Public Television's Sara Moulton says that although many of your groceries should be kept in the fridge to preserve their shelf life (get her storage tips here), there are some that you need to keep away from the fridge:

• Tomatoes. You might as well just throw them out because they lose all of their flavor.

• Onions. Moisture is their enemy, but not air. You can store them in an old pair of clean pantyhose that will allow the air to circulate around the onions.

• Avocados. If it’s hard and you want to ripen it, leave it on the counter, but if you want to speed it up, place it in a paper bag because it gives off ethylene that will help it to ripen itself. If you want to ripen it the fastest, place a banana in the bag because bananas are the number one producer of ethylene. However, unlike tomatoes, if you put an avocado in the fridge before it’s ripe it will continue to ripen. So if it’s almost ripe but you’re not going to eat it for three days, put it in the fridge, it will probably make it three more days.

• Bananas. Keep outside the fridge until they’re freckled and ready to eat, but if you’re not going to get to the whole bunch you can then put them in the fridge for a couple of days. The skin may turn brown, but the banana is still good.

• White products like flour, rice and pasta should be removed from their bags and put into clear storage containers. Place a bay leaf on top to help ward off the “beasties.”

• If you want to keep cut artisanal bread fresh, place it cut side down on a flat surface and you won’t need to use plastic wrap.

• To prevent the top of guacamole from turning brown, spray a bit of vegetable oil on top and cover it with plastic wrap.

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Sara Moulton