Tomatoes are incredibly versatile, whether you're preparing a sandwich for lunch or serving a healthy salad with dinner. However, they are one of the most wasted foods in the UK, with more than 1.4 million tomatoes thrown away every day which are past their best.

It might seem obvious to keep your salad-type vegetables in the fridge, but Gem Wade, a cooking expert and founder of Cook With Gem, has found that cold temperatures are actually the quickest way to spoil tomatoes. She said: "If you automatically put tomatoes in the fridge when you get home from the shops please stop. The fridge kills the texture and flavour of tomatoes. Instead, leave them in a bowl on the kitchen counter and use them at room temperature."

Tomatoes naturally grow in warm climates, and when they are first stored in the cold straight from a supermarket, their cells begin to weaken and break down.

This softens the flesh, leaving it watery and mealy, and the tomatoes can quickly turn to pulp. Cold temperatures also halt the ripening process that fruit and vegetables need in order to develop full flavour.

It should also be noted that the fridge damages the tomato enzymes responsible for producing sugars and acids, which also ruins their taste, as it makes them really bland.

If you want to keep tomatoes fresh, store them in a bowl in your kitchen at a temperature of at least 10°C, ideally around 12°C, so they can continue to ripen properly.

Keep them on a kitchen worktop rather than on a windowsill, as direct sunlight can damage the skin and cause them to overripen within a few days.

It also helps to store tomatoes upside down with the stem facing the surface, as this reduces moisture loss from the stem scar and keeps them firmer for longer.

Tomatoes should stay fresh one to two weeks on the kitchen counter as they continue to ripen, and once you use them they should be bursting with as much flavour as possible.

You should only store tomatoes in the fridge once they are completely ripe and you do not plan to use them immediately, as they will keep for around three days before spoiling.