Tomatoes
Keep tomatoes on the counter until ripe, then eat them or refrigerate them for a few days. Fridge or counter, green tomatoes before frost, freezing, and when to toss.
Ingredients
Ingredient guides
One page per ingredient: how to store it, how long it keeps, how to tell when it has gone bad, and what to use instead. New pages are added one ingredient at a time.
Fruit and vegetables
Mushrooms
Fresh mushrooms keep about 3 to 7 days in the fridge in a paper bag. How to store them, why plastic makes them slimy, how to freeze them, and when to toss.
Apples
Apples keep 2 to 4 weeks on the counter and a month or more in the fridge. How to store and freeze them, why one bad apple matters, and when to toss one.
Bananas
Bananas keep up to a week on the counter and 5 to 7 more days in the fridge once ripe. How to store and freeze them, why the peel turns black, and when to toss.
Spinach
Fresh spinach keeps 3 to 7 days in the fridge, and an opened bag about 2. How to store it, freeze it, and when slimy leaves mean the bag goes.
Peppers
Whole peppers keep 4 to 14 days in the fridge and 6 to 8 months frozen. Why green outlasts red, how to store cut and hot peppers, and when mold means cut or bin.
Potatoes
Potatoes keep up to a month in a cool, dark cupboard, not the fridge. How to store and freeze them, and when to cut away sprouts and green or throw them out.
Strawberries
Strawberries keep 1 to 3 days in the fridge, unwashed, and 8 to 12 months frozen. How to store, wash and freeze them, and what to do with a moldy berry.
Garlic
Whole garlic keeps up to 8 weeks in a cool, dark place, not the fridge. How to store and freeze it, when garlic in oil is unsafe, and how to spot bad garlic.
Onions
Whole onions keep up to 4 weeks on the counter and cut onions up to 7 days in the fridge. How to store, freeze and judge sprouted or moldy onions.
Avocados
Ripe avocados keep 2–5 days in the fridge. How to ripen them, store a cut half, freeze purée, and tell browning from spoilage.
Ginger
Ginger keeps 4–6 weeks in the fridge, whole and unpeeled. How to store it, freeze it, and tell a dried-out root from one that has gone bad.
Dairy and eggs
Cream cheese
Opened cream cheese keeps about 2 weeks in the fridge. How to store it, whether freezing is worth it, and why mold means the whole tub goes.
Cheese
Hard cheese keeps 3 to 4 weeks in the fridge once opened and soft cheese 1 to 2 weeks. How to wrap it, freeze it, and when mold means cut or bin.
Eggs
Raw eggs keep 3 to 5 weeks in the fridge, in the carton on an inside shelf, and up to a year frozen out of the shell. How to store, freeze and check old eggs.
Grains and bread
Rice
Dry white rice keeps for years, brown rice for about six months, and cooked rice for three or four days. Cupboard, fridge, freezer, weevils and the overnight rule.
Bread
Homemade bread keeps 3 to 5 days wrapped on the counter and about 3 months frozen. How to store soft, crusty and sourdough loaves, and why the fridge stales them.
Bagels
Fresh bagels keep 1 to 2 days on the counter and about 3 months in the freezer. Why the fridge makes them stale, and how to freeze and reheat them.
Food safety
Food left out overnight
Food left out overnight: which foods you can keep and which to throw out, the 2-hour rule, and why reheating doesn't make perishable food safe again.
Food after a power outage
Food after a power outage: how long the fridge and freezer keep food safe, and what to keep or throw out, food by food, including eggs and cheese.
How a guide gets made
Sources first, then the kitchen
Ingredients are chosen by what people actually ask about storing them.
Storage times are checked against university extension and food safety sources, and cited.
Each guide links to the sources behind its storage times.
Every spoilage stage comes with a plain verdict: use it, trim it or throw it out.
The Sunday Shelf
Written for people who cook from what they already have.
New ingredient guides when they go up, plus one storage tip worth knowing. Anything sponsored is labelled.