The average Australian household throws out 20 per cent of the food they purchase every year and one of the culprits is fruit and vegetables going bad.

Wasting food is as bad for our wallets as it is bad for the environment. So how can we keep produce fresh longer? If the products you’re buying aren’t lasting more than a couple of days, you might be storing incompatible fruits and vegetables together.

And by incompatible we mean that you don’t want to keep those fruits or veggies with high levels of ripening agent ethylene gas together as one bad apple really can spoil the whole bunch.

Here’s a list of foods you may have been storing incorrectly all this time, and where you should be putting them:

Apples – Fridge (3 weeks)

Asparagus – Fridge (3 days with trimmed ends)

Avocados – Fridge (3 days once ripe)

Bananas – Pantry (5 days once almost ripe)

Blueberries – Fridge (1 week)

Broccoli – Fridge (1 week)

Brussels sprouts – Fridge (1 week)

Green and red cabbage – Fridge (2 weeks)

Rockmelon – Fridge (5 days whole; 3 days cut)

Carrots – Fridge (2 weeks)

Cauliflower – Fridge (1 week)

Celery – Fridge (2 weeks)

Cucumbers – Fridge (5 days)

Garlic – Pantry (2 months)

Ginger – Fridge (3 weeks) or can be frozen for 6 months

Grapes – Fridge (1 week)

Herb bunches – Fridge (3 days wrapped in paper towel)

Lemons – Fridge (3 weeks)

Lettuce – Fridge (5 days)

Mangoes – Fridge (5 days)

Mushrooms – Fridge (1 week in paper bag)

Onions – Pantry (2 months whole; 4 days cut in fridge)

Oranges – Fridge (2 weeks)

Peaches – Fridge (5 days)

Pears – Fridge (5 days)

Pineapple – Pantry (5 days)

Plums – Fridge (5 days)