The Best Way to Store Onions, Tomatoes, Bread and More

We all strive to store our ingredients in the best way possible. It prolongs their freshness so they last longer. But what if we told you that there are foods that are being stored wrong? In fact, a lot of us store foods in the refrigerator when they shouldn’t be. It turns out, it’s not the best way to store onions, tomatoes, bread, and more. We’ve all had food spoil long before we were able to use it due to storing it the wrong way.

This is why I set out to discover the proper way to store these ingredients — and it’s not in the refrigerator. Shop wire baskets, bread boxes, coffee canisters, and more on Amazon right now, starting at $17. It’s the perfect time to overhaul your kitchen storage, especially since groceries are expensive. 

Onions and Garlic

Caxxa Wire Basket  

Onions and garlic are ingredients that add a bit of pizzazz to many recipes, from air fryer onion rings to rustic garlic chicken. A part of the allium family, these tasty bulbs are best stored at room temperature in a dry environment — not a moisture-laden one such as a refrigerator provides. They need to have air circulating them to allow the ethylene gasses they emit to breathe. This Caxxa wire basket provides them with the ideal conditions so they stay fresh. This round-shaped basket is 11 inches in diameter and is the perfect shape to store these bulbs. It’s made of curved black powder-coated wire that is evenly spaced which allows ideal ventilation. The ideal place to store onions is in a dark place, so pop this basket in your pantry. Shop it for $17 at Amazon.

Bread

Oggi Stainless Steel Roll Top Bread Box

We’ve all been here: We grab a loaf of freshly made bread from the store and before we can eat all of it the loaf has gotten rock hard. Or even worse — your bread has gone moldy. While it might be tempting, the last thing you want to do is put it in the refrigerator. Why? Because storing bread in the fridge makes it go stale faster due to the cold temperatures, leading to a hard and dry exterior. The added moisture also isn’t great. It’s best to leave it out at room temperature in a bread box like this Oggi bread box. Made of stainless steel, the bread box measures 15 x 10 x 7.75 inches offering ample room to fit “two or three loaves of bread” and “keeps things neat and tidy” on the counter, said one reviewer. It has a frosted plexiglass roll-top lid that keeps just the right amount of moisture in and easily slides up and down. We loved the roominess of this box that allows you to store tall or oddly shaped bread. Plus, during testing this bread box kept all types of bread, from whole wheat to sourdough fresh, without getting stale or moldy.

Wine

Homevany Bamboo Wine Rack

We advise not to store wine in the refrigerator. Whatever type of wine you’ve just bought from the store — red, white, or rose — is best stored in a dark place, such as your pantry or a designated cupboard or closet. Instead of standing it up, it should be stored on its side, like in this Homevany wine rack, which will keep the cork from drying out. When we spoke to Leonara Varvoutis, general manager and sommelier at Coltivare in Houston in a previous article, she said it results in too much humidity. “You suffocate the cork, not allowing the oxygen to get through at all, prolonging or not even allowing aging potential at all.” This three-tiered bamboo rack holds up to twelve bottles of wine for the perfect solution. Each tier holds four bottles and has notches for every bottle to rest securely and safely. The wine rack measures 15.8 x 9.2 x 11.8 inches and comes with tools to assemble it. And if you need a different size, it’s available in a smaller two-tier rack or as large as a six-tier rack.

Potatoes

Aozita 2-Piece Stackable Wire Basket Set

Growing up, I always wondered why my mother kept our potatoes in a crate in the cellar of our home. Remember the saying that your mother is always right? Well as usual she was, as potatoes like to be stored in a cool dry place away from sunlight. This 2-piece stackable wire basket set by Aozita is an ideal option. Each 14.6 x 12.5 x 8.65-inch basket provides plenty of room and has a bamboo lid so you can place items on top or stack the baskets on top of each other. Since there are two baskets, you can store potatoes in one and use the other for other fruits or vegetables. These baskets are available in two smaller sizes, including large and extra-large. They’ve scored over 3,000 perfect ratings, and shoppers use them to store their produce. One shopper bought them “to store fruit and vegetables in my pantry, particularly potatoes and other produce that are better kept out of the fridge.” Grab this set on sale for $34.  

Tomatoes

Antopy 2-Tier Fruit Basket

There’s nothing like a ripe summer tomato in a crisp green salad, on a turkey sandwich, or in a chunky salsa. Folks put them in the refrigerator hoping to ward off spoilage, but you’re doing them an injustice. Tomatoes don’t like cold — it stops them from ripening and dulls that flavor we crave. Plus they become mushy and absorb odors from other foods in the fridge. To keep them at their best, store tomatoes at room temperature in this Antopy 2-tier fruit basket. It has a wide open shape that is perfect for storing tomatoes. The bottom basket has larger spacing between the wires, making it optimal for those big beefsteak tomatoes. And if you love cherry tomatoes, like I do, the top mesh basket is ideal. Each basket can be used separately so you can opt to use one basket in the pantry, and the other can sit on the counter.  Another tip? Put tomatoes stem-side down to get them to ripen evenly and be juicier.

Coffee

Veken Coffee Canister

There’s nothing like the taste of freshly ground coffee beans in your morning cup of coffee. These precious gems need to be protected from light, air, heat, and moisture. While that seems to be a tall order, thankfully, over 7,100 shoppers have found an easy solution: the Veken Coffee Canister. These “airtight canisters keep beans as fresh as the day I first opened the bag,” wrote one reviewer. Made of stainless steel, the canister has a clasp that securely locks the lid to the base for an airtight seal. The canister sports a window for viewing the inside without opening it. Plus, the lid has a date tracker so you know the freshness of the coffee beans. Snag the 16-ounce in black on sale for $22. The other available size options, the 22-ounce, and the 38-ounce also are on sale in select colors.