How long should I keep food in the fridge, what goes on which shelves and how cold should a fridge be in the UK?

YOU might be surprised to learn that many foods don’t last as long as you think in a fridge.

Do you know how long you should keep certain foods in the fridge, what shelves things should be stored on and what temperature your fridge should be in the UK?  Read on for the answers…

How long should you keep food in your fridge?

Foods you thought would stay fresh for up to a week are actually unlikely to still be in good condition after just two or three days.

From fruit and vegetables to soft cheese and chicken, the gurus at the Institute have published a guide on how long food without a use-by label should be kept in the fridge for.

Fish – which includes shellfish – shouldn’t hang about for more than one day, though smoked salmon stays fresh for up to two weeks.

You should also ditch soft fruit after two days and sliced meat, soft cheese, poultry and raw meat joints within three days.

Surprisingly, hard cheese like Parmesan should be binned after a week, despite the popular assumption that it keeps for much longer.

You should also be polishing off salad leaves within two to three days, sausages after three days and green veg and milk by day four.

Hard and stone fruits usually stay fresh for around a week, after which they should be dumped.

What shelves should you store food on in the fridge?

Storing your food on the correct shelf is vital to ensure it remains safe to eat and stop bacteria spreading.

Here is the order of shelf storage;

• Top shelf – ready to eat foods that don’t need cooking such as cooked meats, leftovers and other packaged food.
• Middle shelf – dairy products such as yoghurts and cheese. Milk and eggs should be stored here and NOT in the door.
• Bottom shelf – raw meat, poultry and fish – always cover and keep in sealed containers
• Vegetable drawer – salad, fruit and vegetables should be kept in sealed bags or containers and washed before use.  If you have high and low humidity drawers, store veg in the high humidity and fruit in the low humidity. To help fruit and vegetables last longer, don’t wash them before storage.
• Door – store foods that have natural preservatives such as condiments.  You can also store butter here and soft cheeses as they don’t need to be in the coldest part of the fridge.

How cold should your fridge be in the UK?

The temperature of your fridge should be set between 0-5 degrees to prevent harmful bacteria multiplying.

If your fridge doesn’t have a built-in thermometer you can buy a separate one to ensure the temperature remains safe.

While we all like a well-stocked fridge – be careful not to overload it as you could be in danger of blocking the cooling unit or leaving the door unable to seal properly.

Air needs to be able to circulate around the food to maintain the correct temperature.