If you’re a mom, a homemaker, an aspiring chef, a vegan, a parent who’s a health advocate, or a regular fellow who’s particular in choosing produce, then keeping your foods fresh is considerably important. It’s quite frustrating when the fruits you bought yesterday or just earlier went brown or quickly matured, worse, spoiled already. There are quite a couple of tricks you can do to avoid throwing them to waste.

Here are some pro tips to keep your fruits fresh for days.

Refrigerate Your Fruits

Proper storage is vital in keeping your apples, apricots, cantaloupes, cherries, grapefruits, kiwis, lemons, oranges, peaches, pineapples, plums, watermelons, and all the other fruits fresh. One of the best ways to do that is to refrigerate them. A cold environment can hamper the maturation process of your fruits. Make colorful fruity popsicles with our Premium Silicone Ice Cube Trays.

Avoid Washing Them Before Storing

Another pro tip to keep your fruits fresh is if you’re going to store and not use or consume just yet, do not wash them. Damp fruits before storing will promote bacterial growth, which will easily spoil them. Store them as is or wipe them dry before keeping them in the fridge.

Don’t Remove The Stem

After buying or picking your bananas, strawberries, grapes, oranges, or other fruits from the tree, never remove their stem if you plan to keep them for many days. This will reduce the maturation time and softening of the fruits, keeping them spoil-free for long.

Store Different Fruits Separately

For starters, keep different fruit types separate from each other. Don’t store your fruit varieties together if you want to keep them fresh for long since each type produces ethylene gas that can speed the ripening and spoilage. Put them in individual plastic bags if you may.

Wash Your Berries with Vinegar

If you want to keep your raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries fresh longer, then vinegar can do the trick. You may want to wash them first with one-part vinegar and three-parts water before putting them in the fridge. This will disinfect the mold and prevents it from spreading, which can prolong its shelf life for more than a week. Make tasty berry juice with our 3-Qt. LargePour Airtight Pitcher.

Discard Damaged Berries

This is quite obvious but many of you still keep the damaged blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries just because you feel guilty throwing them out. You should also be aware that mixing damaged berries with the fresh ones will spread the molds, which in turn, will spoil all of them faster. Make sure to check and pick the freshest batch and don’t feel bad discarding the moldy few before storing so as not to ruin all of them and keep them fresh for at least 3 to 7 days.

Squirt Lemon or Lime on Halved Avocados

When halved and exposed to oxygen, avocados produce brown pigment that may seem unpalatable. A solution for that would be to squirt lemon or lime drops to stop the discoloration for a day or two. Blend your avocados and bring your cool shake to a workout or anywhere with our Glass Bottles with Loop Caps.

Use Aluminum Foil or Salt For Halved Lemons

You should use the whole lemon and avoid keeping the other half, or else, it’ll easily spoil and end up in the trash. If you have to cut the lemons in half, then wrap it in aluminum foil or sprinkle with salt to retain its taste and color for up to 3 days. Make yourself a fresh lemonade with our Large Fusepour Fruit Infuser Pitcher.

Soak Apple Slices in Salt Water

Many people want to slice their apples so it’s more convenient to eat. If you plan to store apple slices and avoid oxidation, soak them in a bowl of cold saltwater for 5 minutes, then dry and store them in an airtight bag keeping them in the fridge. Bake delicious apple-flavored muffins or cupcakes with our 12-Cup Silicone Baking Pan.

Wrap Banana Stems with Plastic or Aluminum Foil

Wrapping each separated banana with a stem in plastic or aluminum foil will prevent the spread of ethylene gas that quickly matures the fruit. Wrapping will keep them fresh in the fridge for up to 5 days.

From all the grocery items you bought, the produce (especially the fruits) are the fastest to mature (ripen). With the smart tricks and pro tips mentioned above, you’ll be sure to keep your fruits fresh and crisp for many days.