Food Storage Tips {Best Containers, Storing Produce}

Here are the best meal prep containers and food storage tips to keep your food fresh – plus, a free meal prep plan to put them into practice!

Food storage

Groceries can be expensive, so you want to make sure you’re getting the longest shelf life out of all your food! With the right prep and storage, you can make your ingredients last even longer. I rounded up my top tips for how to properly store your food including my favourite storage containers.

As a bonus, I even included a free ingredient prep plan so you can put your new food storage tricks to good use! You’ll prep all your ingredients at the beginning of the week and store them in the fridge until you’re ready to cook.

Food storage containers

Keeping your food fresh for longer all comes down to how you store it. I suggest investing in some quality food storage containers – they’ll make your food last longer and your weekly meal prep easier. As a bonus, your fridge will look so much prettier and organized!

I recommend getting an assortment of containers of different sizes with lids like this Anchor Hocking set. You may want to purchase two sets, including one with smaller containers. This way, you have a variety of sizes to store all different types of ingredients and the lids ensure the food stays fresh all week long.

You can also use plastic or silicone freezer bags. I love the Stasher brand – you just squeeze all of the air out of them before storing things like chopped up veggies or cooked rice or quinoa. They're great for saving space in the fridge/freezer.

I also like using mason jars of different sizes to store sauces, dressings and marinades.

Here's some other equipment you might need for the recipes or for your pantry:

• Grab some glass meal prep bowls to store meal leftovers
• Get the OXO Good Grips 20-Piece POP Container Set
• Get my full list of food storage containers

How to store produce

All you need are some glass containers with lids. I recommend glass because they hold up better and keep food fresher than plastic.

The right meal plan and prep ahead checklist also helps because you are using up prepped ingredients in the order in which they are going to go bad quickest. For example, in the meal plan I give you in this blog post, you only keep chopped lettuce in the fridge for 1 day before using it.

In this blog post I've given you an example meal plan along with a prep ahead checklist that will enable you to store all of your produce correctly so that it doesn't go bad. Keep reading to find the meal plan after these produce storage tips.

Here are my top produce storage tips:

• Store romaine lettuce whole (don't chop it up) until a day or two before you go to use it. Any chopped lettuce should be stored in a Ziploc or silicone Stasher bag with all the air squeezed out
• Generally, all other washed and chopped veggies including cabbage, sweet potatoes, peppers, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, etc will last up to 5 or 6 days in the fridge when stored in a glass container with a lid
• Store diced potatoes in a glass container with a lid, but store them in water so they don't turn brown
• Store cut up apples the same way, in a glass container in water so they don't turn brown
• Store opened avocados in a Ziploc or silicone Stasher bag with all the air squeezed out; you can sprinkle some lemon or lime juice overtop to help avoid browning
• Store fresh herbs in a glass full of water with a plastic or reusable bag overtop to extend the shelf life to two weeks
• Add a wet paper towel overtop of spinach, arugula and other greens

Here's the meal plan

Monday night: Peanut Chicken Bowls

Tuesday night: Scallop Tacos with Pineapple Salsa

Wednesday night: Hibachi Chicken

Thursday night: Wendy's Taco Salad

Friday night: Leftovers/quick meal/out

Watch my YouTube video to see how to make these recipes

The ingredient prep ahead plan

Follow this prep ahead plan on Sunday in the order in which everything is listed. You will then pull your prepped ingredients out for each night's recipe and cook the recipe fresh. This will cut your nightly cooking time to just 15 or 20 minutes each night!

If you're enjoying this meal prep plan and want another free one, download it here. 

Grains

1. Make the rice for the hibachi chicken by adding 1 cup of rice, 1 1/2 cups of water, 1 pinch of salt and 1 tsp butter to a rice cooker or pot on the stove and cooking until the liquid has absorbed. Let cool for about an hour, then transfer to a container or add the rice cooker container right into the fridge.

Sauces

1. Mix together 1/2 cup light mayo, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp rice vinegar and 1 tbsp dijon mustard in a small container or mason jar. Store in the fridge for the Hibachi Chicken.
2. Mix together 1/3 cup peanut butter, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp lime juice, 1 tbsp honey, 1 tsp dried ginger and 1/4 cup water in a small container or mason jar for the Peanut Chicken sauce.

Veggies

1. Peel and slice 1 carrot, 1 cup mushrooms, chop 1 yellow onion and chop 1 zucchini, storing all in a large container for the Hibachi Chicken.
2. Mince 8 cloves of garlic for the Hibachi Chicken. Store half in a small container for the fried rice, and the other half will go in the chicken marinade.
3. Slice 4 green onions, storing in a small container for the fried rice component of the Hibachi Chicken.
4. Slice 1 cup red cabbage, 1 red pepper and 1 cup of romaine lettuce for the Peanut Chicken. Store cabbage and red pepper in a medium to large sized container, then store lettuce in a reusable bag, squeezing out all the air.
5. Slice 1 cup red cabbage for the Scallop Tacos, and 1 jalapeno pepper. Store both in a medium sized container.
6. Dice 1 cup pineapple, 1/2 a red pepper and 1 small red onion. Mix in a medium-sized bowl with 1 tbsp lime juice, 2 tbsp chopped cilantro and 1/2 tsp salt for the pineapple salsa to be used in the Scallop Tacos.
7. Mash 1 avocado in a small to medium-sized container, then mix with 1 clove minced garlic, 2 tsp lime juice and a pinch of salt.
8. Dice 2 small yellow onions, 3 stalks of celery and mince 2 cloves of garlic, storing all together in a medium-sized container for the Wendy's taco salad.

Proteins

1. Cut 1 lb chicken breasts into 1 inch pieces and add to a medium-sized container. Add 1 tbsp sesame oil, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp hoisin sauce, 4 cloves of minced garlic and 1 tsp minced ginger. Stir, then store in the fridge for the Hibachi Chicken.
2. Cut 1 lb chicken breasts into 1 inch pieces and add to a medium-sized container for the Peanut Chicken.

If you're enjoying this meal prep plan and want another free one, download it here.