This Repurposed IKEA Item Is Perfect For Organizing And Keeping Produce Fresh

For the MacGyver-minded homemaker, white IKEA DRÖNJÖNS wastepaper basket is more than just a bin for your home office. It's a bonafide hack to expand your kitchen storage by serving as a handy container for your farmers' market haul. Its ability to keep fruits and vegetables fresh comes from its mesh construction. Produce does better when it has just the right combination of breathing space and moisture. This is why vegetables like onions are stored in mesh bags. The breathable design of mesh is what makes this IKEA basket the perfect place to store produce. 

The reason for this can be described in one word: ethylene. It's a word that sounds suspiciously like ethanol, and while it does have something to do with gas, it's not the kind of liquid gas that you put in your car. It's a plant hormone gas released by fruits and vegetables that causes them to ripen. Fruits and vegetables that release the gas, like apples and tomatoes, ripen faster if they're stored in a sealed container. The gas gets trapped inside, speeding up the ripening process. Some products, such as eggplants and watermelons, are more sensitive to ethylene than others when they're exposed to it, so it's important to store them correctly for lasting freshness. 

This $10 wastepaper basket from IKEA allows you to organize all the produce in your home on a budget. Its mesh design limits exposure to ethylene and keeps your groceries crisp for longer. At a height of nearly 14 inches and width of 10 inches, it's plenty big to stash all kinds of fruits and veggies.

While this storage solution may be simple, there are some tips to be mindful of to keep your products fresh. It's important to know which fruits and vegetables are suitable to store in an IKEA mesh basket, and where to place it in your kitchen. Some types of produce are happiest in the fridge, while others do best at room temperature. Some bulb vegetables and tubers, like onions, potatoes, and garlic, love mesh containers. If you have a dark and cool spot like a basement, garage, or root cellar, this is an ideal place for your IKEA produce basket, not the refrigerator. However, if you live in a smaller space, consider placing the basket in a closed cabinet or large drawer to limit light exposure. 

Tomatoes, on the other hand, should be stored in a cool-to-room temperature spot where they can get plenty of circulation. You can store them on the kitchen counter in a mesh container until they're ripe, and then transfer them to the fridge. Pro tip: place a small strip of tape over the stem to keep tomatoes fresh for longer. 

Finally, some fruits, like apples, should be stored all by their lonesome, away from all other fruits and vegetables. As ethylene producers, these fruits will not only go bad quicker if stored the wrong way, but they will also affect other nearby fruit that is ethylene-sensitive. Apples last the longest in the chilled environment of the fridge, but if you buy apples in bulk, you may have to go with the root cellar route. Wrapping each apple up in paper provides the breathability and protection they need to stay crisp and delish. Of the many budget-friendly IKEA items that will keep your kitchen clutter free, the versatility of this IKEA mesh basket makes it an absolute must-have.