes, will last longer if kept in their original packaging and stored in the crisper of your fridge. Berries can last in the fridge for about a week. It's a good idea to eat as soon as possible so they don't spoil.
Storing: Oranges and other citrus fruits such as lemons, limes, and grapefruits can be stored short-term (up to one week) at room temperature. To prolong the shelf life (up to 3-4 weeks) of citrus fruits, keep them in a bag in the refrigerator.
Fresh strawberries can go directly into the refrigerator, but will do just fine on the counter for a couple of days. Remove any bruised or otherwise marred berries and place the rest in a colander or open-weave basket to allow good airflow.
Storing lemons in the fridge is a great way to extend their shelf life. And if you want to keep lemons fresh for longer than a week, you'll definitely want to refrigerate them.
They prefer the refrigeration. Apples keep longest when held at 31-36 degrees Fahrenheit. So, you want to keep them in the coolest part of the refrigerator. Most home refrigerators don't get that cold because the rest of your food would freeze, but the colder the better.
The ideal place to store bananas is on the countertop, where they can ripen naturally. You can refrigerate bananas once they've achieved your ideal level of ripeness; however, refrigerating bananas too soon or for too long can have detrimental effects on your bunch.
Apples are safe at room temperature, but their higher ethylene content contributes to faster ripening. Apples stored in the refrigerator can last for several weeks. Cut produce is more susceptible to pathogens, so storing in the refrigerator can limit pathogen growth.
Lemons, limes, and oranges all do best in the fridge because the cooler temperature prevents them from drying out. They'll keep for up to two weeks when chilled and about one week at room temperature. If you're not a fan of cold fruit, you can leave your lemons out on the counter for a couple hours before eating them.
An unpeeled orange stored in the crisper drawer of a refrigerator lasts for about two weeks to one month. Mandarins last longer in a cool, dark place as opposed to a countertop in direct sunlight or on top of the refrigerator. There is no need for a plastic bag when you store them whole and unpeeled.
Don't keep the fruit in a plastic bag or an airtight container, which can make it get moldy or soft faster. Mesh bags that let air circulate are fine.
Best practice is to store eggs in the fridge; that way the temperature is always at a constant and your eggs will be fresher!
Do Fresh Eggs Need to Be Refrigerated? Freshly laid eggs need to be refrigerated immediately. Fresh eggs purchased from a farmers market need to be refrigerated as soon as you get home. Per USDA guidelines, eggs should be stored at 40 degrees F or below to help minimize the risk of Salmonella.
Simply put, really good, ripe tomatoes tend to do well in the refrigerator, while lower-quality tomatoes remain bad or get worse in the fridge: Underripe tomatoes continue to be underripe, and mealy tomatoes become mealier.
One of the most common ways to store blueberries is keeping a stash of fresh blueberries in the fridge. It's important to refrigerate fresh berries after a grocery delivery, trip to the store or visit to the u-pick farm. You can keep them in the original plastic clamshell or in a covered bowl or container.
Stored dry in a well-ventilated container in the crisper drawer of your fridge, grapes can last up to three weeks. They won't last nearly as long at room temperature, and they'll lose their crispness more quickly.
You can leave blueberries at room temperature if you plan to eat them in the next day or so, but after that you should transfer them to the fridge—they can stay there for five to 10 days. Of course, you can freeze them if you want to keep them longer than that. Frozen blueberries will last about six months.
Citrus fruits
For that tangy flavor, store oranges, lemons, and limes at room temperature on your kitchen counter. Just be careful not to bunch them all up too closely, or they'll mold. Refrigerating citrus will dry out the fruits, diminishing their juiciness.
Assuming they are ripe when you buy them (they're one of the few products for which supermarkets don't expect us to do the work), it is best to put oranges in the fridge, and not just because no one wants warm orange juice. Once ripe, they start to lose their vitamin C, a process that is slower when cold.
Don't store potatoes in the fridge.
Raw potatoes have lots of starches, and the cold temperatures can turn the starches into sugars. This can make your potatoes turn sweeter and darker during cooking.