Here’s the Right Way to Organize Your Mess of a Fridge
Updated: Feb. 10, 2023Learn to pack your refrigerator to keep ingredients fresh and how long your food should be kept to avoid food poisoning.
Some ingredients just have to be bought regularly
You can’t stock up too far in advance on fresh foods such as fresh meat and fish, or fruit and vegetables, as they will deteriorate and lose their nutrients. Your best friend here is your fridge. With clever planning, you can prolong the life of fresh foods so that you can buy them with your main groceries just once a week. A well-organized fridge is essential to fuss-free cooking. When you unpack your weekly grocery load, it’s worth taking the time to position items in your fridge according to where they will keep best and how often you need access to them.
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Dairy Products
Milk is a frequently used item, so your instinct is to store it in a convenient place. But, it’s better to store it in a cold place. On the bottom shelf in the back is the best. If you buy multiple gallons of milk at a time, arrange it so that cartons with the earliest use-by dates are reached first. By the way, stop believing these common myths about dairy.
Butter and/or margarine should also be stored by date. It’s best to keep them on the door of your fridge. They don’t need to be kept that cold, so it’s a perfect and easily accessible spot.
Cheeses need to be stored in the warmest part of the fridge—at the top, in a door shelf if you have room. Keep them covered in a plastic container or wrapped in greaseproof paper or foil – avoid cling film as it encourages a damp surface, and chemicals in the film may transfer to the cheese.
Cream (or crème fraîche, sour cream) and yogurts should be kept covered and used by the use-by date. Keep them in a visible spot with the expiration date showing.
Eggs should be kept in their boxes near to the top of the fridge or in the egg holders in the door. Similar to milk, store eggs in date order.
Fruits and Vegetables
Fresh vegetables and salad should be stored in the bottom of the fridge in the vegetable and salad drawers. Vegetables stay fresh for longer when stored in a slightly humid environment. Typically, that will be in the drawer in your fridge labeled “vegetables” or “high humidity.” If you find you are short on space, they can be stored in plastic bags in the main part of the fridge, but away from raw foods. Avoid the cold spots in the fridge such as the freezing compartment or the cold plate at the back of a larder fridge; if ice crystals form in foods such as salad vegetables, they will be unusable and will have to be thrown away. Here is how you can sneak more vegetables into your diet without even trying.
Fresh herbs, unless pot-grown or picked from the garden, should be stored in the salad drawer. Wrap fresh root ginger in cling film or freeze it.
Fruit should be stored in a low humidity drawer. In some fridges that drawer is marker “crisper.” Leave it in the original packaging or repackage into a plastic bag and seal. Citrus fruits don’t need to be stored in a bag.
Fish
It’s best to eat fresh fish on the day you buy it, but if this is not possible, remove the packaging as soon as you get home, wipe the fish with a clean damp cloth, place on a plate and cover with cling film. Store it at the bottom of the fridge, ideally for no more than 24 hours.
Meats
It is essential to put fresh meats straight into the fridge as soon as you return from shopping. Keep them in their sealed packs or put unpacked meat on a plate and wrap in cling film. Make sure that raw meats are kept away from cooked food. (Is red meat really good for you?)
Bacon should be stored with the raw meats. Sliced cooked meats, such as ham and salami, must be stored away from raw meats. Once opened, bacon and cooked meats should be placed in a sealed container and used within a few days.
How long does fresh food last in your fridge?
Most items you buy from a supermarket for storage in the fridge will have a use-by date. If you are buying locally, ask your shopkeeper how long items can be kept before using. If you are unsure, here are some general guidelines:
Raw food
Fish two days; meat, sausages and poultry three days; bacon one week; green vegetables, salad, and soft fruits two to three days; cheese, eggs and milk up to one week.
Cooked food
Deli meats and fish one week; casseroles, curries, and stews two to three days; cooked vegetables one to two days; cooked pasta or grains one to two days. Leftovers can be covered and kept in the fridge for a day or two—it’s often worth cooking a bit extra for another quick meal.
Take special care with cooked rice
Rice may seem innocent but it is potentially dangerous, as harmful bacteria can form, so it can be kept in the fridge for only one or at most two days. (Have you been storing these 10 foods wrong the whole time?)
The correct container
Cans rust in the fridge, so transfer food from opened cans to sealed plastic containers before putting them into the fridge. Sauces in jars and tubes (such as mayonnaise, pesto, curry paste, horseradish, tomato purée and garlic paste) can be stored in the cupboard until they are opened, but then need to be kept chilled and used before the use-by date.
When not to use the fridge
Some foods should be stored at room temperature: tomatoes to develop their flavor; avocados to ripen properly; onions, potatoes and root vegetables (best stored in a vegetable rack in a cool, preferably dark, place); and most fruit, except berries (bananas will go black if stored in the fridge).
