Don’t Store Any of These Foods in Your Pantry

Having a pantry is great, especially if you live in a smaller home where space is at a premium. According to real estate studies, somewhere between 81% and 85% of homebuyers want a pantry in their home.

While walk-in pantries are more like an extra closet in your kitchen, other pantries are essentially large cabinets with shelves in them. Regardless of how big your pantry is, not having to clutter your counters with snacks and kitchen accessories is a great way to make your home neater and more functional.

What many people don’t realize is that there are some foods you shouldn’t put in the pantry. Since these parts of your home don’t get a lot of ventilation, there are several foods that aren’t safe in the pantry.

Knowing which foods you shouldn’t store in the pantry is an important part of practicing food safety in your home. Find out more today.

Bread

Bread is definitely a kitchen staple, and it’s easy to assume that you can put the twist tie around the end of the loaf and toss it in the pantry to keep it out of the way.

However, if you want to maintain your bread’s freshness, it’s a good idea to avoid stashing it in the pantry. If you live in an area with a warmer client, it’s much easier for bread to grow mold on it if you put it in a dark pantry with no ventilation.

Since most pantries don’t get ventilation, the darkness and humidity are the perfect recipe for mold to grow. It’s also easy for bread to absorb the odors of other food in the pantry, which can completely change its flavor.

One of the best ways to keep your bread fresh and mold-free is to put it in a designated container and leave it on the counter.

Onions

There are going to be several fruits and vegetables on our list of foods that you shouldn’t keep in the pantry, starting with onions.

Onions need a dry, cool environment to maintain their freshness, which makes pantries a terrible storage option. Onions that are stored in a dry, warm environment are more likely to get soft and sprout.

When moisture builds up in the onion, which is likely to happen in a small, closed pantry, the rotting process speeds up. This is why grocery stores typically sell onions either individually or in a mesh bag.

Potatoes

Much like onions, a lot of stores put their potatoes in a mesh bag when selling them. Even if they don’t, you’ll notice that plastic bags containing potatoes at your grocery store have several holes punched in the plastic. This is because potatoes go bad so quickly when they get moist.

Warm temperatures also cause potatoes to sprout and spoil fast, which is why you need to be so careful when storing them.

Potatoes and onions should never be stored close together, largely because of the gasses that they release. The gas released by potatoes makes onions spoil faster, and the inverse is true. Keeping these two items apart in your kitchen is a crucial part of kitchen safety.

In some instances, potatoes that spoil can release solanine, which is a toxin that can make you sick if you eat the potato. Typically, potatoes that are in this stage of ruin release a strong odor, so you’ll probably be able to notice before consuming.

Tomatoes

The next addition to our list of foods that you shouldn’t put in the pantry is tomatoes. Warmer temperatures make tomatoes ripen quickly, which is why farmers around the nation know about the importance of getting them off the vine as soon as they’re ready to be harvested.

Keeping your tomatoes out of the pantry helps them keep their rich flavor for as long as possible.

Typically, you should keep them on the counter, and out of direct sunlight. When they reach full ripeness, stick your tomatoes in the refrigerator to buy yourself an extra few days if you’re not immediately ready to eat them.

Even if your tomatoes don’t go bad in the pantry, there’s a chance of them ripening unevenly. This means that some parts of the tomato aren’t ripe while others parts get past the point of ripeness and become ruined. This impacts the texture and the taste, making them largely inedible.

If you do decide to put your tomatoes in the refrigerator before eating them, be sure to let them get to room temperature before use to get the most flavor.

Oils

While not technically food in the sense that you don’t want to eat it on its own, oil is an item that you shouldn’t store in your pantry. This is especially true of less-refined oils like walnut oil or olive oil.

Excess heat and exposure to air can make your oils oxidize, which leads to them degrading and becoming rancid.

Typically, your oil should be in a dark space, as light can harm it, but that doesn’t mean the pantry is a good choice. Instead, try to keep your oil in a space that stays pretty cool, even the refrigerator.

Different types of oil require different storage, but virtually all of them are better off if they’re kept in a cool, dark space.

Light and heat speed up the breakdown of fats in the oil, which damages the taste and the smell. If you invest in high-quality oils, you’ll probably notice a sticker on the bottle encouraging you to refrigerate it, but be sure to check, as some oils get thick when they’re cold.

This doesn’t mean that your oil is ruined, but it does mean that you should let them get to room temperature before using them.

Chocolate

On the surface, it seems obvious that you don’t want to store your chocolate in a space that gets too warm and humid because it will melt.

However, that’s only part of the reason to avoid putting chocolate in your pantry. When chocolate is subjected to temperature changes, it can develop a white film-like coating known as “bloom.”

Bloom comes from the cocoa butter separating from the chocolate, which changes the taste and texture. Chocolate also easily absorbs other flavors and scents because of its “soft” nature, which makes it important to keep it as far away from other items as possible.

Bloom is harmless, so if you eat a piece of chocolate with that white coating, you’re not in any sort of danger. However, the chocolate becomes less smooth and creamy and also loses some of its sweetness.

Typically, you should try to keep your chocolate as cool as possible, even putting it in the refrigerator if your home gets especially hot during the summer.

Seeds and Nuts

Even though they’re considered staple snack foods in millions of homes, seeds and nuts just don’t belong in the pantry. These products have healthy oils, and in the same way that oil can become rancid in the pantry, so can your nuts and seeds.

Typically, it’s best to keep your nuts and seeds in an airtight container that you keep in the refrigerator, or even in the freezer if you have a large quantity.

This helps keep them fresh for months and helps them maintain their crunchy texture and savory taste.

Being Safe and Being Smart

Food safety isn’t just about how you cook your food. It also includes how you store it.

By knowing which foods to keep out of the pantry, you can not only help your food stay fresh for as long as possible, but you can make sure it’s safe for you and your loved ones to eat.