Organising Your Fridge For Maximum Freshness

Anybody that lives a healthy lifestyle knows the struggle is real when it comes to consuming your fruits and veggies before they go bad. Most people don’t have time to go food shopping every 2 or so days so they will buy their produce in bulk at once, hoping to get through it all by the end of the week. Sometimes life happens and we don’t manage to eat everything and inevitably end up throwing some out. To minimise this problem you can store the foods in your fridge correctly and your produce will stay fresher for MUCH longer!

Eggs
These are best stored where the temperature is most consistent. So contrary to what you may have been told, the fridge doors are not the best option! Store them on the middle shelf and keep them in their cartons instead of transferring them to the egg holders.

Raw Meat (Packaged)
Store this on the lowest bottom shelf of your fridge where it is super cold. If juices drip from the meat they also won’t contaminate other foods by being on the very bottom. Seafood should also be stored here.

Milk & Dairy
Milk should be on the bottom shelf where it is coldest, all the way at the back. This also applies to yoghurts, sour cream and cottage cheese.

Fruits & Vegetables

Fruits belong in the crisper where there is low humidity. Keep them in their original packaging or in a plastic bag. Don’t wash fruits and veggies until immediately before use as water can promote mold and bacteria to grow if not dried properly. Your veggies like a bit of humidity, store in veggie draw as it should be the moistest spot in your fridge. Also keep these in their packaging or plastic bags. If you have a crisper that isn’t separated by two compartments try to keep fruits and veggies away from each other. The reason for this is many fruits contain a chemical that causes them to ripen faster and this may affect your veggies.

Ready To Eat & Leftover Foods
Store foods such as leftovers, hummus, deli meats and other ready to eat foods on the top shelf. You can also store drinks here. Herbs are perfect on the upper shelves, if they are fresh you can store them in a jar filled with some water.

Condiments
Condiments such as sauces and dressings should go on the doors because they are least prone to spoiling and the doors are the warmest part of the fridge. You can also store some drinks here as long as they aren't dairy based.

Things NOT To Refrigerate
Some things just shouldn’t be refrigerated even though they may fall into one of the above categories. Potatoes, onions and pumpkins should be stored in a cool, dark area such as a cupboard with low moisture. Tomatoes also don't like to be refrigerated so keep those out in room temperature.

I hope this helped you and now you can use your fridge to its full effect!

Kayla xx