9 Popular Foods Never To Store In The Fridge Yet People Still Do

Bread – The Counter Is Your Best Friend

Most people shove bread straight into the fridge thinking it’ll stay fresh longer, but they’re making their morning toast taste like cardboard. According to a study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, bread stored in the fridge can lose its freshness about three times faster than bread stored at room temperature. When stored in the refrigerator, temperatures lower than this range can lead to a scenario known as “retrogradation,” where the bread becomes firm more quickly. The cold environment speeds up starch crystallization, turning your fluffy loaf into a brick-like disappointment.

When you refrigerate bread, the cold and not-quite-freezing temperature speeds this whole process up. Your fridge’s cool environment causes crystallization to happen rapidly, which leaves you with a dried-out, hard loaf in no time at all. Yes, refrigeration can extend the shelf life of your bread, but it also accelerates the staling process, quickly turning your fragrant, tender bread into a leathery, flavorless loaf.

Tomatoes – Keep Them Sun-Kissed

The countertop, not the fridge, is the best spot for this summertime bit of goodness. The cold temps in a fridge mess with the deliciousness of their texture. When tomatoes hit those chilly temperatures, their cells basically throw a tantrum. Cool air alters chemical pathways in tomatoes, slowing those that contribute to fresh flavor and accelerating others that dull flavor. Think of it like forcing a sun-loving beach bum into an ice bath – they’re just not going to be happy about it.

Not only are they porous enough to absorb various odors in your fridge, but their cells also react poorly to the cold, which can cause them to become mealy. The chill can also mask many of their inherent flavors, so the eating experience will be improved with a non-refrigerated tomato.

Coffee Beans and Grounds – Aroma Assassins

Your morning ritual is sacred, so don’t let the fridge ruin it. Stored in the fridge, your coffee is more likely to pick up other flavors around it. Instead, keep it in a sealed container, in the pantry away from sunlight. Coffee beans are like little flavor sponges, and your fridge is full of odors from last night’s leftover Chinese food and that forgotten block of cheese.

For one, they could absorb the moisture and odors in your fridge, and two, they will be harder to brew, resulting in potentially altered coffee flavor. If you do need to store a large amount of coffee beans, the freezer is the better option, but you’ll still want to keep your day-to-day beans on the counter. “Don’t ruin a good cup of coffee by putting it in the fridge, where it’s bound to absorb any odors!” says Martinez.

Honey – Nature’s Eternal Sweetener

Honey that’s stored in an airtight container won’t turn on you, no matter where you keep it – though it tastes best when consumed within two years of opening, according to the FoodKeeper app. This golden goodness has been found in ancient Egyptian tombs still perfectly edible after thousands of years. Crystallization is a complex natural phenomenon that occurs in honey during storage depending on the storage condition and honey composition. The crystallization in honey is primarily linked with the glucose in honey, owing to its lower solubility than that of fructose.

Ever forget a jar of honey in the back of the pantry for, oh, a really long time? Stash a jar in the fridge, and that process speeds up, quickly making honey unpalatable. Store honey at room temperature to maintain its smooth and gooey consistency, as refrigeration can cause it to become hard and lumpy. Room temperature keeps honey flowing like liquid sunshine instead of turning it into a stubborn, crystallized mess.

Potatoes – The Pantry Dwellers

Your spuds are having an identity crisis in the fridge, and it’s not pretty. Cold temperatures convert potato starch into sugar. This results in a gritty texture and a slightly sweet flavor. Imagine biting into what you expect to be a perfectly fluffy french fry and getting a weird, gritty sweetness instead. Spuds will rapidly deteriorate in the fridge, losing flavor and freshness. Plus, cold temperatures can trigger potato starches to convert to sugars and can result in increased amounts of acrylamide (a chemical) during cooking, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Store potatoes in a paper bag at room temperature to help maintain their texture and flavor. Refrigeration can cause grittiness and excessive sweetness due to moisture. Potatoes do best at 45° F (most refrigerators are set from 35° F to 38° F). Store them in a paper bag in the cool pantry.

Onions – The Tear-Jerking Truth

A key ingredient in so many recipes, this allium loses its flavor if stored in the fridge. The best place to keep onions is in a bowl on your counter or somewhere in your pantry. These pungent bulbs need to breathe, and your fridge’s humid environment is like putting them in a stuffy, moisture-filled prison. These vegetables need air circulation to stay fresh. Store whole onions in a hole-punched paper bag in the pantry.

Unless cut up, onions should go in the pantry. These two are not happy pantry bedfellows; the gases released by the two tend to accelerate spoilage. To help prevent onions from becoming soft and developing mold, store them in a cool, dry place away from potatoes. Think of onions and potatoes like feuding neighbors – they just don’t get along in close quarters.

Bananas – The Tropical Rebels

Bananas need room temperature for two reasons: The warm temperatures help the fruit finish ripening (in case you pick up any still-green pieces) and the light and air slow down decay. These tropical fruits are basically sunshine addicts, and your fridge is like forcing them into hibernation. Bananas are another fruit, like avocados, where timing ripeness is key – and refrigeration can really interfere with that process.

To keep your bananas fresh and prevent premature browning, proper storage is key. Some options include storing them on an open countertop, in a pantry or on a dedicated banana hook. The cold temperatures don’t just slow ripening – they completely mess with the banana’s internal chemistry, leaving you with fruit that looks fine on the outside but has the texture of mush on the inside.

Garlic – The Flavor Powerhouse

Similar to onion, bulbs of garlic lose their potency when stored in a colder climate. They’ll also start to lose structure and feel rubbery. Garlic is like that friend who needs warm, cozy spaces to thrive – stick them somewhere cold and damp, and they’ll get all weird and mushy on you. Again, think about how you buy garlic: on a shelf in the grocery store – and remember that when you store it.

Instead, keep whole heads and unpeeled garlic cloves in a cool, dark, dry place. (Peeled, sliced or minced garlic should go in the fridge.). The key here is that whole garlic wants to stay whole until you’re ready to use it. Once you start breaking it down, then yeah, the fridge becomes its friend.

Avocados – The Finicky Green Gems

Super-unripe avocados have a hard time finishing the ripening process in the fridge. Instead, leave them on the countertop (and use them as motivation to make a bowl of guacamole). Avocados are probably the most dramatic fruit when it comes to ripening – they go from rock-hard to perfect to brown mush in what feels like minutes. The creamy green fruit is best kept at room temperature if it’s hard, or if it’s ripe and you plan on using it right away. That said, finicky avocados that quickly go from underripe to overripe can go in the fridge to last longer.

It can feel impossible to buy avocados at the store, because they’re often not ripe or too ripe. We like to buy them a little under, then leave them on the counter to ripen. Once they’re just soft enough, we’ll store them in the fridge until we’re ready to use them. It’s like a timing game where you have to catch them at exactly the right moment.