You’ve been organising your fridge wrong – here’s how you should really be storing food
KEEPING food fresh in the fridge can be tricky if you don't know exactly how to organise your goods.
But white goods expert Ashley Iredale, from Australian consumer group CHOICE, has revealed the optimum way to store your food to keep it fresher for longer.
"Different types of food do best at slightly different temperatures so, with some planning, your food will not only be easier to find, but you can make it last longer," Ashley explained.
Starting from the top of the fridge, Ashley advises keeping meats at the back of the top shelf, as it's the coldest point.
Some fridges have a chiller, which would be the perfect storing location for meat but, if you don't have a chiller, then the top shelf will do fine.
Fruit and vegetables should be kept in the vegetable drawer, or crisper as it's called in some countries, but tomatoes – somewhat controversially – shouldn't be chilled at all.
"Keeping them in a fruit bowl on the counter keeps them bursting with flavour," he explained.
The majority of fridges have sections on the door, which many people use to store milk.
However, given that the fridge door is slightly warmer than the rest of the fridge, Ashley advises storing milk in a cooler part of the fridge if you want it to last longer.
Instead, use the door compartments for your condiments, which are slightly hardier than dairy products, and drinks.
When it comes to eggs, Ashley isn't a fan of the plastic containers that fridges usually come with.
He advises keeping eggs in their original container inside the fridge – "it keeps them safe, slows moisture loss, stops them absorbing food odours (egg shells are porous enough to do that) and helps you keep track of the use-by date".
If stored correctly, fresh eggs can last around a month in the fridge, while hard-boiled eggs are good for about a week if they're put in there once cool.
As well as tomatoes, Ashley insists bread should also not be kept in the fridge.
"Apart from moisture loss, one of the contributing factors to bread going hard and stale is the starch from the wheat forming (or rather, reforming) into crystals, which happens quicker in cooler temperatures," he explained.
"You'll go from tasty baguette to inedible brick much faster in the fridge."
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