7 Foods That Should Never Be Stored Together

Some foods don’t play well together once they hit your kitchen. Pair the wrong ones, and you end up with wilted greens, mushy produce, or worse—mold and spoilage that happens way too fast.

It’s not always about what goes in the fridge or pantry, but what’s sitting next to what. A little space makes a big difference when it comes to keeping your food fresh longer.

Bananas and Other Fruit

Bananas release a high amount of ethylene gas, which speeds up ripening in nearby produce. If you store bananas with apples, peaches, or avocados, expect them to go soft and spotty fast.

To slow that process down, keep bananas on their own, preferably on a banana hook or in a separate fruit bowl. Once they’re ripe, move them to the fridge to stretch their life a few more days.

Onions and Potatoes

This combo seems natural, but storing onions and potatoes together actually makes both go bad faster. Onions can make potatoes sprout early, and potatoes release moisture that makes onions rot.

They both like cool, dark places—but they need to be in separate bins or baskets. If you’ve got a pantry or cabinet with room, split them up to make them last longer.

Apples and Leafy Greens

Throwing an apple into a drawer of lettuce or spinach might sound like a harmless space-saver, but it can make your greens go limp. Ethylene gas from apples breaks down the structure of leafy vegetables in no time.

Keep your greens in a crisper drawer and leave the apples somewhere else in the fridge. If you’ve got two drawers, divide them by type—high-ethylene and low-ethylene foods.

Tomatoes and Cucumbers

Tomatoes like to be at room temp, while cucumbers stay crisp longer when chilled. But beyond that, tomatoes give off enough ethylene gas to make cucumbers soften and get slimy faster.

Store your tomatoes on the counter away from direct sun, and keep cucumbers in the fridge wrapped in a paper towel inside a bag. They’ll both keep better when you don’t crowd them together.

Avocados and Citrus

It might be tempting to toss limes and avocados together for easy guac prep, but citrus can slow down the ripening of avocados. That’s great if you need to delay ripening, but not if you’re ready to use them soon.

If your avocados are hard, store them near bananas or apples to ripen them faster. Once they’re soft, stash them in the fridge away from citrus to keep them from going brown too fast.

Bread and Apples

Putting apples near bread might seem like a smart way to keep things fresh—but it usually backfires. Apples release moisture and ethylene, which can cause mold to grow faster on baked goods.

Bread does best in a cool, dry space like a bread box or pantry. If you need to keep apples nearby, use a separate bin or drawer and keep it well ventilated.

Garlic and Refrigerated Produce

Garlic stores best in a dry, breathable container at room temperature. Putting it near moist vegetables—especially in the fridge—can cause it to sprout, go rubbery, or start growing mold.

Skip the fridge and store garlic in a basket or mesh bag somewhere cool and dry. Keeping it away from high-humidity produce helps it stay firm and usable longer.

*This article was developed with AI-powered tools and has been carefully reviewed by our editors.