19 Food Storage Tips to Make Your Groceries Last Longer

Your veggies are rotting in the crisper… again. The cereal has gone stale, and don’t even get us started on how much you’ve spent on plastic containers for your food. We totally get it — we’ve been there, too. But with these food storage hacks and tips, you’ll never have to deal with wilting veggies, stale grains or a place to put your kids’ snacks again. From reusing and repurposing containers to tips for keeping food fresher longer, you’ll find a useful trick here!

Introduction to Amazing Food Storage Hacks

We all wish our groceries could last just a little longer shelf life, remain fresh, and allow us to enjoy them that much longer. Today we are going to be looking at some ways to make this happen while saving the environment and the purse. The tips below will be environmentally friendly, pocket friendly, and guaranteed to make your groceries last longer than usual. We have tips to store;

• Vegetables
• Fruits
• Mushrooms
• Cereals and dry food
• Snacks

Let’s get right into it;

Food Storage Tips to Make Your Groceries Last Longer

1. Food storage tips to use stackable bins

I love these stackable airtight container and bins from Amazon for storing our fruits & veggies!! I can access them for cooking and my kids can get a healthy snack easily!! Just put them in a nice corner where they are visible but away from direct sunrise and load your vegetables. What I like most about them is that I can have as many or as few of these bins as I want at any one time depending on the number of vegetables I need to store. Any bins not currently in use can be kept away in the attic. Your local store is going to have these bins in many different sizes, designs colors, you’ll be spoilt for choice. Cool kitchen storage hack!

(Also, my potatoes aren’t being forgotten in a cupboard until I smell something funky ?)

3. Food storage tip by reusing that parmesan cheese container instead of throwing it away

I love green onions (and any fresh herbs!), but they always go bad before I use them all. From now on, I’m trying this trick. Buy a bunch, cut them up on the cutting board, put them in an empty Parmesan cheese container (or any container) and shake them out as needed. You can freeze them this way, too!

4. Food storage tip to reuse your arrowhead 3L water bottles

This blogger found a brilliant food storage tip… Arrowhead 3L water bottles. They stack perfectly on each other and are pretty durable. They’re great for beans, pasta, cereal, etc. These are good for when the dry foods you need to store are more than the pet soda bottles can handle.

5. Creamer containers food storage tips

Recycle your coffee creamer containers to hold snacks. These are so handy for road trips. And if you’re out for a day with the kids, just stick one in your purse. They are adequately small for one-time snacks when you need to leave the house. Your snacks will be kept nice and fresh in here all day just waiting for you.

6. Crystal light containers food storage tips

Like creamer containers, crystal light containers also make great snack transporters. Keep nuts, pretzel sticks, carrots, and even blocks of cheese in them, and eat them when the opportunity arises during the day!

7. Store your nuts in the fridge

Did you know that keeping nuts in the fridge will keep them fresher longer? Nuts contain delicate oils that go rancid when exposed to heat, so the fridge is the best place for them. After taking the nuts off the frier, let them cool to room temperature in an airly spot, put them in mason jars and into the refrigerator until you are ready to snack on them.

8. Soup can storage DIY tip

I can’t be the only one who gets frustrated when I open my cupboard and the cans come rolling out. They don’t like staying in place no matter how meticulously they have been arranged, they just keep rolling even when kept upright.

If you also find this to be frustrating, just store the cans of soup in an empty soda box. Cut a hole through which you can stack your cans inside the box. You can even decorate it to make it pretty if you’d like.

9. Lemonade jugs

Drink a lot of lemonade? Don’t throw out those used jugs just yet, I have an idea on how you can put them to great use. Reuse those lemonade jugs for cereal! Your cereal will stay fresher much longer in a container than it does in the retail box.

10. Mesh laundry bags for storing vegetables

Put onions, potatoes, garlic, and similar veggies in a mesh laundry bag to allow air to circulate. Hang the vegetables somewhere they can breathe without exposure to direct sunlight and they will stay fresh for long.

11. Did you know you can use paper towels to keep salads fresh in the fridge?

To keep salad greens fresh in the fridge for up to a week with paper towels, cover the bowl with a paper towel (to draw out moisture), and cover the salad with a lid or plastic wrap. Replace the paper towel whenever it feels moist. Your salad will stay fresh in the fridge for up to a week

12. Wrap your celery sticks in aluminum foil to keep them fresh

And celery keeps 4-5 weeks when wrapped in tin foil before it is placed in your crisper drawer. Trim the celery and wrap it in foil without washing. You may unwrap and break off pieces of the celery as needed for up to 5 weeks before it goes bad.

13. Tip for ripening and storing tomatoes

If you have green tomatoes that you need to ripen within a day or two, I have found this amazing hack just for you. Ripen green tomatoes in a paper bag with an apple or banana to speed the process. But to keep tomatoes fresher longer, keep them sitting in a cool, dry place… NOT in the fridge!

14. Food storage tips to vacuum seal your food

Throw your food into a food-grade plastic bag and suck all the air out to create a vacuum seal. Your food will last in there for weeks without going bad.  Use this nifty system to vacuum seal that I found on amazon without the need of a cumbersome machine or fancy gizmos.

15. Food storage tips reusing baby food containers

Here are some food storage tips to reuse those food containers you thought you had to throw away since the baby has grown into a big girl;

• Here’s another great idea for storing and portioning out the kids’ snacks this time using baby food containers.

• During your baby’s first year, you may go through lots of formula containers. Add them to your pantry for grain, pasta, and other dry foods storage.

• Do the same thing with the baby rice containers. Don’t they make the cutest addition to this kitchen?

16. Using water jars to store your lemons

Another one of our food storage tips is to Keep lemons and limes fresh for up to a month with this vintage storage trick. Add your lemons to a jar, fill with water, and add a lid. Make sure to fill the jar to the top so that your lemons or limes will stay submerged. The lemons will stay fresh looking for weeks in the jar. It may be helpful to change the water once in a while.

17. Asparagus in a jar

Store asparagus in a jar as you would flowers in a vase, and then cover with a plastic bag to store in the fridge. Your asparagus will stay crisper longer… no more floppy stalks! Get the details here.

18. Storage tip to keep mushrooms dry and fresh

Keep mushrooms dry and fresh by removing them from their containers and putting them in paper bags instead. Mushrooms hate moisture and so you should avoid the fridge at all costs, even the vegetable drawer in the fridge is no good. Just throw them in a dry brown paper bag and place them somewhere cool and dry.

19.Love these food storage tips, look at how to freeze your raw eggs for up to a year

Store eggs for up to a year with these egg-freezing tips. Crack the eggs and pour the yolks and/or egg whites into little aluminum cans and freeze them.

20. Bonus tip; Bath your berries in a vinegar solution before storing them

It’s blueberry or strawberry season and you want to eat as many as you can before the season ends. The problem is, you cannot eat them all at once, you need to store some.  A vinegar bath will kill bacteria and molds on the berries’ skins that spoil the berries so fast. Without these baddies, your berries will last much longer in your pantry and you can enjoy them over an extended period

Give berries a vinegar bath after bringing them home to help them last longer. Use one part vinegar to 10 parts water.

Did you find these tips helpful? Have a look at these other

Tips and hacks for you to use around the kitchen

• Pantry Storage Ideas: 16 Top Canned Food Storage Hacks
• Dried Fruit + More Tasty Food Dehydrator Recipes
• 28 Irresistible Camping Food Ideas
• Brilliant Freezer Organization Tips You Need {with Video!}

Love these food storage hacks? Which ones blew your mind the most?