Isn’t it annoying to look in your refrigerator or fruit dish at the end of the week and realize some of the food you spent good money on has gone bad?

We’ve found 12 clever ways to prevent food from rotting and wilting before you get a chance to enjoy it.

Try out these tricks:

1. Wrap your banana tops

Want to keep your bright bananas from turning into mush as you go about your week?

You just need to wrap the top stalk with some plastic wrap or foil. Each time you tear one away, make sure to recover them.

This prevents the ethylene gas produced during the ripening process from prematurely ripening your fruit.

2. Store asparagus in water

You can do this with herbs as well, but treating asparagus like the cutting that it is will help you keep it greener and fresher for longer while you wait to be inspired by a good risotto or roasted veggie recipe.

Simply place your stalks in a jar with an inch or two of water at the bottom so they can keep sucking up that moisture and not dry out.

You can also put a plastic bag over them in order to maintain that moist environment and keep your green from soaking up other refrigerator odors.

3. Rinse berries with vinegar to keep them from getting fuzzy

Nobody likes a fuzzy berry. Instead of trashing your once-fresh fruit, try soaking them first in a combination of water and vinegar before putting them in the fridge.

Simply mix a half cup of vinegar and four cups of water in a bowl, plop in your berries, swirl them, and lay them on a towel to dry.

You won’t taste the vinegar when you go to eat them as long as you dry them completely and all of that bacteria will be gone.

4. Freeze your milk

No time to head to the store during the week but not sure if your family will be in a cereal mood every morning?

It turns out to can freeze store-bought milk and thaw it out later in the fridge.

Because milk expands when it freezes you’ll want to be sure there’s about 2 inches of air at the top of the airtight container, but otherwise you’re good to go.

5. Keep mushrooms in a paper bag

Storing mushrooms in your crisper drawer will expose them to too much moisture.

Instead, plop them in a paper bag that will absorb any moisture before you stick them in the fridge.

Just be careful not to put them near anything too fragrant though – they will absorb the smell, even through the paper bag.

6. Freeze your chicken eggs for up to a year

Did you know you could make your eggs last up to a year?!

Simply crack them open and store them in an ice cube tray inside a plastic bag.

When you’re ready to use them, thaw them overnight in the refrigerator. Once they’re thawed you’ll need to use them the next day.

7. Bag your extra sauce

Not all of us have the time or desire to make our own sauce from scratch, so a jar or can it is!

But when you have some leftover, it’s always a better idea to store it in an airtight zip bag rather than a can covered in plastic wrap.

You’ll fend off the fuzzies much longer.

8. Treat your green onions like flowers

Don’t let them share a vase with other blooms, but keeping your green onions in a glass of water is a great way to keep them green and fresh longer.

It will almost make you feel like you’re growing a kitchen garden – but without any of the hard work!

9. Wrap your lettuce leaves in paper towels

If you need your lettuce to stay fresh and crispy longer, you need to keep the moisture from getting into it.

One way to do this is to tear off the leaves and roll them up into paper towels.

It’s not the most sustainable solution, but if you’re having a dinner party later in the week and need an emergency way to keep your leaves looking their best, this will work in a pinch.

10. Wait to wash your fruits

Be careful about washing fruits and veggies as soon as you get home from the store.

Putting them in the fridge while they’re still wet (or piling them in a bowl together) will make them rot much more quickly.

Instead, wait until you’re about to eat or cook them before you wash or peel them.

11. Keep your avocados green

If you love avocados you know that there’s about a 2 minute period at which they reach peak ripeness and it’s up to you to guess when that is.

To top it off, they’re pretty filling and it’s hard to eat a whole one.

Next time you get a good avocado (or even one that’s still a little hard), spray the other half with lemon juice before putting it in an airtight bag. Then you can store it for about a day without it going brown.

12. Seal up cut veggies

Airtight glass jars are a great way to seal up your veggies for later use without wasting more plastic.

Most people have some extra (or completely random) mason jars around the house. Those will work better than any plastic bag to store cut veggies like carrots (or even lettuce).

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Do you have any tricks up your sleeve for making produce last longer?

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