These 17 Everyday Meals Could Spoil Fast—Stop Storing Them the Wrong Way

Milk Left in the Fridge Door

Here's a shocking truth that might save you from drinking sour milk: keeping milk in the fridge door makes it spoil more quickly because every time you open the door, the milk is exposed to warmer temperatures. The proper way to store milk is in the back of the fridge, away from the door, in the coolest place of the fridge, usually the back of the top shelf, near the cooling vents.

The door is the warmest spot in the fridge, making it the worst place for dairy products. Plastic milk bottles actually make more sense than cardboard cartons, since bacteria can grow near the cardboard spout and enter your milk every time you pour.

Think of your fridge door as the "danger zone" for perishables – it's convenient but deadly for food safety.

Bread Stored in the Refrigerator

Refrigerated bread will dry out more quickly and become tough, which completely defeats the purpose of keeping it fresh. Bread going bad in the fridge has to do with chemistry – flour starch granules form crystalline structures that break down and reform repeatedly when exposed to cold, causing bread to go stale and dry out faster.

The right way is to cover and store bread at room temperature, keeping loaves and baguettes covered on the counter or in a bread box. For long-term storage, freeze bread wrapped in at least two layers, like a bag inside a bag.

If you're not going to use it anytime soon, pop that loaf into your freezer, but never in the fridge since refrigerating bread dries it out faster than leaving it at room temperature.

Eggs in the Refrigerator Door

Some refrigerators have an egg tray in the door, but storing eggs in this spot can pose a food safety risk because eggs need to be stored at 40 degrees Fahrenheit or less, and when the door is opened frequently, the temperature increases, placing them in the danger zone where bacteria like Salmonella can quickly grow. The fridge door is among the warmest places in your refrigerator, and the constant opening and closing doesn't keep eggs consistently cold.

The fix is to store eggs in the coldest part of the refrigerator—typically at the back of the bottom shelf. Do your eggs a favor by stashing them in the back of the fridge in the container they came in, where a temperature of 40°F keeps them at their finest.

Potatoes and Onions Stored Together

This is one of the most dangerous storage combinations in your kitchen. Potatoes and onions are both ideally stored in cool, dark environments, but it's best to keep them apart because onions are ethylene producers, and the ethylene gas will cause the potato to sprout.

Even though both should be stored in a cool, dark place outside of the refrigerator, do not store onions and potatoes together because onions release moisture which will lead to mushy potatoes with eyes or roots. Onions give off gasses that speed up ripening in potatoes, causing them to sprout faster, so store potatoes in a cool, humid place, ideally between 38 and 42 degrees Fahrenheit.

To extend potato life, store them in a basket or open container, don't wash them until using, and store onions in a cool, dark, well-ventilated place.

Tomatoes in the Refrigerator

Refrigerating tomatoes diminishes their flavor and can impart a mealy texture, so keep tomatoes on the countertop out of direct sunlight, and avoid piling them on top of each other as this can make them go moldy much faster. Tomatoes – ethylene powerhouses – like to ripen at room temperature, and temperatures below 60 degrees cause tomatoes to turn mealy.

Tomatoes should be left on the counter because cold air in the refrigerator can cause detrimental effects to their taste and texture. Tomatoes can lose their flavor in the refrigerator.

The key is understanding that tomatoes are fruits that need warmth to develop their full flavor profile – your fridge is basically a flavor killer for these summer staples.

Bananas Near Other Fruits

If you won't be eating bananas immediately, buy them when they're still slightly green and store them away from other fruits in the fruit bowl because they release high amounts of ethylene gas. Bananas release ethylene gas, which ripens everything else around it, so separate them from the rest of your produce.

Bananas should live on the counter away from sunlight – and other produce – because bananas are ethylene super-producers ready to ripen your whole fruit bowl. Bananas are particularly susceptible to ripening in the presence of other bananas.

Think of bananas as the bullies of the fruit bowl – they'll make everything else around them ripen faster than you want.

Uncovered Food in the Refrigerator

Putting an uncovered plate or container in the fridge is a mistake because open food can be cross-contaminated with uncooked foods like raw meat, and uncovered food also dries out quickly and can absorb any fridge or food odors. When you're tired and just want to put food in the fridge after dinner, it can be tempting to shove it in without a lid, but there's a big danger with putting food in the fridge without a lid – it becomes ripe for cross-contamination.

Juices and drippage from food containers can spill down into uncovered food and introduce germs and bacteria into anything below it that's living in the fridge sans covering. Move food to an airtight container or seal it with plastic wrap before putting it in the fridge to keep it fresh and prevent food spoilage, or cover with tin foil if you're in a hurry.

Leftover Food Beyond Three Days

Leftovers are great for making meals go further, but don't forget about them – if you haven't eaten them within three to four days, throw them out because even if you don't see obvious signs of decay such as mold, the food can still be dangerous to eat as bacteria will start growing and cause food spoilage. If you know you can't eat leftovers within three or four days, put them into the freezer where they will keep for several months.

Remember to refrigerate your leftovers no later than two hours after your meal. Refrigerate leftovers within two hours of cooking, and there's no need to wait for piping-hot foods to cool down before storing them – modern refrigerators can handle the heat.

This is your food safety insurance policy – when in doubt, throw it out.

Meat Stored on Top Shelves

Keeping meat on the top shelf seems logical to store it where you can see it, but meat packages can leak, potentially contaminating other foods. The right way is to set meat on a plate on the lowest shelf of the fridge, using a plate or tray you can clean easily or toss after use, and make sure to get meat into the fridge as quickly as possible after buying it.

The bottom shelf is the coldest and best for raw meat, poultry and fish. High-risk food should be kept at 5°C or below to avoid the temperature danger zone and food poisoning.

Think of gravity as your enemy here – what goes up must come down, and you don't want meat juices dripping onto your salad greens.

Avocados in Plastic Bags

Plastic traps moisture, which can cause avocados to rot before they ever get ripe, so store avocados alone at room temperature instead. Keep avocados on the counter so they ripen faster, but if you start to notice softness before you're ready to use them, go ahead and pop them in the fridge to extend their lives for a few more days.

If your avocado is already ripe, you can place it in your refrigerator where it will stay fresh for several days, and it's best to store it in an airtight food storage container or in the produce drawer. Like apples, avocados emit ethylene gas as they ripen, so simply place the avocado and apple in a paper bag for a day or two if you're trying to get a rock-hard avocado ready for guacamole.

Plastic bags are avocado killers – they create a humidity prison that turns your green gold into brown mush.

Cucumbers Without Proper Wrapping

For cucumbers, it's all about not sweating it – when cukes sweat in the fridge, that's when they get mushy, so they like the warmer parts of the fridge, like the door. Unlike many fruits and veggies which shouldn't be rinsed before refrigerating, cucumbers should be at least rinsed slightly, then wrap your cucumbers in a paper towel to keep condensation off them.

Wash cucumbers as soon as you bring them home, make sure they're thoroughly dry as excess water will spoil them, then wrap each in a cloth or plastic wrap and store in an airtight container as the plastic wrap acts as a shield and locks in moisture. Cucumbers purchased in the grocery store typically contain a protective wax coating, so proper wrapping maintains this protection.

Berries Left Unwashed in Humidity

This may come as a surprise, but the humidity in your fridge can actually make berries develop that dreaded mold much faster, so to keep strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries fresh for longer, store them outside the fridge and do not wash them until they're ready to use. Always store blueberries in your refrigerator's crisper drawer after removing damaged ones, leave them in original packaging or a closed container, and store blueberries unwashed until ready to eat.

Store strawberries in your refrigerator's crisper drawer after removing any bruised or mouldy ones, leave them in original packaging or a closed container, and store unwashed until ready to eat. The irony is that washing berries to keep them clean actually makes them spoil faster – moisture is the enemy of berry longevity.

Onions in Plastic Bags

Avoid storing onions in plastic bags as this encourages spoilage. Onions, potatoes, and shallots should be stored in a cool dark place to keep them fresh, like a basket in a cupboard or a cellar, and avoid storing these products in plastic bags as this encourages spoilage.

Onions and garlic will last longest when kept in a cool, dark place. Onions and garlic store well together in a cool, dry, dark place, away from other produce due to their strong odors.

Plastic bags create a moisture trap that turns your onions into a smelly, moldy mess – they need to breathe to stay fresh.

Cauliflower Near Ethylene Producers

Cauliflower is very ethylene sensitive, so it is best not to store it in the same drawer as apples, melons, kiwis, or onions. Cauliflower needs air circulation to stay fresh, so if it's in a punctured plastic bag, keep it intact, but if it's in a plastic or compostable produce bag, make sure the top is open so it can breathe.

Cauliflower is a vegetable that belongs away from most fruits and alliums. Ethylene-sensitive items need circulation to extend their life, so it's wise to remove them from sealed containers or bags.

Cauliflower is like the sensitive kid in class – it can't handle being around the troublemakers (ethylene producers) without falling apart.

Mushrooms Next to Onions

Like their yellow and red onion cousins, scallions give off a strong odor, and mushrooms are highly absorptive of water, oil, and smells, so if you store mushrooms in the crisper drawer alongside scallions, they will begin to absorb the mild onion flavor and taste less like themselves. Other fruits and veggies are best at a distance so they don't transfer odors from one to another; onions and garlic can overpower the taste or smell of apples, pears, carrots, celery, and others.

Cabbage, figs and onions can absorb an apple's odor, and the closer and more enclosed the fresh produce is, the more chance for odors to intermix. Think of mushrooms as flavor sponges – they'll soak up whatever strong smells are around them, and onion-flavored mushrooms aren't what you want in your pasta.

Mixed Ethylene Producers and Sensitive Items

One of the most common mistakes that leads to food spoilage is storing fruits and vegetables too close together because a build-up of ethylene gas will cause them to go bad. Storing fruits and vegetables too close together causes a build-up of ethylene gas that makes them go bad, and the produce with the greatest amount of this compound are apples, melons, apricots, bananas, tomatoes, avocados, peaches, pears, nectarines, plums, and figs.

Some fruits like apples, bananas, citrus, and tomatoes give off ethylene gas as they ripen, which can speed up the ripening process of other vegetables stored nearby, so keep apples, apricots, bananas, avocados, melons, mangoes, onions, pears, persimmons, tomatoes, and plantains away from each other. The main rule to produce storage success is to separate high-ethylene producers from ethylene-sensitive fruits and vegetables, and it's important to know which produce high or moderate amounts of natural ethylene gas and which are sensitive to it to maximize freshness and reduce spoilage.

Fresh Herbs in Regular Storage

Fresh herbs like cilantro, parsley, and basil need special treatment to stay vibrant. Store basil like cilantro and parsley, putting it in a jar with water and covering loosely with a reused produce bag, but leave it on your counter and out of direct sunlight.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, regrowing scallions in a glass of water went viral, and whether you plan on sprouting green onions or not, they should be stored root-down in a glass of water, either at room temperature in a sunny spot or in the fridge with a plastic bag over the top for extra humidity. When produce comes with green tops, such as carrots or beets, trim the tops immediately because if you leave the tops attached, they can drain moisture, resulting in vegetables that are limp or dry.

Treat fresh herbs like the delicate flowers they are – they need water, air, and the right temperature to stay fresh.

Root Vegetables in Wrong Conditions

Ideally store potatoes in a cool, dark place, keep them away from onions which cause potatoes to sprout, and if temperatures are around 15°C, potatoes will last for 2-3 months in the