Question:
- How to store food in refrigerator and freezer?
Applies to:
- Refrigerators
- Fridge freezers
- Freezers
General tips for storing food in refrigerator:
- Avoid overcrowding the appliance shelves, which reduces air circulation and causes uneven cooling.
- Cover foods and wipe containers dry before placing them in the unit. This cuts down on moisture build-up inside the unit.
- Wrap any items that have strong odors or high moisture content.
- Store fruits and vegetables in crisper drawers, where trapped moisture helps preserve food quality for longer time periods. Most fruit and vegetables should be stored at a low temperature and high humidity.
- Wrap raw meat and poultry securely so leakage and contamination of other foods or surfaces does not occur. Any meat to be kept longer than two days should be frozen.
- Butter and cheese: these should be placed in special airtight containers or wrapped in aluminium foil or polythene bags to exclude as much air as possible.
- Bottles: these need a cap and should be stored on the door bottle shelf, or (if equipped) on the bottle rack.
- Bananas, potatoes, onions and garlic, if not packed, must not be kept in the refrigerator.
- Hot foods should be cooled to room temperature before being placed in the compartments; otherwise they will raise the internal temperature of the compartments, as well as the appliance's energy consumption
- Place watery foods or foods with much moisture in front of shelves (close to the door side). If they are placed close to the cold air spout, they can be frozen
- Examples of foods and the best places to store them inside the appliance:
General tips for storing food in freezer:
- To minimize food dehydration and quality deterioration, use aluminum foil, freezer wrap, freezer bags, or airtight containers. Force as much air out of the packages as possible and seal them tightly. Trapped air can cause food to dry out, change color, and develop an off-flavor (freezer burn).
- Wrap fresh meats and poultry with suitable freezer wrap prior to freezing
- Do not refreeze meat that has completely thawed
- Avoid adding too much warm food to the freezer at one time. This overloads the freezer, slows the rate of freezing, and can raise the temperature of frozen foods.
- Do not keep ice creams, ice lollies or bread in the doors of the freezer or the top shelf of the freezer: these areas aren't the coldest parts of the freezer and so these items are likely to defrost faster if stored in these areas
- Leave a space between packages, so cold air can circulate freely, allowing food to freeze as quickly as possible
