A well-organised refrigerator is important for safe storage to prevent any bacteria in your food and making you ill. Maintaining a cool temperature in your fridge is important for this, too. The ideal temperature of your fridge should be between 3-5°C.
Organising your refrigerator properly will help reduce waste, your chances of getting food poisoning and your weekly shopping bill.
Refrigerator
Breaking it down
UPPER SHELVES
Foods that don’t need cooking or heating much often, such as deli meats and leftovers.
LOWER/MIDDLE SHELVES
Dairy such as milks, cheeses, yogurt and butter.
BOTTOM SHELF
This is the coldest part of your fridge, and where wrapped raw meat and fish should be kept. Placing raw food on the bottom shelf also minimises the risk of cross-contamination.
DRAWERS
Vegetables, salads and fruit should be stored in their original packaging in the salad drawer where they will be enclosed. This is also a good place to store herbs, as they can’t get frozen to the back of the fridge. You would also see a mark of vegetables on them so there’s no confusion.
DOOR SHELVES
This is the warmest area of the fridge and most susceptible to temperature fluctuations. Store foods that have natural preservatives here, such as condiments, jams and juice.
Tips for refrigerator storage –
1. Clean your refrigerator regularly, getting into awkward corners with an old toothbrush.
2. Be careful to keep fresh foods, such as salads and herbs, away from the back of the fridge and do not let them touch it – the temperature at the very back is colder and these delicate foods could freeze and go off.
3. Once opened, jars of condiments, jams and jellies should be kept in the fridge. Cooked foods should be suitably covered while raw meat and fish should be well covered and sealed.
4. Never put hot food into the refrigerator, as it will cause the overall temperature to rise and can lead to food poisoning and unnecessary food spoilage.
5. Butter and soft cheeses don’t need to be in the coldest part of the fridge – so while we recommend dairy on the middle shelf, the door shelves for softer dairy is okay.