12 Foods You Shouldn't Put in the Fridge

Living in the UAE, our natural instinct is to shove all of our beloved foods and ingredients into the fridge for safe-keeping and protection from the heat.

Especially for those of us who leave our homes for long periods of time per day, without leaving the A/C on, things can get a little too warm in the house throughout the day. And so it's understandable that we want to throw everything into our refridgerator to keep them cool.

Nonetheless, when it comes to certain foods, doing this is actually detrimental to their taste and expiration dates.

To help you out, here's some examples of the foods that you should NOT store in the fridge, and where to keep them instead.

1. Fresh herbs
Unless you wrap them up real tight, or put them into an air-tight container, you shouldn't refrigerate your herbs. They absorb smells around them, which makes it impossible for them to return to their original flavour for cooking.

2. Tomatoes
The big problem with storing tomatoes in your fridge is that the cold air makes their texture go mealy and mushy. Which is never good!

3. Oils
While this isn't necessarily classified as a food so much as a food ingredient, nonetheless, putting oils in the fridge can leave them with a stodgy, butter-spread-like consistency. Especially your average olive and coconut oils, which solidify at cool temperatures, which can take a while for them to liquidfy again.

4. Coffee
Coffee should never be stored in or near your fridge, whether it's ground or in bean form. You see, coffee is practically a sponge, so when there's smells around it it will begin to absorb them. Epsecially in your fridge, and you'll lose its flavour because of it. Plus, the cold moisture in your fridge will soften the coffee, which basically desaturates the flavour right out of the bean.

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5. Potatoes
Your trusty spuds should be given a dark, cool and dry space for storage. Remove them from their plastic or paper bags, and keep them unwashed in a well-ventilated cardboard box.

6. Onions
Store unpeeled onions in a cool, dry, well-ventilated location - like with your potatoes! Unpeeled onions need air exposure to help them fulfill their optimum shelf life, so remove them from their plastic bags, too. However, if peeled, you should keep them in the fridge in a covered container.

7. Bananas
Depending on how ripe you like your bananas will determine whether to stick them in the fridge or not. The cold temperature of your refridgerator slows down the ripening process. 

8. Avocado
When you purchase avocados from the store, you'll often find they're completely solid and almost stone-hard, therefore it'll need a long time to ripen properly and taste great. By putting them in the fridge, like your bananas, their ripening process will be slowed considerably.

9. Honey
This one shouldn't be put in the fridge simply because in cooler temperatures, you'll increase the speed of its sugar crystallisation, which turns it into a thick, almost dough-like form which is considerably difficult to scoop out. 

10. Garlic
Your garlic will go off pretty quickly when left in the fridge, as it'll grow mold and go rubbery-soft. What makes it worse is that the look on the outside rarely changes, so you won't know until you come to slicing some up for your dish.

SEE ALSO: 6 ways to drink more water every day

11. Melon
Until it's cut open, leave the melon fruit out of the fridge. In fact, by leaving your melons out in the open, the room temperature will actually help to keep the antioxidant levels intact. 

12. Breads
The only time you should refrigerate bread is when it's in sandwich form, with a filling or something. The cold temperatures make bread incredibly tough, chewy and it can become stale more quickly.