PEOPLE
9 Surprising Foods You Should Never Store in the Fridge
By Makena Gera Published on October 11, 2026 06:00AM EDT
Not all foods belong in the refrigerator.
Many produce and pantry items actually fare worse than they do on your countertop or in your cabinet. Certain produce can end up mushy or mealy, and some won’t ripen at all. Others can transfer their aromas or flavors on to the items around them, while certain foods can go stale faster than they would at room temperature.
“When it comes to food safety, there isn’t a downside to storing foods in the refrigerator,” Joan Salge Blake, a dietitian and nutrition professor at Boston University, tells PEOPLE. “However, it may affect the quality and flavor of some foods.”
She adds that some produce, like berries, leafy greens and mushrooms, should be refrigerated, while colder temperatures can have detrimental effects on the taste and quality of foods like tomatoes, honey, bananas and potatoes.
So, which foods should you avoid storing in the fridge? Here are nine surprising foods that are better stored at room temperature.
01
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Honey
Honey lasts forever, but it tends to crystalize over time — hardening the honey and making it difficult to use. Refrigeration speeds up that process.
“Honey is a combination of two simple sugars, glucose and fructose in small amounts of water,” Rosemary Trout, associate clinical professor and program director of culinary arts and food science at Drexel University, tells PEOPLE.
Glucose crystallizes at refrigeration temperature, she says, and can cause honey to become “grainy and cloudy.”
Though crystallized honey is still safe to eat, it’s hard to use as an ingredient or condiment. Honey should be stored at room temperature, between 50 and 70 degrees in an airtight container, rather than refrigerated.
02
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Coffee grounds and beans
Colder temperatures can cause coffee to lose its flavor, but it can also pick up the aromas of other items in the fridge.
To keep your coffee from smelling like last night’s leftovers, room temperature is far more ideal.
“For optimal coffee storage, utilize a cool and dry environment, not one that is cold and humid,” Skylar Griggs, a dietician and nutrition counselor at Newbury Street Nutrition in Boston, tells PEOPLE. “An airtight container in the pantry is more efficient than the refrigerator.”
03
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Olive oil, vegetable oil and other cooking oils
Olive oil, vegetable oil and other cooking oils become solid at colder temperatures, making them difficult to use.
Oils are different from solid fats like butter or lard, which are solid at room temperature, because of their high proportion of unsaturated fatty acids, says Trout. The unsaturated fatty acids are what cause oils to become more solid or cloudy at refrigeration.
However, refrigeration does not affect the quality of the olive oil, or cause it to go bad. The oils can be used again once it’s returned to room temperature — though they can spoil when stored too close to high heat, like near the stove. So it’s best to place them in a pantry, where it’s cool and dark.
04
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Bread
You may think that the fridge will keep your bread lasting longer, but it actually shortens its lifespan.
“The fridge is the fastest way to stale bread,” Griggs tells PEOPLE.
Cold temperature speeds up retrogradation — the process that makes bread go stale — so your bread will last much longer if stored at room temperature.
“Leave it on your counter or in the pantry for the week and put it in your freezer for longer preservation,” she adds.
05
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Tomatoes
Tomatoes ripen best at room temperature, so leave them on the counter rather than in the fridge.
Storing tomatoes in cold temperatures will slow down the ripening process and can “reduce their flavor and aroma,” Salge Blake says.
If your tomatoes aren’t fully ripe, avoid the fridge altogether. “However, if you have a surplus of ripened tomatoes, storing them in the refrigerator will help slow down their decay,” she notes.
Trout adds that the starches in tomatoes can also cause them to become grainy or mushy at cold temperatures, and taste can be affected by other items in the fridge, too (like onions, for example).
“Tomatoes can pick up flavors from lipid oxidation from other dairy, meat or vegetable products stored nearby over time,” she says.
06
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Onions
Onions can go soft and moldy in the fridge — but even worse they can also “flavor” other foods in there, according to Trout.
In the fridge, onions can pass their aromas on to other foods nearby. “This is particularly true of sliced or diced onions that have more surface area to release volatile flavor compounds,” she tells PEOPLE.
To prevent that, and to stop your onions from spoiling quickly, store them in a cool, dark place like a pantry. And if you do put them in the fridge, make sure they’re in an airtight container.
07
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Potatoes
Colder temperature can change the composition of potatoes, converting some starch into sugars, says Trout. “This makes them slightly sweeter, but also grainy,” she adds.
To keep your potatoes fresh and prevent spoiling, store them in a cool, dark place, like a pantry, cabinet or kitchen drawer — not the fridge.
08
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Chocolate
Storing chocolate in the fridge can impact its taste and texture, so it’s best to store the sweet treat in a cool place at room temp, between 50 and 70 degrees.
Often, you can tell when chocolate has been affected by colder temperatures.
“Chocolate contains fats that recrystallize at cold temperatures, impacting the texture. Sometimes these fats separate and appear as a ‘bloom,’ or lighter, whitish, powdery spots on the chocolate,” says Trout.
Those white spots or “blooms” on refrigerated chocolate aren’t unsafe to eat, but you can prevent them — and retain the chocolate’s best texture — by avoiding refrigeration.
09
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Unripe bananas
Like most other produce, bananas can ripen slower when refrigerated or exposed to colder temperatures. Not only that, but their taste will be affected, too.
“Unripened bananas taste starchy. When they ripened at room temperature, the enzymes in the fruit break down the starch into sweet, natural sugars,” says Salge Blake.
By putting bananas in the fridge, you prevent them from ripening naturally. They “end up less sweet and tasting mealy,” she tells PEOPLE.
However, if your goal is to prevent bananas from overripening, putting ripe bananas in the fridge can stop them from getting too soft or mushy.
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