I lined the boxes with a piece of paper grocery bag to help keep the boxes clean (yep, we even reuse boxes around here, especially for picking garden produce). Store them at room temperature, instead. They can bruise easily, so storing them in an organized manner will help protect them. How to Store Tomatoes. Store your green tomatoes. You want the tomatoes to continue to ripen … Simply pull up the plants with roots attached and carefully shake off excess soil. Levy recommends storing ripe tomatoes upside down (stem-side down) on paper towels in an open container such as Tupperware, a shoe box, or a cardboard flat. And I have had tomatoes that I picked green in October, ripen … Tomatoes should be stored in single-layers if possible. A good example is ‘Early Girl’ which can produce red, ripe tomatoes just 50 days. Hang them upright in a sheltered location to ripen. Here's the other thing: Tomatoes are fragile. Skip the fridge if tomatoes aren’t ripe. (So be nice to them!) I used short, open, flat boxes to store my tomatoes. While it’s pretty to put tomatoes on a windowsill, you’re better off keeping your tomatoes in the basement or a cupboard. In some cases, taking up the entire plant, rather than picking individual tomatoes, may be required. Ripe tomatoes … That means you want to pick tomatoes that can ripen in 50-70 days after transplanting. And while they are not as good as a vine-ripe tomato picked in the heat of summer, they will taste a lot better than any store-bought greenhouse tomato! Unfortunately, if you planted tomatoes that are unable to ripen … As with the ripening process, green tomatoes can be stored in different ways. Ripening Tomatoes Indoors. How to Store Tomatoes That Aren’t Ripe. It's not difficult to ripen your green tomatoes indoors.