Refrigeration is often times the best way to slow down the decomposition process for many foods. While refrigeration is great to extend the lives of fresh meats, many vegetables, and other perishables, there are a few foods that do better left out of the fridge. Find out about the six foods you should never refrigerate.

Foods You Shouldn’t Refrigerate

Potatoes

Potatoes need a dry, cool environment with room to breathe. This environment is not the fridge. Refrigerating potatoes not only stores them at a temperature that is too cold for them but exposes them to moisture and limits their airflow. Store them in the bottom of your pantry in paper bags for best results.

Onion & Garlic

Likewise, onions and garlic prefer to stay around room temperature with plenty of ventilation. Keeping onions in the fridge can make them spoil faster.  Store your onions and garlic somewhere dry and dark so that they don’t sprout, and keep them away from the potatoes so that they don’t rot.

Coffee and Tea

Two things that there is absolutely no need to refrigerate are coffee and tea. The condensation from the fridge will adversely affect the taste of the coffee beans, just as it will prematurely hydrate the tea. Store these in your pantry and they will last much longer and taste fresher.

Bread

If you only eat one slice of bread a week, freezing it is your best option, but if you buy fresh bread and use it daily you should keep it out of the fridge and freezer. Putting bread in the fridge dries it out faster than if you let it sit at room temperature. Bread is one of those foods that are meant to be enjoyed fresh, so store it in a bread box and eat it within four days.

Sauces

There are plenty of sauces, especially hot sauces, that have no need to be refrigerated. Check each bottle for instructions, but generally, refrigeration does nothing for their shelf life and instead dulls the flavour and makes the sauce harder to pour.

Protected Fruit & Veg

Much like onion and garlic, there are plenty of fruits and vegetables that have their own natural protective layer. Foods like entire pumpkins and squash are so well protected and insulated by their skins that they can last for over a month in the pantry. Even bananas will last a good amount of time outside of the fridge thanks to their skins. As soon as you cut into any of these foods you will need to refrigerate them to keep them from spoiling.

Now obviously, we are in the business of refrigeration so we’re experts on what SHOULD go in your fridge, cold room or freezer. So if you have any questions about what you can store in a cool room, how much of it you can store, or what size cool room you might need - hit us up, we’re here to help!

Check out more of our helpful refrigeration articles here.