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How long does Squash last?

2 kinds under one name

Which kind?

None of them is what the plain word means. Pick yours:

Summer and zucchini4 days to 5 days
Winter1 month to 3 months

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

Each kind gets its own dated rows here, 6 rows across the 2 the USDA lists under this name, because a date is only worth printing against the window it belongs to.

Squash, summer and zucchini

In the freezerUse by10 months to 12 months after the day you bought it
From purchase · in the pantryUse by1 day to 5 days after the day you bought it
From purchase · in the fridgeUse by4 days to 5 days after the day you bought it

Squash, winter

In the freezerUse by10 months to 12 months after the day you bought it
From purchase · in the pantryUse by2 weeks to 6 weeks after the day you bought it
From purchase · in the fridgeUse by1 month to 3 months after the day you bought it

The USDA rates 2 kinds of this separately

The USDA files 2 separate entries under this name — summer and zucchini and winter — and they do not keep for the same time: Squash, summer and zucchini holds 4 days to 5 days outside the freezer, Squash, winter holds 1 month to 3 months.

The shortest of these, Squash, summer and zucchini at 5 days, is a quality window, and past it the food is judged by look and smell.

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. The source also indexes it as summer, zucchini and winter.

Squash, summer and zucchini

In the freezer10 months to 12 months
From purchase · in the pantry1 day to 5 days
From purchase · in the fridge4 days to 5 days

Squash, winter

In the freezer10 months to 12 months
From purchase · in the pantry2 weeks to 6 weeks
From purchase · in the fridge1 month to 3 months

Can you freeze squash?

Yes. The USDA gives squash (summer and zucchini) 10–12 months in the freezer from the day you buy it, 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.

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

How to tell if squash has gone bad

Go by the windows listed above first. 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.

It is past the date. Now what?

Say the shortest window under this name — Squash, summer and zucchini at 1 day to 5 days in the pantry — has run out. 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 USDA rating this place at all is the USDA saying Squash, summer and zucchini keeps there, so the figure rates how good it will be. 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 Squash, summer and zucchini in one state and they disagree: 4 days to 5 days in the fridge against 1 day to 5 days in the pantry. Of the two, the refrigerator is the longer. 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

Squash carries no single window to compare — its 2 kinds each keep their own — so these 6 are simply what the USDA rates on the same shelf, shortest first: Corn on the cob at 2 days through Parsley, fresh at 3 days.

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.

No one of the 2 is the kind the plain name means, so this page prints no single figure: the kinds are listed with their own windows and you pick yours.

USDA index terms: summer, winter, zucchini

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.