Should potatoes and onions be stored together? Is ketchup best kept in the fridge or at room temperature? It’s not always easy to know how and where to store food to keep it at its best. To make things a little less confusing, we’ve rounded up our best tips and hacks for smarter food storage. From preserving fresh herbs to stashing rice safely, here are our top methods for fresher food and less waste.

Click or scroll through our gallery to pick up some handy food storage hacks – counting down to our most useful tip of all.

Labels on bottles of soy sauce may state that it should be refrigerated, but restaurants often leave the condiment on tables all day. The truth? The sauce's high salt content means it can be stored at room temperature for up to six months. Save space in your fridge for sauces that do need to be kept cold instead.

You might be surprised to find out that dates are best stored in the fridge, despite the fact that other dried fruits are fine in the cupboard. This is because dates aren't as dehydrated as other dried fruits like cranberries and apricots. As they still hold a bit of moisture, it's best to keep them cool in an airtight container to preserve their flavour. If you store them outside the fridge, they'll become dry and lose their taste. 

Put pure maple syrup in the fridge if you want to keep it fresh. It might seem like the sugar will prevent it from spoiling if you leave it out, but pure syrup has no preservatives – and it'll develop a layer of mould on its surface if kept at room temperature. Unless you’re using it up quickly, you’re better off keeping it in the fridge.

One of the best ways to freeze eggs is scrambled, because the mixed-in yolks prevent the whites from becoming too rubbery. Cook your eggs until they're slightly underdone, allow them to cool, then freeze portions in a cupcake tin for no longer than half an hour. Remove the eggs, then put them into individual freezer bags, squeezing out any air before closing. Allow your scrambled eggs to defrost in the fridge overnight before reheating them in the microwave or a frying pan.

Cooked pancakes can be frozen for a couple of months. To store, allow them to cool down, put greaseproof paper between each one, then wrap them tightly in cling film. You can reheat your pancakes from frozen in a microwave, the oven or a toaster – just keep an eye on them so they don't burn or go too crispy.

Cakes freeze well and can be kept for several months in the freezer, ready to be defrosted when you really want a treat – or if you’re hosting friends and family. However, icing made with egg whites can separate if frozen and defrosted. This can and will ruin a cake, so stick with freezing the cake before you ice it, and make the icing fresh when you’re ready to serve.

Potatoes have a high water content – and if they're frozen, that water freezes, causing ice crystals to form. This affects the taste and texture of the potatoes once thawed. One way around the problem is to part-cook or completely cook your potatoes before freezing them; however, it’s generally better to avoid freezing potatoes at all.

Soft herbs like basil, coriander, mint, parsley and dill should be treated like bunches of flowers – trim the stems and keep them in a glass with fresh water. If confined to the fridge, the leaves will wilt and become soggy quickly. However, hard herbs such as rosemary, thyme, sage and oregano should be wrapped in a paper towel and stored in an airtight container in the fridge crisper drawer.

Rather than storing them in the fridge, let your peaches and other stone fruit ripen at room temperature. They’ll ripen more quickly out in the open, so you can tuck in sooner – and, despite popular belief, they’re also less likely to spoil out on a worktop than they are when stored in the fridge. However, once they’re ready to eat, you can help them last a little longer by refrigerating them.

Cauliflower and broccoli, both types of brassica, are happier when kept away from ethylene-producing fruit and vegetables such as apples, melons and tomatoes. They’re sensitive to the damaging gas, which could cause them to decay faster. They already have a short shelf life, but if you store them away from other fresh produce in the fridge, they’ll keep for up to five days.

Avoid the bread-tearing nuisance of fridge-cold butter by storing your butter in a covered dish on your worktop. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), it’s safe to leave butter out for a day or two. You can extend its life by keeping it in a cooler place, though, especially in the summer months. Another option is to use a butter bell (also called a butter crock or keeper). With butter in the top and water in the bottom half, the butter is sealed off from the air, meaning it can last longer while remaining perfectly spreadable.

As long as you haven't contaminated the jar with a dirty spoon, the preservatives used in manufactured pickles mean they should last just fine in the cupboard, freeing up precious fridge space. Make sure the lid is tight and check the use-by date (and any specific instructions on the label). However, if you're storing fermented pickles – or if you've pickled your own vegetables – these are best kept in the fridge.

Aubergines don't need to be kept in the fridge – but be careful not to leave them somewhere too warm, or they'll shrivel up. It's important to find a happy medium if you want to get the best from this ingredient; house them in a cool, dark place away from direct sunlight.

Cucumbers are especially sensitive to ethylene, a gas produced by some fruits, so unless you want to see accelerated decay and yellowing, keep them as far away as possible from any other fruits and vegetables. They also won't last very long in the fridge – only up to six days – so make sure you only buy what you need (and use it up quickly).

Fans of baked beans often find themselves struggling to get the last few stragglers out of the tin. If you want the beans and sauce to come tumbling out without too much encouragement, there’s one little trick that can help: just turn the can upside down when you store it in the cupboard. The contents will settle to the bottom (or rather, the top) so when you pull the tab and open it up, everything will pour out smoothly.

Eggs frozen in their shells will explode because liquid expands as it becomes solid. However, you can freeze raw egg whites if you've ended up with extra after making a custard (or anything else requiring yolks but no whites). Just add a sprinkle of salt or sugar to prevent the eggs from turning rubbery – and ensure there’s enough space in the container for the eggs to expand slightly when frozen.

Pumpkins and other types of squash might be hardy on the outside, but they're very susceptible to the ethylene gas produced by fruit. Keep them apart, and your pumpkins (as well as both summer and winter squashes) will keep for significantly longer. Pumpkins can last as long as three months in the pantry, if stored on their own.

Cucumber, lettuce, radishes and salad greens have a high water content, which causes them to turn limp and mushy when defrosted. As such, it’s best not to freeze any salad ingredients. However, while it’s best to buy and eat fresh, there are a couple of tricks that can help salad last a little longer in the fridge. When you open a bag of salad but don’t use it all, try putting some kitchen roll in the packet. It should help keep the leaves fresh by soaking up any excess moisture.

No one wants a stale cookie, and freshly baked ones don’t last too long. Fortunately, it isn't hard to keep them fresh; just store them in an airtight container and pop a slice of bread in with them. The moisture contained within the bread should help to soften up the cookies – and it can even bring a batch of stale cookies back to life.

Flour typically comes in paper bags, which you would hope are suitable for storage. But, while they’re fine for a while, it’s better to decant your flour into something else to store it long term. Using an airtight container to store your flour will keep moisture out, preventing mould. Plus, it'll deter any tiny bugs that could possibly move in.

Hard cheese dries out quickly if left exposed in the fridge. As soon as you’ve opened the original packaging, you’re likely to start seeing dry patches that need to be cut away – a tragic waste of good cheese. However, taking a little time to protect cheese thoroughly will solve the problem. Wrap it in a breathable cover, such as a wax wrap, then put it in an airtight container. It will stay moist and tasty, and the container will help prevent the smell of cheese from permeating the rest of your fridge.

Ever dealt with clumpy brown sugar or sticky white sugar? Both problems are associated with one thing: moisture. Soft brown sugar needs to stay moist, while white sugar should stay dry. If the balance is off, it'll affect the quality of both the sugar and anything you bake with it. The solution for both problems is the same: pour your sugar into an airtight container, and it'll lock the moisture in or out.

Although there’s some debate around where ketchup should be stored, most people will agree that mayonnaise belongs in the fridge. However, the question is, where in the fridge should it go? Put your mayonnaise too far back and it could get too cold, affecting its consistency and flavour – and maybe even causing it to separate. To keep it chilled but prevent it from getting too cold, put the bottle or jar in the fridge door.

Don’t bother with solid containers if you want to freeze soups, stews or sauces – they take up too much space. Use freezer bags instead, which are more compact. If you find it tricky to transfer liquids into freezer bags, look for pouches that stand up. You’ll be able to pour the liquid in with less mess and still squash them flat for convenient storage.

Made too much batter? Don’t discard it – it can be kept in an airtight container in the freezer for up to a month. Alternatively, freeze it in a zip-lock bag, so you can lay it flat and save space. Defrost your batter thoroughly before using it. Note that this trick doesn't work for all types of batter; cake batter that contains whipped egg whites won't survive the freezing process.

If you have any offcuts left over from baking, store it for later instead of wasting it. Dough and raw pastry can both be frozen – all you need to do is wrap it tightly in cling film. Fresh yeast and yeasted dough that's already risen (and even been shaped) can be frozen too. When you’re ready to use your dough or pastry, thaw it in the fridge overnight.

Separate onions and potatoes, and they'll last for up to a month in your pantry. These two vegetables have similar shelf life and storage requirements, so you might be tempted to store them together; however, they’re better off in their own spaces. Onions produce a small amount of ethylene gas, which has a very significant effect on potatoes. If exposed to it, spuds will start to sprout and can even grow a decay-causing fungus. It's worth noting that it's fine to store garlic with onions, though.

Like fresh herbs, asparagus will last longer if you treat it like fresh flowers. When you get your asparagus home, trim off the bottom and put it in a vase or glass of water. Protect the tips by loosely wrapping a plastic bag or some cling film around them, then store the asparagus in the fridge until you’re ready to use it. It'll stay hydrated and keep its snap instead of going limp.

Carrots are quite hardy and will last for up to three weeks if refrigerated. To help them realise their full potential, keep them away from ethylene-producing produce such as apples, potatoes and tomatoes, which could cause them to develop a bitter taste. Keeping them in airtight or vacuum-sealed bags can help them last even longer.

Storing cooked rice in the fridge or freezer isn't a complete no-no, but you have to be aware of the risks. When left at room temperature, cooked rice becomes a breeding ground for bacillus cereus – a type of bacteria that causes food poisoning – so it’s important to avoid. If you do want to keep rice, make sure it cools quickly, refrigerate it as soon as possible and keep it in the fridge for no longer than a day. When reheating it, make sure it’s heated thoroughly and piping hot throughout.

The leaves of root vegetables don’t need to go to waste, but they should be stored separately from the roots. Left intact, the leafy part of the vegetable will leach moisture from the roots, drying them out. Cut off the tops of your vegetables and store them separately to make the most of both. They’ll need to be cooked differently too, so it makes sense to store them apart.

One way to preserve produce – especially watery vegetables such as tomatoes, courgettes and green beans, which can go soggy – is to turn them into a healthy sauce. These sauces can then be frozen, defrosted and cooked when required. Ratatouille and vegetable-packed tomato sauce are two great options.

If you don’t want to throw out surplus nuts, try freezing them instead. Freezing both nuts and seeds in an airtight container will preserve them for longer, and you can keep them for several months until you’re ready to eat them. Avoid leaving them in a cupboard or out on a worktop for extended periods if you don’t want them to go stale.

Warm temperatures, around 15–20°C (59–68°F), are needed for bananas to ripen correctly, so store them outside of the fridge for the best results. Not only will you get ripe bananas faster, but storing bananas outside of the fridge will also help to prevent them from going black – a phenomenon caused by the cell damage that occurs when bananas are kept at cold temperatures.

When you’re working through a loaf of bread, it’s best to keep it in a bread bin to ensure it stays fresh. Bread freezes beautifully too, though, so the freezer is a great choice for loaves that you want to keep for longer. A spare loaf in the freezer can really come in handy for busy or lazy days, or when you can’t get to the shops. Plus, if it takes you a while to get through a loaf, you can take out and defrost individual slices as and when you need them.

Apples are among the few fruits that benefit from refrigeration. This is because apples release ethylene gas, which speeds up the ripening of any nearby fruit and vegetables. If kept in the fridge, apples' production of ethylene is slowed down, making them (and other fruit) last longer. Just make sure you don't keep the apples with other vegetables – and do cover them with a damp paper towel, or store them in a plastic bag with holes.

When recipes call for just a few sprigs or leaves of a herb, you can be left with the remainder of a packet (and no idea what to do with it). Rather than forgetting about them until they go bad, you can freeze leftover herbs to use later. Ice cube trays work well for this – chop your herbs finely, freeze them in either water or oil, then pop them out and store them in a bag to save space.

In the US, eggs are sterilised after production to kill bacteria, which also weakens the eggshell. This means they should be kept cool to prevent the bacteria from returning. In most of Europe, disinfecting eggs is illegal, and the EU recommends that eggs are kept cool but not refrigerated. In a cool kitchen, they should be perfectly fine on a worktop or in a cupboard.

They might seem delicate, but tomatoes are perfectly happy sitting out in your kitchen. Putting them on the counter or worktop keeps them both tasty and in clear sight, so you’re less likely to forget about them until they go bad. The cold temperatures of a fridge damage tomato membranes, resulting in watery, mealy tomatoes with less flavour, so keep them at room temperature instead.

Potatoes fare best in a cool, dark place. Store them unwashed and in a well-ventilated spot well away from any sunlight, and they'll last for months. If possible, keep them in a burlap sack or a wicker basket for extra protection. Avoid keeping them in the fridge, where the cold can turn their starch into sugar, leaving them discoloured and bland.

Whether ketchup should be stored in the fridge or in the store cupboard is somewhat of a contentious question. While it would be safe to assume that it's safe to store ketchup at room temperature due to its high vinegar, salt and sugar content, this isn't exactly the case. Heinz has confirmed that thanks to its natural acidity, Heinz Ketchup is shelf stable. However, as soon as you've opened your bottle, the storage conditions can affect that stability. "We recommend that this product, like any processed food, be refrigerated after opening," says Heinz.

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Last updated by Laura Ellis.