You’re Using the Crisper Drawer Wrong—Stop Doing This With Your Vegetables

As tempting as it might be to store cans of sparkling water or oddly-shaped items in your refrigerator’s crisper drawers, your best bet is to use them for what they’re meant for: storing fresh produce. Knowing how to properly store your produce will help keep those precious fruits and vegetables fresher for a longer period of time. 

Different types of vegetables have different humidity requirements. The general rule of thumb is “rot, low; wilt, high.” In other words, foods that rot as they spoil, such as mushrooms and asparagus, should go in the low-humidity drawer. Foods that tend to wilt, such as salad greens and fresh herbs, should go in the high-humidity drawer. 

Vegetables that should be stored in the low-humidity drawer include those that produce ethylene gas, like peppers and tomatoes. Allowing this gas to escape helps to prevent the produce from rotting too quickly, allowing it to stay fresh longer. 

How To Use the Crisper Drawers

Depending on your refrigerator model, the crisper drawers will have a “low” and “high” or “open” and “closed” slider setting. Changing the setting typically opens or closes a vent in the back of the drawer.

When set to low humidity, the vent is completely open; when set to high, the vent is completely closed. Changing the setting regulates the amount of air that can circulate within the drawer. 

What If Your Crisper Drawers Don’t Have Different Settings?

If the crisper drawers in your refrigerator don’t have different settings, consider them to be high-humidity drawers. You can use them to store leafy greens such as lettuce, arugula, and spinach, and fresh herbs.

Store ethylene-producing produce on the shelves of your refrigerator, allowing plenty of room for air to flow around them.

How To Keep Produce From Going Bad

In addition to using your crisper drawers to separate different types of produce, there are a few other things you can do to help prolong the life of fresh fruits and vegetables. This handy chart from the University of California–Davis Postharvest Research and Extension Center offers an excellent overview of how to best store fruits and vegetables for better taste. Here are a few more tips:

• Plan meals: I know I’m not the only one who has been dazzled by displays of fresh produce at the farmers' market or grocery store. But try to avoid buying produce without first knowing how you plan to use it. 
• Keep drawers organized: Place items that have a shorter shelf life at the front of the drawer. This will stop you from forgetting about them and remind you to use them earlier in the week, before they spoil. 
• Wait to wash produce: According to Colorado State University Extension Service, you should wait to wash your produce until right before you plan to use it. This is because “washing produce before storing may promote bacterial growth and speed up spoilage.” If you choose to wash your produce before storing it, be sure to allow it to thoroughly dry before putting it in your refrigerator. 
• Line the drawers: Use a simple lining of paper towels to soak up any excess moisture in the low-humidity drawers. This will help to keep produce fresher for longer. 
• Store vegetables in mesh bags: For organizational ease, you can store fresh produce in mesh cloth bags or perforated plastic bags. Do not store produce in airtight plastic bags, as they prevent air from circulating, speeding up the spoiling process. 

More Refrigerator Storage and Organization Tips

• 7 Foods You Aren't Refrigerating But Should
• The Genius $1.25 Dollar Tree Find That Revolutionized My Fridge
• When to Toss Leftovers, According to Experts