If you are conscious about how much food you waste, or you're trying to cut down on how much plastic you use, then you will love these handy tips.

According to the experts at Space Station, a storage company, the UK throws away seven billion tonnes of food each year.

This equates to an average of around £470 worth of food per year for one household. 

But there are ways for you to make fresh food items last longer, as well as cut down on how much plastic packaging you use.

Huge steps have been made in plastic reduction recently.  

Waitrose is currently trailing stores with refillable options for foods such as alcohol, rice and cleaning materials, Morrisons has an initiative to ditch the unnecessary plastic on vegetables and Aldi will soon be trialling loose vegetables.

Storage experts, Space Station  have put together some useful tips for to help you keep food fresher for longer.  

Fruit and vegetables

Keeping fruits and vegetables stored too closely together is a common mistake that can lead to food going bad. Build-up of the chemical compound ethylene will cause them to go off, so apples, melons, apricots, bananas, tomatoes, avocados, peaches, pears, nectarines, plums, figs, and other fruits and vegetables should be kept separate as these produce the most ethylene.

More than half of people (52 per cent) would not consider buying fruit or vegetables already frozen, so buying loose vegetables fresh then chopping and storing them in an airtight container in the freezer can ensure no food is wasted. 


Wash cucumbers straight away and ensure they are thoroughly dry, as excess water will turn them bad. Wrap them in either a tea towel or kitchen roll to prevent sogginess and store in the fridge in a reusable vegetable bag.


Netting for lemons, oranges and limes is very dangerous to sea life and birds so these types of fruits should always be bought loose. They should also be kept in the fridge and, if citrus starts to go on the turn, slicing them up and freezing them will make great ice cubes for drinks.

Meat and fish

More than one in three (38 per cent) believe freezing meat after it has been cooked is dangerous, but this is a myth.

Meat and fish can be stored in containers in the freezer, for the two thirds of us (64 per cent) who don’t want to buy frozen meat, which will save money and food waste. Store all frozen food in containers with labels that clearly state the date the items were frozen, as meat should be eaten within three to six months.


For loose leafy salad, wash and dry in a salad spinner then wrap loosely in kitchen paper and store in a resealable plastic container to stop the leaves going soggy. Tomatoes and avocados should be stored outside the fridge until ripe.

Onions and potatoes 

Onions, potatoes and shallots should be stored in a cool dark place to keep them fresh, such as in a wicker basket in a cupboard or a cellar. Avoid storing these products in plastic bags as this encourages spoilage.

A clever hack to keep onions fresh is storing them hung up in an old pair of tights in a cool, dry place. Once cut, onions should be stored in a zip-lock bag in the fridge where they will last for around a week or stored in a resealable plastic container and kept in the freezer. 

Apples and bananas

Buy bananas when green and store them away from other fruits in the fruit bowl as they release a gas that can cause other fruits to go off more quickly. Consider using a banana tree to keep them separate and minimise bruising. Or a mug tree can work just as well.

Store apples in an uncovered fruit bowl on a worktop and make sure to keep the fruit out of direct sunlight. 


A great hack for storing fresh basil and herbs is to chop the leaves in a food processor and place into an ice cube tray with a little olive oil and store in the freezer. When basil is needed for a dish, just pop in a ready-made ice cube.