Everyone stacks their fridge differently. But whether you have a perfectly organised system or you tend to jam your groceries wherever they fit, your fridge isn't just a closet for food. With different compartments and temperature settings, organising your fridge incorrectly can lead to food wastage, mouldy products or rotten produce. Here, Australian Institute of Food Safety Michele Bosevski reveals her kitchen storage secrets to help you organise your fridge to perfection - and keep its contents fresher for longer, including one item you should never keep with your fruits and vegetables. First things first - she suggested keeping the temperature at or below four degrees.
Upper shelf
Speaking to Sunrise, Ms Bosevski said you should always keep your leftovers and cooked foods on the top shelf - away from the raw products to reduce the risk of cross-contamination. 'Basically, your bits and pieces that you're going to have in the fridge that are not your fruits, vegetables and meat,' she said. While most of us store our eggs on the side door, she said they are best kept in the middle of the shelf.'Eggs always needs to be cold so pop them in the middle,' she said.
Bottom shelf
The bottom shelf should be reserved for raw meats such as chicken, mince, fish, lamb or beef.'So anything pre-packaged, keep it in its pre-packaged container because it is sealed,' she said. 'Anything that you've purchased from the deli, you want to put it in a sealed tight container, this prevents cross-contamination. It also prevents leakage from any juices, which could cross-contaminate other foods.'
Door
Surprisingly, Ms Bosevski said you can keep your milk or any dairy product in the fridge door.'This is the warmest part of the fridge,' she said.'So we generally keep our cheeses and dairy at the top, condiments on the side, then our milk and beverages down the rest of the fridge.'
The crispers
If your fridge comes with two crispers, Ms Bosevski recommends separating your fruits and vegetables.' Fruits go in one and vegetables in the other. If you only have the one, that's fine - fruits and vegetables can mix,' she said. But there's one fruit you should be cautious about when you're looking to store in your fridge, according to Ms Bosevski.' The one thing you want to be careful though is your apples. Apples produce an ethylene gas, which when it goes around the other fruits and vegetables, it does actually cause them to ripen and go off quicker,' she said.
The best way to store apples is to put them in a sealed zip-lock bag. Another interesting kitchen tip Ms Bosevski suggested was keeping your apples with your onions.' Just one apple, and it would stop onions from sprouting so the ethylene gas is actually positive in that respect,' she said. To keep your fruits and vegetables fresher for longer, she said keep paper towels at the bottom of the crisper.' It'll help it to absorb any excess moisture that may be coming out. And once again, it will help your fruits and vegetables last longer,' she said.
To make the bananas last longer, she said wrapping aluminium foil to the stems will stop the fruit from going brown too quickly.' Separate your bananas and twist a little bit of aluminium foil to the stem,' she said. 'I wouldn't do it if it's still green but once they're getting to that nice ripe, yellow, just put a little bit on the stems, it will stop them from over-ripening too quickly.'