1,509 easy and fully explained recipes, with +66K photos and 78 videos

This site uses only a few technical cookies necessary for its operation. By continuing to browse, you accept their use.
To find out more...

Good fridge management

We all have a fridge at home – it's an indispensible part of the kitchen and so much a part of the furniture that we tend not to pay it much attention. But often, out of habit, we don't use it properly. Here are a few tips to help you get more from your fridge.

27 K 4.4/5 (21 reviews)

Last modified on: April 19^th 2011

For this post: Comment Follow Send to a friend

Good fridge management

Temperature

We often place too much trust in the temperature inside our fridges, saying, “It's cold enough” , but this is something that should be checked at least once with a thermometer.

The correct temperature inside a fridge should be around 6°C (43°F), in any case, never above 8°C (50°F), otherwise food will not keep so well, or not keep at all. Adjust the thermostat to produce this temperature and modify it according to the season, as the fridge needs to be colder in summer than in winter.

The temperature inside a fridge is not even. It is colder near the top (where the cold is created) than at the bottom. So put at the top everything which needs to be kept really cold, such as dairy products, and at the bottom things like fruit and vegetables that don't need to be kept as cold.

Hygiene

A fridge should always be kept very clean as it is in contact with all our fresh food, so it needs to be cleaned thoroughly on a regular basis (every few months). This means: unplug it, empty it completely and clean the inside with a sponge and detergent.

When you come back from shopping, don't put all the food wrappers straight in the fridge, as they are not always very clean and slow down the cooling process. It is better to “undress” everything before putting it the fridge: take yoghurts out of their cardboard, unwrap fruit, etc.

Similarly, don't put dirty vegetables, such as carrots and mushrooms straight in the fridge, but wash and prepare them first.

A few things to avoid

Putting something in the fridge to cool it down: this will start the fridge motor, and consumes energy needlessly. It is better to allow things to cool to room temperature, and only then put them in the fridge.
Leaving the door open between getting 2 or more items out: the fridge starts to warm up rapidly once the door is open, and only cools slowly when it is closed again. You should reduce to a minimum the time the door is left open.
Putting a dish in the fridge without covering it: smells can be transferred from one food to another and your dish could take on a very odd smell, or pass its smell on to something else, or both.

Better kept out of the fridge

Eggs: there's no need, they keep quite well at room temperature.
Tomatoes: they lose all their flavour.
Strawberries: they lose their flavour when cold, but will regain it on returning to room temperature.
Naturally matured cheeses: they lose their flavour but will regain it on returning to room temperature
Oil: may well turn solid.
Vinegar: keeps well at room temperature.

In the fridge, but beware of…

Fruit or vegetables in a sealed or knotted plastic bag: they will soon create a humid atmosphere and will rot very quickly. It is better to open the bag, or take them out.
Herbs: There's no need to stand the stems in water on the windowsill, it doesn't help. It's better to wrap the stems in damp absorbant paper then put them in the fridge in a plastic bag.

Lasts posts

Add a bay leaf

Bay leaf: small in size, but big in flavor. You'll find it in hundreds of recipes, and it's often added to cooking meat, in a sauce or broth, usually accompanied by other herbs or products. It's a staple of Provençal, Mediterranean and Oriental cuisine, but not the only one. Usually, in a...
July 31^th 20259625

Parsley stems

Parsley, whether curly or flat, is a delicious ingredient in many recipes, where it is used both raw and cooked. When used raw, in a salad for example, where it always provides, alone or with other herbs, a remarkable freshness, only the leaves are kept. And when used cooked?
July 28^th 20251,014 13

A drizzle of olive oil

Often in a recipe, you have to "baste" vegetables, for example, before sending them to the oven. What the author means by this is that you need to put oil on top of the vegetables to cook them in the oven. Typically, we just quickly drizzle oil over the vegetables, hoping not to miss any, but...
July 13^th 20251,2995

Always secure your cutting board

When using a cutting board, it's very important that it's stable and doesn't move while you're cutting, for safety's sake. Boards have a natural tendency to slide on the work surface, but here are 2 ways to block them effectively.
July 1^st 20251,3605

Cherry clafoutis, with or without pits?

When it comes to cherry clafoutis recipes, there's often a camp of those who argue that you absolutely have to leave the stones in because it tastes better, and the other camp (myself included) who prefer cherries without stones, which makes a much more pleasant clafoutis to eat. But is it true...
June 29^th 20251,1725

See all posts Random post RSS feeds

Other pages you may also like

Steam for baking bread

What does steam have to do with bread-making? This is not only a bakers' secret, it is something you might not think of at all: if you make bread and bake it like a cake, you will end up with bread, but pale and with a thick, hard crust – a long way from the golden-brown crusty loaf you had in...
June 16^th 2021141 K4.5

Rosemary in recipes

Rosemary, as I’m sure you know, is a culinary herb, one of the famous French "herbes de Provence", and is very effective in bringing a real taste of the Mediterranean to any dish. The classic way to use it in a recipe is to add a sprig or two and leave it in during cooking as a way of...
April 18^th 201821 K4.7

The "pith" of the cauliflower

When using cauliflower in a recipe, there is a lot of preparation work at the beginning: removing the leaves, taking the tops or florets, etc. It's a bit tedious, but in the end you're left with the best of the cauliflower, ready to be used in your recipe.
February 5^th 202211 K4.9

Fried potatoes or fried mash?

In cooking there are a lot of dishes that appear to be extremely simple but which can actually prove to be very tricky. Amongst those that I'm aware of having this reputation are omelette and fried potatoes.
February 6^th 201123 K4.5

The baker always gild twice

I've already told you about gilding, the beaten whole egg that is spread with a brush on anything that needs to brown in the oven: puff pastry, pastries, etc. and that professionals use a lot, I'm going to come back to this to clarify a bit how to do it, and give you a professional tip.
June 9^th 201932 K4.2