You know that moment when you buy a bunch of bananas, and three days later they look like they have been through a heat wave? It drives me nuts. Half the bunch would be brown while I was still working on the first one.

Bananas ripen fast because they pump out ethylene gas, and that gas ripens the whole bunch in a chain reaction. The good news is you can slow it down with a few simple tricks.

Wrap the stems

The stems leak the most ethylene. Wrap them in a little plastic wrap or foil and the gas stays trapped at the top instead of washing over the fruit. Wrap each stem individually for the best effect. It looks a little silly, but it buys you two or three extra days.

Separate them from other fruit

Bananas are not the only fruit that gives off ethylene. Apples, tomatoes, and avocados do too. If they all sit in the same bowl, they ripen each other faster. Keep bananas out of the fruit bowl, or at least away from the apples. I hang mine on a banana hook. It keeps them off the counter and stops them from getting bruised on one side.

Buy them at different ripeness stages

This is the simplest fix. Grab a bunch that is mostly green and a couple of loose ones that are already yellow. Eat the yellow ones first and let the green ones catch up. Staggered buying means staggered ripening, which means no more three-brown-bananas-tomorrow problem.

Know when to use the fridge

The fridge turns the peel brown fast, which makes everyone think the banana is ruined. It is not. The fruit inside stays fine for days. So once your bananas hit the ripeness you like, throw the whole bunch in the fridge. The peel will darken, but the inside will be perfect for smoothies or eating straight.

And if they do get too ripe, do not throw them out. Freeze them peeled in a zip bag and you have instant smoothie bananas. That is how I stopped wasting a single banana.