Every time I open my fridge, I seem to find another fruit, vegetable or leafy green that has gone bad just a few days after purchase. Tired of throwing my produce into the compost bin, I decided to try something I’ve seen recommended countless times: make bags that claim to keep food fresher for longer.

I tried three different product bag materials: the vegetable free starch compostable bag available at my grocery store, Thrive Market mesh bags and Ambrosia bags made of linen.

For my experiment, I used red bell peppers and romaine lettuce, which I keep in these bags in my refrigerator drawer. I did this for two weeks, where the The USDA’s FoodKeeper app says is the recommended consumption limit for both peppers and lettuce when refrigerated after purchase.

Here’s how long the produce bags kept my food fresh, and which material performed best in my testing.

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Day 1: Fresh start

I bought my romaine lettuce and red bell peppers from my local Trader Joe’s. While there, I picked up 100% vegetable starch-based compostable produce bags that were freely available in the produce section.

I washed all the produce, let it air dry and kept each one in its own bag. Ambrosia linen produces bags for leafy vegetables and herbs says that the product must be wet and that the bags must stay wet, so I followed these instructions. Then, I put them all in the same produce drawer in my refrigerator.

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Day 4: Withering begins

On the fourth day, from the three bunches of romaine, everything started to wither, but the compostable looked the worst, because most of its outer leaves lost their redness. Mesh and flax look the same, but one of the outer leaves of mesh romaine is more drawn than flax.

As for the red bell pepper, everything shows more wrinkling. The mesh and flax peppers have stems, which are starting to show signs of deterioration. At this point, I can’t say who will look the latest.

Day 8: A bag of produce takes the lead

On Day 8, the romaine lettuce in the compostable bag showed clear signs of deterioration, which appeared to have penetrated its outer leaves. The mesh and linen contestants are also slightly brown on the outside, but this is more apparent on the mesh.

Again, all the red bell peppers showed signs of extended wrinkling, but I couldn’t tell if one was more wrinkly than the others. The stems of the net and flax peppers continued to show deterioration, which was more evident on the stem of the flax pepper. However, that one is also taller and tends to show errors more easily due to its larger surface area.

Day 13: The winner of the product bag

To give myself a day to consume the products, because I don’t want to waste everything, I did my last check on Day 13, one day before the consumption limit in the FoodKeeper app. However, the romaine stored in the compostable bag was moldy and inedible, so I tossed it in my compost bin.

Between the mesh and the flax romaine, the mesh looks worn, with some of the outer leaves completely wilted and bent. Although I have eaten both with the outer leaves removed, the flax seems fresher.

Regarding the red bell pepper, I finally noticed the differences. While all show more wrinkling, the compostable pepper has the deepest wrinkles. Between the candidates linen and mesh, mesh has more wrinkles than linen, but less.

Finally, I can say that the products stored in linen bags remain the most recent, followed by mesh bags in second place and compostable bags in last place. What can affect the winning of linen bags is the fact that Ambrosia specifically states that leafy vegetables and herbs must remain moist inside the moist bag.

What the experts say about making bags

I asked Chef Vahista Ussery, a registered dietitian nutritionist and founder of a culinary nutrition consulting and education company The Tastewhy linen is the best in my test. He said that it is not surprising that linen won because it offers many benefits for storing products.

“Linen helps keep moisture in, absorbing excess that can cause things to deteriorate quickly,” Ussery said. “At the same time, it still allows air to circulate, giving the product the oxygen it needs, as well as allowing ethylene gas to escape.”

Some produce, such as fruit, emits ethylene gas, which can cause produce to ripen faster if the gas is trapped inside a produce bag.

Linen is also antimicrobial, meaning it inhibits bacterial growth and mold formation. “Linen bags are the real way to go for quality and environmental sustainability,” Ussery said.

As for the mesh bag, they allow more air circulation while absorbing less excess moisture. If you currently have mesh bags, Ussery recommends placing a paper towel in the bag with the products to help absorb moisture. You can also avoid storing leafy greens and fresh vegetables in these bags, because too much air circulation can cause dehydration, which leads to increased wilting. That would explain why romaine stored in mesh bags wilted more than romaine stored in linen.

While compostable bags are better than plastic in terms of sustainability, they are designed to break down when composted. Excess moisture can start the composting process as you try to store your produce.

“Compostable bags also trap ethylene gas and do not absorb moisture,” Ussery said. “They’re better used just for buying versus saving.”

Ana Bueno, a holistic nutritionist and founder of BuenoSeeds Nutritionfurther emphasizing the importance of learning how each type of product develops when stored.

“The ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach rarely works,” he says. “Understanding how to store each type of food is the key to reducing food waste and preserving nutritional value.”

Lesson learned. The next time you bring home fresh produce, taking just a few extra minutes to create its ideal storage environment can transform your salad from good to truly wonderful.