The Ultimate Guide to Storing Fresh Vegetables to Maximize Freshness and Flavor

After you buy your favorite delicious, farm-fresh vegetables, you’ll likely eat some of them soon—especially if it’s at the beginning of the season for that veggie. Often, you’ll then store the rest of your bounty to enjoy later. As far as storing fresh vegetables, there are different recommendations for different crops to maximize their freshness, safety, and flavor. Some fresh vegetables, for example, need refrigeration while others should ripen beforehand—while still others are best when kept at room temperature or in a place that’s cool and dry. 

To help, here are four tips for storing fresh vegetables.

#1 Buy the Freshest and Best

As The New York Times points out, selecting the freshest vegetables from the get-go is the best way to enjoy the longest shelf life. They note that, “If you rely on grocery delivery, you don’t have as much control over the quality of your produce.” It’s hard to know, exactly, how long this food has been stored in a warehouse before being put out on the shelves.

With The Chef’s Garden, though, you’ll benefit from a direct Earth to Table® experience, being blessed with hand harvested fresh vegetables: vibrant and flavorful with prolonged shelf life. 

Something else that puts the fresh vegetables available at The Chef's Garden in the “best” category: the cutting-edge food safety program employed by The Chef’s Garden. We track products from seed to shipping—and every stage in between—with diligence and great care, continually receiving superior Food Quality and Safety ratings from Primus Labs, AVENDRA, and additional independent certifiers. Here are more details about our outstanding food safety program. 

#2 What to Keep Away

If you’ve got a shopping cart or basket, you won’t want to put your fresh vegetables where they can become cross-contaminated by pathogens found in raw meat, poultry, fish, or seafood. 

When you shop at Farmer Jones Farm at The Chef's Garden, of course—either in person or online—you won’t have to worry about this type of contamination. Instead, you can fill your cart (virtual or real) with delicious and nutritious fresh vegetables that are grown with exceptional food safety procedures front of mind.

You also don’t want your vegetables to come in contact with bleach or other household cleaners: while in your shopping cart or in your home. So, don’t rinse your vegetables with a bleach-water mixture. Use water.

#3 Storing Fresh Vegetables According to Veggie-Specific Recommendations

Using asparagus as an example, this luscious vegetable should be stored in the refrigerator. Wrapping them in a damp paper towel will keep the stalks moist. Or, you could store them upright in a glass or bowl of cold water in the fridge. Contrast this recommendation with ones for tomatoes. For the best-tasting tomatoes, keep them at room temperature away from direct sunlight to allow them to evenly ripen. Once fully ripe, you can place them in your refrigerator. 

With root vegetables, you should not store them in the refrigerator. Instead, keep them in a cool, dark, dry place; this could be a root cellar or a cupboard. You can do the same with onions, garlic, potatoes, and sweet potatoes. 

Then, with leafy greens like lettuce, spinach, kale, bok choy, Swiss chard, and the like, rinse the leaves and, if possible, drain the leaves thoroughly with a salad spinner. Then refrigerate them in a sealed plastic bag or container with a paper towel, replacing the towel when wet.

When you get microgreens from Farmer Jones Farm at The Chef's Garden, simply keep the leaves in the original containers, putting them in your fridge. Remove leaves as needed.

You can find more examples of storing fresh vegetables here, including ideal storage times by vegetable for the highest quality and optimal flavor.

#4 Freeze Appropriately as Needed

Let’s say that you’ve brought home more fresh vegetables than what you can eat within the recommended storage times. If so, we understand—and, fortunately, most vegetables can be successfully frozen to enjoy later. (Exceptions include eggplant, lettuce, potatoes, radishes, and sweet potatoes although you can freeze potatoes after they’re mashed.)

Typically, vegetables will need to be blanched first before freezing, boiled whole or in pieces for one to two minutes. Then, quickly place the veggies in ice cold water to stop the cooking process. Afterwards, you can freeze them without worry of freezer burn for up to a year.

Fresh herbs and edible flowers can also be frozen. With herbs such as basil, chives, oregano, lemon balm, mint, or tarragon, rinse them, pat them dry, and chop. Put them in a silicone ice cube tray before putting enough water in each component to just cover the herbs, topping them with drops of olive oil before putting the tray in the freezer. 

Once they’re frozen, you can remove them, putting them in freezer bags for up to three months. When you’re ready to use them, put a cube in a small bowl. After the ice melts, drain the water and pat the herbs dry. Although the texture will look different, herbs grown at The Chef’s Garden will still have marvelous flavor. You can also freeze edible flowers in the ice cube trays.

Choosing the Freshest and Most Flavorful Vegetables