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How long does Cantaloupe last in the fridge?

From purchase · in the fridge

Use by5 days to 15 days

Counted from the day you bought it

Quality window · past it, judge it yourself

How this date is worked out

From KeepsUntilIt is past the dateWhat to do when the window has run out, and when tasting is not a test Where these numbers come fromThe USDA source, the parse rules and what this site cannot tell you Every food on the siteOne page, every product, longest first

Turning the range into a date

Cantaloupe keeps 5–15 days in the fridge from purchase. The window here is 15 days, short enough that the day it went in is worth writing down.

In the freezerUse by12 months after the day you stored it
From purchase · in the pantryUse by2 days to 4 days after the day you bought it
From purchase · in the fridgeUse by5 days to 15 days after the day you bought it

In the freezer

12 months

Counted from the day you stored it

24×

What the freezer buys you over the refrigerator360 days frozen ÷ 15 days in the fridge from purchase

Freezing changes the unit, not just the number

Here the freezer does not so much extend the answer as replace it. 15 days in the refrigerator becomes 12 months in the freezer: 24 times longer, and days turning into months. On the same shelf it sits 29 of 89, between Radicchio at 3 weeks and Blueberries at 2 weeks.

Every storage figure the USDA publishes for this item

All three places the USDA recognizes are rated here — pantry, refrigerator and freezer — which only 65 of the 466 foods in the data manage. Within Produce it is filed under Fresh Fruits.

In the freezer12 months
From purchase · in the pantry2 days to 4 days
From purchase · in the fridge5 days to 15 days

What the USDA adds in words

The USDA attaches 1 handling note to this item, reproduced below word for word. It is not a storage time: it qualifies the figure above rather than replacing it. These are the source's own sentences, not ours, and they are the part of the FoodKeeper record that a table of durations cannot carry.

In the pantry, from the day you bought it. Or until ripe.

From KeepsUntilWhere these numbers come fromThe USDA source, the parse rules and what this site cannot tell you

Can you freeze cantaloupe?

Yes. The USDA gives cantaloupe 12 months in the freezer, and held at 0 °F food stays safe beyond that: the figure is about quality. Most produce goes soft when thawed, so frozen it suits cooking, smoothies and sauces rather than eating raw.

How to tell if cantaloupe has gone bad

Go by the date first: cantaloupe keeps 5–15 days in the fridge. Mold, slime, a sour smell or soft dark spots mean it goes out; firm produce can be saved by cutting 1 inch around a small moldy spot, soft produce cannot. Refrigerate cut or peeled produce within 2 hours.

Sources: USDA FSIS: the danger zone USDA FSIS: freezing and food safety USDA FSIS: molds on food FDA: are you storing food safely FoodSafety.gov: the FoodKeeper app.

Is it still safe to eat, or just past its best?

The answer at the top of this page reads 5 days to 15 days in the fridge. What decides that is the food and not the shelf the source files it on: Cantaloupe is raw and whole. Past it, whether it has gone bad is yours to judge by look and smell: this window rates quality, not the day it turns hazardous.

It is past the date. Now what?

Say the calculator above puts Cantaloupe past its 5 days to 15 days in the fridge window. Past that the calendar stops deciding and the food itself does. Mold, a slimy or sticky surface, soft or darkened spots, or a sour smell mean it goes out whatever the date says.

The whole rule, including the cases the source does not cover, is set out under what to do when the date has passed.

Two places, and one of them is the wrong one

The USDA rates two places for Cantaloupe in one state and they disagree: 5 days to 15 days in the fridge against 2 days to 4 days in the pantry. This page answers with the refrigerator, the longer of the two. Both figures are the USDA's own, so this is a choice of where to put the food rather than a disagreement about how long it keeps.

Items that behave the same way

The 6 items nearest it sit inside a band of 2 weeks to 2 weeks — a tight cluster, and this item at 15 days is inside it.

Where these numbers come from

Every storage time on this page is the USDA’s own published figure from the FoodKeeper data, one of the 9 it keeps per food, reproduced unchanged and never an estimate of ours. Where the USDA lists several kinds under one name, each kind keeps its own windows, and the page names the kind its answer is for. The dates and multipliers are ours, computed from those ranges.

Source: USDA FoodKeeper, retrieved 1 September 2026. Found a figure that does not match the source? Tell us on the contact page. How the site is built is on the method page.

KeepsUntil is an independent reference built on public USDA data. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the U.S. Department of Agriculture or the Food and Drug Administration. Whether a given window is a safety limit or a quality window is stated on the page that prints it.