Refrigerators are used to keep your food fresh. That’s the general consensus that leads to people putting everything inside their fridge. Not all your grocery items do well in the cold or stay fresh in the cold.
Arranging your items in the fridge is both an art and a science, and there are just some items that you should never even think about putting inside your refrigerator. Some things are better off left on the counter. However, people still put these common grocery items inside their fridge and make them either rot faster or taste off. Worry not, we’re here to show you some of the most common foods that you should never put inside a refrigerator.
Watermelons
This is one of the more common ones that I see taking up all the space in people’s refrigerators. Watermelons, cantaloupes, and honeydews don’t need to be refrigerated. Storing them at room temperature helps them retain all the nutrients inside, and they don’t necessarily rot when not inside a fridge.
The only time you should put watermelons inside the fridge is when you’ve already cut it into pieces and don’t think you can finish all the slices in one sitting. If this is the case, store them for a week maximum.
Potatoes
This would be a shocker for a lot of people, but potatoes don’t need to be refrigerated. Potatoes need to be stored somewhere cold or else they’ll rot, but a refrigerator is just too cold. Putting potatoes in the fridge breaks down the starches and makes the flesh turn brown.
It also causes them to taste sweeter and more gritty. Store potatoes someplace where it won’t be hit by direct sunlight.
Onions
Surprisingly, not many people know that onions don’t need to be refrigerated. Similar to watermelons, they should only be in the fridge if it has already been cut in half. The humidity inside the refrigerator can make the onions mushy or in some cases moldy.
Store them in a cool, dry area just like the potatoes to keep them in tip-top shape.
Bananas
People think that unripe bananas should be put in the fridge to help them stay fresh while they ripen up. However, that’s not the case. Bananas should be left to ripen at room temperature so that it keeps that sweet flavor that we all know and love.
Putting bananas in the fridge is also counterproductive. It slows down the ripening process while speeding up the rate in which it rots.
Honey
Honey doesn’t spoil as long as it’s properly sealed and isn’t somewhere humid. However, a common problem that most people face is when their honey crystallizes. When this happens, the honey becomes lumpy and loses that beautiful sticky yet runny texture.
Just keep your honey sealed and place it somewhere water won’t get into it, and you should be good.
Ketchup
I’ve seen a lot of people do this. You drop by a friend’s house and open up their fridge only to see the red condiment on the refrigerator door. The reason why you shouldn’t keep ketchup in the refrigerator is that it doesn’t really need to.
Ketchup has high vinegar content which helps preserve it and keep it fresh even at room temperature.
Bread
Technically speaking, if you put bread in the freezer, it can last forever. However, if you don’t have to preserve loaves of bread for years on end, just put it on your countertop or table. Putting it inside your fridge is going to make your bread dry and speed up the molding process.
Hazelnut Spread or Nutella
The reason for this is more in the area of convenience rather than preservation. When left out at room temperature, Nutella or any hazelnut spread won’t turn bad. However, if you store Nutella in the fridge it gets clumpy and more difficult to spread.
Keep your Nutella at room temperature for convenience. It becomes easier to spread because it isn’t clumpy and hard.