Do your groceries seem to go off faster than you expect? Throwing all your perishables into the fridge with no real organization can cost you money over the long run. On the other hand, taking a few minutes to unpack properly will help keep food from spoiling too soon, so you can make the most out of your grocery budget. Here are 5 foods you are probably storing wrong, and what to do instead.
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Keeping Milk In the Fridge Door
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Anything stored in the fridge door will not be as cold, which is fine for certain items like mayonnaise but not for something like milk, which should be kept as cold as possible. “Always keep a check on how cold your milk is to drink or touch,” food safety worker Theresa Keane tells Metro. “The milk container should be too cold to hold. Then only buy the amount of milk you know you will use up relatively quickly. Buy small and often.” On a shelf towards the back of the fridge is ideal.
Nuts In the Pantry
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Opened packages of nuts will degrade quickly in the pantry. "Some products stay fresher in the refrigerator," chef and culinary expert Molly Gordon tells Southern Living. "While others are best kept on the counter or in a cabinet. I keep any kind of nuts in an airtight container in the freezer. It keeps out moisture, keeping them fresher, longer."
Tomatoes In the Fridge
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Tomatoes are much happier being stored on the counter than the fridge. "Tomatoes are most flavorful at peak ripeness and when stored at room temperature," Maddy Rotman, former head of sustainability at Imperfect Foods, tells Martha Stewart. "Try eating a cold tomato and a room-temperature tomato. You'll see that all the flavor of the tomato is hidden when it's cold, and you can taste all of the sweetness when it's ambient."
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4. Potatoes In the Fridge
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Potatoes should be stored in a dark, cool spot. "Place unwashed potatoes in perforated plastic bags or paper bags out of the light," says Caroline Kaufman, RDN, via HuffPost. "Avoid kitchen hot spots like underneath the sink, above the oven or near a window.The cold converts the potato's starch to sugar, leaving you with a discolored, weirdly-sweet spud, and the heat promotes sprouting."
Eggs In the Fridge Door
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As with milk, eggs need to be kept away from the fridge door. “Store raw eggs in the coldest part of the refrigerator - the middle shelf,” Kaufman says. “Even though the door has cute built-in egg cups, the temperature fluctuates too much for food safety experts.”
