"First in, first out," also known as "FIFO," is a common catchphrase used in restaurant kitchens to make sure that the food stays fresh, wherever it is stored. Restaurants go through so much product that every truck delivery usually means that there are only one or two items that have to be rotated forward. For the home cook, this means that canned goods, boxed goods, and other non-perishable supplies should be dated with the date bought. This ensures that a newer item isn't being opened first.


Keep your cabinets, your refrigerator, and all your food storage spaces organized to make sure you know where everything is, and what's the most fresh. if you've got three open jars of peanut butter, something's going to spoil.;
, Fruit should be left to ripen on the counter, either out in the open or loosely in an open plastic bag to promote ripening. Once fruit has reached its desired level of ripeness, put it into the refrigerator to extend the life of the fruit.


Bananas produce ethylene, which speeds up the ripening process of other fruits, so you can take advantage of this property and store them in a plastic bag together with a fruit that needs to ripen. This is an excellent technique for avocados as well.
Never pack fruit into air-tight containers on the counter, or they will quickly spoil. Keep an eye out for signs of bruising or over-ripeness and remove rotten fruit quickly to avoid spoiling the rest.
Be wary of fruit flies, which are attracted to fruit that's spoiled or in the the process of spoiling. Remnants should always be discarded quickly. If you develop a problem with fruit flies, start storing your fruit in the fridge.
 Rice, oatmeal, quinoa, and other dry grains can be kept in your kitchen cabinets in tight, sealed containers. Glass jars, plastic tupperware containers, and any other lidded storage is perfect for storing these bulk items in cabinets or on the counter. This goes for dried beans as well.


If you store rice and other grains in plastic bags, be wary of meal worms. These can be perfectly fine ways of storing rice, but small holes can allow meal worms and moths to breed, ruining large amounts of food. It's always best to keep them in tightly sealed jars.
 If it grows under the ground, it doesn't need to go into the refrigerator. Potatoes, onions, and garlic should be kept in cool, dark, and dry places, not in the refrigerator. If you want to keep them in anything, a loose paper bag is perfectly fine.
 If you've purchased some freshly baked, crusty bread, keep it in a paper bag out on the counter to keep it as fresh as possible. Bread on the counter, properly stored, should be good for 3-5 days, which extends to 7-14 days in the refrigerator.


It's also fine to refrigerate or freeze bread, especially soft sandwich bread, to extend the life. If you live in a particularly humid place, soft breads will mold very quickly if left out, and bread is easy to defrost in the toaster.
If you keep bread on the counter, never keep it in a plastic bag. This promotes mold.
Use the FIFO system.
Store produce on the counter if it needs to ripen.
Store rice and other grains in sealed containers.
Store root vegetables in paper bags.
Store fresh bread in paper bags on the counter.
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