30 Foods You Shouldn’t Refrigerate

If you’re wondering how to store fruit properly, apples can be kept at room temperature up to two weeks. And if you end up leaving the apples out for too long, you can still use them in baking recipes like this one for apple crumb pie.

If you find yourself pleading with your avocados to ripen, here’s some good news: this super fruit ripens faster when it’s left on the counter. And if all your avocados ripen at once, you can turn them into bowl of delicious and healthy guacamole.

Feel like you’re on a race to eat your bananas before they go brown? The fridge actually makes them go mushy even faster. If you’re bananas are turning faster than you can eat them, use them in this recipe for banana bread cookies.

Storing bell peppers in the refrigerator can cause them to lose their crispness. If you need a recipe to use up your peppers, make this recipe for vegetarian stuffed peppers.

Do you have to refrigerate berries? No, because berries will actually go soft and moldy when kept in the fridge. Instead, keep berries on the counter and wait to rinse until you’re ready to eat them. If you bring home a large haul of fresh berries from the local Farmer’s Market, make this delicious summer recipe for a red, white and blue berry tart.

While you don’t want your chocolate to melt, the fridge can change its taste and texture. Instead, find a cool, dark place to store your chocolate outside of the fridge. Here’s a healthy and delicious chocolate recipe for drizzled apple snacks.

Refrigerating cucumbers can make them watery and less crunchy. Instead, leave your cucumbers out or use them in this Asian cucumber salad.

Keeping your eggplant refrigerated can give it a bitter taste. If you need a recipe to use up your abundance of eggplant, make a hearty dish like this eggplant lasagna.

When garlic is kept in the fridge it can begin to sprout. Instead store it in a cool, dark place and enjoy the fresh, aromatic flavor it gives these garlic fries.

Although storing nuts in the fridge may extend their shelf life, it can also diminish their flavor because nuts absorb other odors from the fridge. You can use up your peanuts in this recipe for homemade snickers®.

If you store this oil in the fridge, it will solidify. Keep it in a cool, dark place like the pantry and enjoy a healthy helping in this recipe for olive oil banana cake.

Refrigerating a peach slows down the ripening process, so it should be left on the counter if you plan to eat it soon. For a delicious way to enjoy fresh peaches, make this grilled peach salad.

When stored in the refrigerator peanut butter becomes hard, which makes it more difficult to spread. If you bought the jumbo jar of peanut butter at the store this week, you can use some of it up by making this recipe for peanut butter Rice Krispies® treats.

When stored in the fridge, the starch in potatoes turns to sugar. This makes them taste sweet and gritty. If you have a bag of potatoes that is going to pass its peak freshness soon, make a big bowl of German potato salad.

Putting tomatoes in the fridge ruins their taste and changes their consistency. Instead, store them on the counter away from direct sunlight. If all the tomatoes in the garden ripened at once, make this refreshing tomato mango salad.

Squash like butternut squash and acorn squash are best stored outside the fridge. If you’re looking for a unique way to use up your squash, make this butternut squash chili.