Especially bananas. I love bananas - I eat one every morning with my breakfast and have been doing so for quite some time now. The problem is, they can go bad very quickly. If I leave them in the fridge they will quickly become mushy, and if I leave them out on the counter top they will over-ripen. So, is there a way to preserve them longer before they go bad?

put them in the freezer.

cool and dark, but not the fridge. A larder is ideal.

One of my student jobs was in greengrocery, and the one product we never refrigerated was bananas because a)they go black and mushy (you found this out) b)they emit a gas (ethylene?) which accelerates the ripening of other fruit and vegetables.

Just eat them fast!

His next question is going to be: "How do I fix this chip in my tooth..?"

BeachAV8R

I don't know if this will work in reality, but it's something I heard a while ago...

buy unripe bananas. You can keep them longer than (almost) ripe ones. Then, the day before you eat one, put it close to an apple (other sources claim pear or mango). It will ripen overnight.

I store my bananas in the fridge only if they are ripe. They will last about a week since the cold temperature slows the ripening process (the skin will turn black/brown but the fruit itself is fine though a little bit softer than if ripened at RT.
However, I rarely buy so many bananas that I need to store some of them for long periods of time.
Cheers!

You guys are completely overlooking the obvious solution.

Plant a banana tree---and be sure and get a good recipe for banana bread.

mmmmmmmmm, I love banana bread, and I do have several great recipes.

lol, I can't help but be reminded of the "Seinfeld" episode where Kramer gives away his refrigerator. Which of course, Jerry cannot believe, but after all, it IS Kramer.

His rationale is that from then on, he buys everything FRESH. Buy it that day, eat it that day.

Well, that lasted about...a day.

If you break the bananas apart(rather than leaving them connected) they ripen slower.