You pay a lot of money for the food you buy at the supermarket, so you want it to stay fresh for as long as possible. Spoiled food is simply a waste of money.

Here are some tips from the editors at Consumer Reports:

- Keep eggs in the carton and put that carton on the middle or lower shelf. Those are the coldest places in your fridge.

- Whole tomatoes stay at room temperature. They get mealy and lose flavor in the refrigerator.

- Do you buy firm cheese, such as cheddar, Swiss or American, that's prepackaged? If so, take it out of the plastic, which can give it a bad taste, and re-wrap the cheese in wax paper and then tightly in plastic.

- Here's one than surprised me. The editors say it's OK to put ripe bananas in the fridge - it will slow down further ripening. The skins will probably get dark but, they say the fruit will stay good for up to 5 days.

- After you open a package of fresh mushrooms, store them in a brown paper lunch bag.

- Consumer Reports has this tip for keeping ice crystals from forming on ice cream: Keep the surface of the ice cream level and cover the carton with plastic wrap before you put the lid on.