Home LivingAppliancesKitchen9 foods you should never store in the fridgeFrom onions to bread, keep these 9 foods out of your fridge!When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Home LivingAppliancesKitchen9 foods you should never store in the fridgeFrom onions to bread, keep these 9 foods out of your fridge!When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
From onions to bread, keep these 9 foods out of your fridge!
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Latrach Med Jamil / Unsplash)
(Image credit: Latrach Med Jamil / Unsplash)
Thebest fridgesare a kitchen necessity and they can tackle most preserving and chilling tasks you throw at it, from keeping your food fresh for longer to extending the life of your leftovers. But there are some foods that don’t do well with your fridges' cold temperatures, despite the temptation to cram all the produce from your weekly food shop onto its shelves.
The ideal temperature of your fridge should bebetween 3-5°C. While foods like raw meat, eggs and dairy are best kept in these conditions, there are 9 foods you should definitely avoid putting in your fridge so they taste better, last longer and don’t take up valuable shelf space. For more refrigeration tips, here are3 mistakes everyone makes with their fridge freezer.
1. Bread
(Image credit: Geraud Pfeiffer / Pexels)
(Image credit: Geraud Pfeiffer / Pexels)
Loaves, bagels, rolls and baguettes should never be kept in the fridge. This might be controversial to some, but storing bread at cool temperatures causes the molecules in bread starch to recrystallise quickly, resulting in your loaves going stale, tough and chewy. To retain the moisture and freshness of bread, it should be stored at room temperature, preferably in a bread bin. If you’re worried about food waste, you can keep bread in thebest freezerif you don’t think you’ll eat the entire loaf before the expiration date.
2. Onions
(Image credit: Abhishek Hajare / Unsplash)
(Image credit: Abhishek Hajare / Unsplash)
Onions are most commonly put in the fridge but they should actually be stored in a cool, dark and dry place. While a fridges’ vegetable drawer might sound like the ideal spot for onions, it’s actually the worst place they could be as the light and moisture in your fridge can lead to onions sprouting and going mouldy. If you don’t like the smell of onions, keeping them in the fridge will cause them to give off a stronger smell which can contaminate other food with its odour.
3. Garlic
(Image credit: Nick Collins / Pexels)
(Image credit: Nick Collins / Pexels)
Another surprising food that shouldn’t be stored in the fridge is garlic. Can you store garlic in the fridge? Yes, but it can go off quicker when kept in there, which will affect its texture and cause it to go mouldy due to the fridges’ conditions. Like onions, garlic should be stored in a dry and ventilated area to avoid moisture getting in. Keeping garlic out of the fridge is also handy if you’re lacking fridge space – garlic bulbs don’t exactly take up a lot of space, but it could help if you’re catering for a lot of people.
4. Potatoes
(Image credit: Lars Blankers / Unsplash)
(Image credit: Lars Blankers / Unsplash)
Uncooked potatoes should steer clear of your fridge and be stored in the cupboard. Both regular and sweet potatoes contain starch which can quickly turn to sugar in cold temperatures. This affects the texture and flavour of your potatoes, making them tougher and sweeter. It’s also important to consider what you’re storing your potatoes next to, as placing them next to onions will result in the onions’ fumes accelerating the potatoes’ sprouting. Keep in mind, though, that cooked potatoes can be stored in your fridge for several days.
5. Tomatoes
(Image credit: Engin Akyurt / Unsplash)
(Image credit: Engin Akyurt / Unsplash)
It seems like tomatoes would be an ideal food to keep in the fridge, but it turns out they’re not. This is because a fridge’s temperature stops the ripening of tomatoes which impacts their taste and texture. A cold tomato tends to taste more watery than a room-temperature tomato, so they’re better off on your kitchen counter. If you don’t have much counter space though, you can store tomatoes in your fridge but you should allow them to come to room temperature before you eat them.
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6. Avocado
(Image credit: Ready Made / Pexels)
(Image credit: Ready Made / Pexels)
Similar to tomatoes, the cold of the fridge stops avocados from ripening. Avocados can be tricky and it feels like you’re always waiting for them to ripen before they quickly turn brown. To speed up the ripening process, you should leave avocados out of the fridge. Once your avocado is ripe, make sure you store the other half of the avocado or the guacamole you haven’t eaten in the fridge to keep it fresh. This should also prevent the avocado from going bad quicker, too.
7. Bananas
(Image credit: Giorgio Trovato / Unsplash)
(Image credit: Giorgio Trovato / Unsplash)
8. Berries
(Image credit: Suzy Hazelwood / Pexels)
(Image credit: Suzy Hazelwood / Pexels)
In general, berries like strawberries and raspberries taste better when served at room temperature. Not only this, but berries can easily soak up moisture from cold temperatures which causes them to grow mould or lose their sweetness quickly. For long-term storage, you can keep them in the fridge to prolong their shelf life but leave them to come to room temperature before you eat them so they taste better.
9. Anything that’s been preserved
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