Half of what gets thrown away was fine when it came home. Where a vegetable is put matters as much as how fresh it was.
The Fridge Is Not One Place
A fridge has three climates and most people use one of them. The drawer is humid and is where leaves and roots belong; the middle shelf is dry and cold and suits anything already cut; the door is the warmest part and should hold nothing that spoils quickly.
Where Things Go
- Leaves. Spinach, kale and bok choy last twice as long wrapped loosely in a damp cloth in the drawer than they do in the bag they came in.
- Roots. Beetroot and carrots keep for weeks with their tops cut off — the leaves keep drinking from the root long after they have been pulled.
- Tomatoes. On the counter, stem side down, never in the fridge. Cold flattens the flavour within a day and it does not come back.
- Mushrooms. Paper bag, not plastic. They breathe, and a sealed bag turns them slimy overnight.
- Bananas. Away from everything else. They ripen their neighbours faster than they ripen themselves.
The One-Shelf Rule
Keep one shelf for things that need eating this week and put everything you buy on it face out. Waste is rarely a storage failure on its own; it is a visibility failure, and a shelf you can read at a glance fixes most of it.
