A refrigerator with drawers filled with fruits, vegetables, and water bottles.
People Are Using Their Produce Drawers Incorrectly

NEWS

By ANN MEYER
Fridge drawer filled with vegetables.
For items that are best kept cold, the refrigerator seems like a surefire solution, but there’s a common mistake you might be making: using your crisper drawers wrong.
Refrigerator drawers filled with fruits and vegetables.
While it’s easy to toss all your produce in one drawer, it can cause items to rot prematurely. From moisture levels to inadequate airflow, everything can affect your produce.
Whole and halved iceberg lettuce against a white background.
Many modern fridges have at least two crisper drawers with adjustable humidity and airflow. High-humidity drawers are ideal for thin-skinned veggies like lettuce and cucumbers.
A hand slicing a tomato on a cutting board.
Low-humidity drawers suit thicker-skinned produce and/or those prone to rotting and molding like tomatoes and berries. Avoid overcrowding the drawers to allow proper ventilation.
A pile of avocados.
Citruses like oranges are rather hardy, while avocados and apples are also fine to leave out on the counter, at room temperature, unless you want to delay their ripening.