September 17th, 2025

How to store fruit and veg and reduce food waste

​Nutritionist Claire Turnbull has tips for keeping your fruit and vegetables fresh for longer; what to keep in the fridge, how to store them, and what to do when you do find vegetables looking limp.

It's estimated the average New Zealand household throws away 86kg of edible food each year, worth $644.

Many veggies can be resuscitated, she says, by cutting a bit off the stem and putting it in water.

“It's like a plant. You know, if you get a rose and it's looking a bit flat, if you chop up the stem, put it in fresh water, it will come back to life again and vegetables are much the same.”

The fridge is your friend but check the temperature, Turnbull says, as some fridges are running too warm.

“We need to keep it below five degrees, 70 percent of Kiwis have their fridges too warm. So it’s well worth going into your fridge today and checking that, particularly if you're opening it and closing it regularly.”

Most vegetables will last better in the fridge drawer, because it’s designed to make the ideal climate for them, she says.

Never leave cut salad in its plastic bag in the fridge, Turnbull says.

“As I get that home from the supermarket, I chop it open, chop the bag open, put a piece of paper towel down each side of the bag. So that could be rocket, baby spinach, coleslaw.

“And I promise you, you'll get at least an extra two days out of it more than you would have, because otherwise it basically sweats in the bag.”

Even better transfer to a brown paper bag, she says.

“Take everything out of a plastic bag that you can, most vegetables actually work really well in a plastic box like a sustainer type box with paper towel in it.

“But not in a plastic bag that can sweat and brown paper bags or those net bags are good for basically most vegetables.”

She is a great believer in paper towels, she says. Cheese, for example, lasts better in a plastic container with a paper towel inside.

​Chilled fruit can lose flavour, so store in the fridge and take out what you need for the day she suggests.

“I bought some nectarines the other the day because they're on special and I put eight of them in the fridge and I put three of them out and then every day just kind of keep rotating them like that until the end of the week, and I buy some more.

That rotation is good because eating things straight out of the fridge isn't particularly pleasant.”

Some veggies are best kept apart, she says.

“Even though onions and potatoes both like the dark, you are definitely best to keep them apart because they cause each other to sprout.

“You'll get more life out of them if you separate them and put them in a different place.”
In fact, most root vegetables prefer the dark, she says.

“Anything that would naturally sprout is much better in the dark. So, potato, kumara, onions, garlic, all of those kinds of things are definitely best kept in the dark.

Don’t fear the freezer, she says, you’d be surprised what freezes well.

“Often if I'm buying say three containers of milk from the supermarket because that's what I need for my family to last a week, I freeze one. I'll go through the first two and get the frozen one out near the end of the week - milk freezes really well”

Those with veggie gardens are seeing a surplus now and the freezer can help here too, she says.
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“A lot of the vegetables you can blend them down and freeze them. Even courgettes, if you chop them up into small cubes, you can actually put a few into a smoothie just to give it a bit of extra veg.”
 
Ref: RNZ
 
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018828713/how-to-store-fruit-and-veg-and-reduce-food-waste