You need to use your refrigerator crisper drawers properly. Keep them clean to curb bacteria. Check your fridge manual to see recommended settings. Place your vegetables unwashed and in plastic bags into the drawer, heavier items on the bottom.

You want them dry to the touch but the air around them kept moist. Crisper drawers perform best when only two thirds full. Keep shifting the vegetables around every day or so to let air circulate around the bags of vegetables. Mushrooms need to be kept dry in a paper bag and out of the moistness of the crisper drawer.

Anything that has a cut "end" like asparagus, whole celery stalks and lettuce should be slightly recut and hydrated once a day. That can mean misting them quickly with water or use a small flower vase to stand fresh parsley, asparagus or fresh cilantro. Use only enough water to moisten the freshly cut ends. If you recut and change the water daily, they should last over a week. Use ZipLoc aerated bags for your lettuce. Wrap cucumbers tightly in plastic.

Squash, potatoes, onions, eggplant, tomatoes and turnips (rutabagas) don't like to be in the fridge, preferring a cold dark place.

Some fruits and vegetables produce an odorless, colorless gas called ethylene as they ripen. Ethylene promotes an accelerated ripening effect in other fruits and vegetables so you have to be careful of what you put together. High ethylene producers include apples, apricots, avocado, bananas, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, kiwis, mangoes, nectarines, papayas, peaches, pears, plums and tomatoes.