what temp should your refridgerator be at to keep food optimum t

Your fridge and the way you're using it could mean your nutrient is going off more rapidly than you'd like. In the worst cases, information technology could even lead to yous getting ill.

But it'southward about much more than simply twiddling your thermostat. From picking the correct shelves for certain food types to handling leftovers properly, we run through some key tips to keeping your food safely stored in the fridge.

See which fridges performed well in our tests past checking our refrigerator reviews .

What temperature should a refrigerator exist?

If you want to get the most out of your food, the temperature in your refrigerator needs to exist betwixt 0°C and five°C. Anything over 8°C and you lot face a safety issue equally most harmful leaner can grow rapidly on your food if it's stored at these temperatures - information technology's ordinarily referred to equally the danger zone for microbial growth.

The faster your refrigerator gets downwardly to within that 0°C-v°C temperature range, and the longer it'south able to stay there, is key to maximising the corporeality of nutrients in your food.

Temperature accuracy matters

Your refrigerator won't only automatically set to within that temperature range. You lot demand to gear up information technology upwards using the manufacturer's recommended setting, which yous'll find in the didactics manual.

Y'all too need a reliable fridge, as our testing has found that y'all can't always rely on these settings to work like they should.

The manufacturer'southward recommended setting on the worst models nosotros've seen sends the temperature in the refrigerator soaring above 10°C – warm plenty to invite oestrus-loving leaner within.

Every caste actually does count. The wilted-looking leafy greens in the far correct image above had been stored in a fridge for the same fourth dimension as those in the middle image – only three days.

The difference is that the wilted ones were stored at an average temperature of vi°C, while the fresher-looking ones were at 3°C.

If you're non convinced by the accurateness of your fridge thermostat, you can pick up a fridge thermometer for less than £ten.

To make certain your salad stays crisp for longer, check our fridge reviews to find models that score five stars for thermostat reliability.

Storing food correctly inside the fridge

No matter how authentic your thermostat is, the temperature in your fridge volition still vary betwixt shelves. It's best to recall of your thermostat temperature as an boilerplate for the fridge considering, every bit a general dominion, the higher the shelf, the higher the temperature will be.

But that's no bad thing – provided you make use of these different temperatures to get the all-time out of your food past storing information technology in the correct position.

Video: how to organise your ​​​​fridge

Keep your food fresher for longer all yr circular with these tips.

Summit shelves

Try and keep the upper shelves in your fridge free for items that don't need to be cooked earlier being eaten, such as cured meats, leftovers or cream cakes.

Middle shelves

This surface area in your fridge is ideal for dairy products - cheese, butter, yoghurt - besides as eggs. Eggs are often stored on the door racks, but the door is usually 1 of the warmest parts of the fridge and is also prone to temperature fluctuations. Your eggs will fare much better in the more stable and libation temperatures around the middle zone of the fridge.

Bottom shelves

This is the coldest part of the fridge, making it perfect for storing raw meat, poultry and seafood, which should be kept between 0°C and iii°C in club to lock in freshness and forbid harmful bacteria from tucking in. Some fridges have a specific chill compartment that's specially designed to house these items, and so of course brand use of that if you have one. Raw meat, poultry and seafood should be stored in sealed containers, and so they can't touch on or baste onto other food.

Drawers for fruits and vegetables

Your fruit and veg will stay fresher for longer if you store them at the correct humidity.

Vegetables tend to like high humidity, while near fruits prefer depression.

• If y'all have a humidity switch on your fridge drawer(s), make sure you switch it to loftier humidity for veg and low humidity for fruit.
• If yous don't accept a switch or but have i drawer, it'due south best to go on your veg in the drawer as that tends to prevent wet from escaping and is therefore more humid. Your fruit can then become on a middle shelf in your refrigerator.
• You shouldn't shop fruit in a drawer that doesn't take a switch or contains vegetables. It's likely to produce ethylene, a natural gas that can over-ripen other fresh nutrient when trapped in a bars space.
• There are some exceptions to the rule to be aware of, though. Mushrooms are a vegetable that produces ethylene, while apples and watermelons are fruits that are sensitive to the effects of ethylene.

Are you lot storing your condiments correctly?

Open any fridge and you're likely to find a condiment of some sort on a door rack, which is exactly where they should be. The presence of natural preservatives, such every bit vinegar, in many condiments means they don't demand to be kept in the much cooler parts of the fridge.

Simply if you discover yourself stocking up on lots of different sauces and running out of room on the fridge door, you might be wondering if y'all could get away with keeping some out of the fridge.

Nosotros spoke with Dr Sarah Schenker, a public analyst, special adviser on food and drink, and registered dietitian, to find out which condiments should exist kept in the fridge and which ones you can keep in the closet.

Continue these condiments in the fridge:

• Mayonnaise: Although information technology contains vinegar, there's not plenty in there to safely store this flossy, egg-rich condiment exterior the fridge. Refrigerating mayonnaise will limit the growth of bacteria that you might have introduced by dipping cutlery into the jar.
• Pesto: Pesto should definitely exist refrigerated. Nuts in pesto hateful it tin end up developing mould that produces toxic compounds called mycotoxins, including dangerous aflatoxin, a bacteria that can cause serious liver damage.
• Tartare sauce: Tartare sauce contains egg, and also has low acidity and a high h2o content, which microorganisms love, then this is definitely i to keep in the fridge.
• Salad foam: Although salad cream contains the preservative potassium sorbate, besides as spirit vinegar, it also contains egg. Therefore, much like mayonnaise and tartare sauce, it should be refrigerated.
• Maple syrup: In anything with a sugar content of more than 60%, the carbohydrate acts as a preservative to keep microbial degradation at bay. Maple syrup falls but short of this, allowing some moulds to become a hold, so store it in the fridge. If yous go on it in a cupboard, you may find mould forming, particularly on the hat because of its exposure to air when you open information technology.

To observe out more almost why some condiments can be stored unrefrigerated, cheque out the full article on where to store your condiments.

Food y'all should not store in the refrigerator

There are a number of foods that are typically stored in the fridge that tin can really quickly lose season and freshness as a outcome. Others can become outright unsafe if stored in cold conditions. Here are a few foods you might consider keeping out of the fridge in guild to go the best from them and ane you definitely shouldn't refrigerate.

Bread

The cool, dry conditions inside a refrigerator will dehydrate your loaf, leaving y'all with dried-tasting slices. Keep it in a staff of life bin instead. Alternatively, freezing it won't crusade it whatever bug and you tin resurrect your slices in a toaster or under the grill.

Cucumbers

This refreshing salad staple actually fares better when kept out of the fridge. Cold conditions tin cause the peel to shrivel and the within to become slightly mushy. For best results, store them in a cupboard if you have space or in a bowl on a countertop. If you desire them cold for your salad and then put them in the refrigerator an hour before prep and you'll get the refreshing arctic without the cucumber feeling the negative furnishings of long-term cold exposure.

Tomatoes

But like with cucumbers, low temperatures tin can alter the texture of a tomato, leaving it with a coarse feel in the mouth. Worse still, chilling tomatoes inhibits the action of enzymes inside the fruit that help give it its flavor. Another one to keep in a bowl at room temperature.

Potatoes

You need to make certain that you don't store raw potatoes in the fridge if you intend to cook them at high temperatures, such every bit by roasting or frying. This is because when stored in the refrigerator, more free sugars tin begin to grade in the potatoes. This enhanced carbohydrate content tin and then lead to increased acrylamide levels in the potato, peculiarly if they are then fried, roasted or baked. Acrylamide is a chemical substance formed when starchy foods, such as potatoes and bread, are cooked at high temperatures (above 120°C), and studies signal it has cancer-causing properties. Raw potatoes should be stored in a dark, absurd place at temperatures above 6°C.

Don't stack nutrient also high in the fridge

Once y'all have the gist of where to put what within the refrigerator, you'll nonetheless want to avert packing things so full that food on i shelf is touching the shelf above.

Doing so tin can prevent cool air from circulating, pushing up the temperature in parts of the fridge and inviting estrus-loving bacteria to constrict into your nutrient.

Equally part of our tests, we measure usable book then you know exactly how much storage space you're actually getting compared to what the manufacturer says y'all're getting. The worst will give you 34% less storage space than you'd been led to believe.

Head to our fridge reviews to option out a model that'south big enough for your needs.

Let leftovers cool to room temperature

Yous should always let leftovers cool to room temperature before putting them inside your refrigerator. But take intendance not to leave them sitting out for more than a couple of hours.

Otherwise, the warmth of your recently cooked food will send the temperature in your fridge skyrocketing.

Not only volition that reduce the freshness of other food in the refrigerator – which needs to be kept at a stable temperature – it volition also strength your refrigerator to work harder to cool downwardly, pushing up your free energy bills.

See our guide to free energy-efficient fridges .

Best-before and use-by dates

Employ-by dates

Paying attention to the utilize-by dates on products is another way to keep your nutrient prophylactic to eat. You shouldn't eat, melt or freeze any food that has gone past its apply-by date, fifty-fifty if information technology looks and smells fine, as it may be unsafe.

Go along in mind that for the use-by date to be a genuinely useful guide, you must follow the storage instructions as written on the label, such as 'go along refrigerated after opening'. Not following these instructions could lead to the food spoiling more quickly and increasing your risk of food poisoning.

It'southward possible to 'extend' the use-past date if you freeze the item before it expires, but make sure you follow any instructions on the pack - such as 'freeze on the day of purchase'. Likewise, when y'all become around to cooking it, make sure yous follow whatsoever additional instructions that might point it can be cooked from frozen or that it needs to be defrosted thoroughly and used within 24 hours.

Best-earlier dates

Sometimes shown as BBE (best earlier end) on a production characterization, this date serves as an indication of when the quality of the food or drink may be beyond its best. For the well-nigh part, it's non a safe concern if you lot eat food after this date, but the flavour or texture of the product might non be at the level you're expecting.

Eggs are an exception, though. Eggs will have a all-time-earlier date of no more 28 days after they accept been laid. Past police, eggs must exist sold (the sell-past date) no later than 21 days from the engagement they've been laid. Then from the time of buy yous'll take at to the lowest degree seven days to utilise them.

The quality of the egg will start to diminish later on the best-earlier date, and in the rare example that salmonella bacteria is present, it may begin to multiply to high levels that could make you ill.

If you decide to use eggs that are across the all-time-before date, make sure you practise and then in dishes that will exist cooked thoroughly.

If you're in the market for a new refrigerator, our guide to the all-time fridges for 2022 will help you choose a decent one.

Cleaning your fridge

Every time y'all unpack groceries, y'all introduce new microbes into the fridge, so it's no big surprise that well-nigh fridges are teeming with bacteria.

In many cases these are harmless, only during an investigation we carried out into the types of bacteria unremarkably establish inside fridges, nosotros were concerned by the presence of Aeromonas bacteria, Enterobactera clocae and Klebsiella oxytoca, among others.

These germs are linked with respiratory and urinary infections, peculiarly for people with existing health problems or weakened immune systems. They're likely to accept come from unwashed vegetables, highlighting the importance of cleaning your refrigerator regularly.

Along with ensuring it'due south gear up at the right temperature, regular cleaning will help to remove leaner and prolong the life of your food. Cleaning regular bear on points on the fridge, including the handles and the door trays, can too prevent the spread of leaner.

We requite every refrigerator we test a rating for how piece of cake it is to clean. The worst have few removable parts and lots of nooks and crannies capable of harbouring stray crumbs. You can find out more well-nigh the tough assessments nosotros carry out to separate the best from the worst by reading our guide on how nosotros test fridges .

Is your fridge dirty or evil-smelling? Read our guide on how to deep-make clean your refrigerator.

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Source: https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/fridges/article/how-to-store-food-safely-in-the-fridge-a05PO7F3s4m3

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