We are on a big banana kick in our house these days. I love them sliced with a little peanut butter on half an English Muffin. It gives me just enough energy to get through my morning workouts. My girls love bananas on their cereal and my husband makes pancakes on the weekends for the little ladies so bananas are usually mashed up inside or chopped up on top.
But the one thing I hate about bananas is that they always seem to go bad so fast! Here is what my kitchen counter looked like this morning and I just bought those bananas 2 days ago!
BOO!
So I Googled around a bit and found some tips to keep your bananas fresh for longer:
- Separate the bananas when you get home and that should make a big difference.
- Once the bananas hit perfect ripeness on your counter, pop them in a paper bag and put them in the fridge. Hopefully you get a few extra days of life out of them. (Note: the peel will turn black but the banana itself will be fine.)
- You can also look to buy bananas that are slightly green at the ends- those are not quite ripe yet so you have a few extra days.
- Don’t store your bananas with apples or tomatoes- the gases from those fruits make bananas go bad faster.
- Place your bananas in a tight plastic bag and keep them room temperature. A produce bag is perfect.
So those are some tips to keep your bananas looking great. Once your bananas start to get mushy like mine are above, you can just peel them and slice (or keep them whole) and pop into a freezer bag. They work perfectly for pancakes, smoothies, muffins, banana bread etc…
I learned the hard way not to freeze them in the peel because it is near impossible to get that peel off once it is frozen.
I think I might separate my next bunch of bananas in half and test these methods to see if they make a difference.
**If you are interested in more tips you can read how to pick the best cherries here.
Sources: Livestrong.com
I started separating mine a couple of months ago & I definitely think it helps.
I refrigerate my bananas and it works great. Like you said the peels turn brown, but I have found that the fruit will stay good for a week or two!!
I use those Debbie Meyer green bags. They really work!!! I can keep bananas for at least a week now. Mine used to get just like yours. The only problem is they don’t look so pretty all stuffed in a bag on the counter… 🙁
Karen,
I did read the banana hangers and those bags can help I just wanted to find things that wouldn’t cost any money :). I might look for those bags though if these tips don’t make a difference!
separating totally works. will have to try keeping them away from the apples, maybe they will last even longer.
Oooh! Thanks! I JUST had a bunch go bad pretty much overnight.
I read on Pinterest (so take that for what’s its worth) that if you wrap the crown on a bunch of bananas with plastic wrap they are supposed to last 3-5 days longer.
Thanks so much! My husband is a banana fanatic and I always try to stock up when they are on sale, but they always go bad too quickly.
I buy enough bananas to last a week in my house. I get half on the greener side and the other half will be on the firmer side of ripe. The ripe ones will be in a bowl with the other fruit (including apples) within eye sight to tempt us to eat them. The green half is kept separate in another bowl in a corner. That works for us. Keeping them with apples do make them ripen faster per our experience.
I like all the banana tips!
I’d like to add — (1) Keep mushrooms in a paper bag in ‘fridge. They seem to last longer. (2) To speed-up the ripening of kiwi, plum, peach, enclose them inside a paper bag w/ one banana. Clip the bag closed. Leave on counter. The banana emits something which hastens the softening/ripening of those fruits.
separating them really does work and keep away from apples etc. once they get too ripe for me i wrap one in a kitchen towel. the peel doesnt turn dark for a few days…otherwise i freeze them. i read recently about wrapping the stems in plastic. i havent tried that one yet.
http://lifehacker.com/5967424/keep-bananas-fresh-longer-by-separating-them-and-wrapping-the-stems-in-plastic-wrap
If I see that bananas are browning faster than they are getting eaten, I just stick them in the freezer (peeling and all) for smoothies or to make ice cream. That way they are not wasted. Frozen bananas are so much better in smoothies. You just run the banana under warm water for a couple seconds then peel with a paring knife.