4 Easy Ways to Stop Bananas From Browning

While bananas are an inexpensive fruit and perfect for a healthy, on-the-go snack, they often tend to brown shortly after you buy them. Despite the fact that my family loves them in smoothies, bread, or just by themselves, we've still thrown out far too many bananas over the years that have ripened faster than we could eat them. I cringed at the waste, so after a little research, I now have a few tricks I use to keep bananas around a little longer.

1. Mix Up Your Bag. As a preventative measure, make sure to buy a few yellow bananas that are ready to eat as well as a few very green bananas that still need time to ripen.
2. Block Out Light. To preserve your bananas that are already ripe, simply place a kitchen towel over the ones that you don't want to ripen anymore. By protecting the bananas from natural sunlight, it ups their shelf life by a few more days.
3. Keep Them Separate. Another tip is to be sure that the bananas are separated from other produce. I used to rest my avocados on top of the bananas and found that it only made both the bananas and avocados ripen faster.
4. Use Saran Wrap. Finally, placing saran wrap around the stem of the cluster of bananas helps keep them fresher longer. Some stores may already do this, but if not, a quick wrap should do the trick!

Since starting these tricks, my family has thrown away very few bananas. Instead, we get to enjoy them at our leisure instead of stressing over the expiration date!