With the cost of living crisis seemingly affecting all walks of life, people have been finding any little hack or trick to save a bit of money. The weekly food bill has risen at a vast rate amid soaring inflation levels.
One way to reduce this would be to simply buy less. This can be achieved by buying in greater bulk and making the items last longer in the fridge, reducing the need for top-ups.
Scott Evans, owner of self-storage company Pink Storage, has revealed the best fridge hacks to keep your food fresher for longer and save money in the process. While most people will use common sense when storing items in the fridge - such as storing meat at the bottom in case of spillages - many of us don’t take into consideration the different temperatures that each area of the fridge will have.
The fridge door
The door of the fridge is one of the warmest parts, so shouldn’t be used for fresh juices or milk, despite it being commonplace for many households. Instead, the advice is to store items such as bottled water, ketchup, mayonnaise and soft drinks as they can stand up to the changing temperature.
Scott said: "The door of the fridge seems the perfect place to keep your eggs, milk and juices as they often have compartments for them, but due to the fridge door being the warmest in temperature it will cause them to spoil quicker.”
With the cost of milk having reached record highs this year, moving your pints from the fridge doors should help make them last that little bit longer.
Upper shelves
The upper shelves should be utilised to store foods that spoil easily with moisture. Scott added: “Berries are a good example of this as if you keep them in the lower draws of the fridge where it is cooler they can develop moisture and rot.”
Herbs are another foodstuff that can last longer on the top shelves of the fridge. He continued: "To keep herbs lasting longer you should wash them and put them into a container with water just as you would do with flowers.
"If you want to make your herbs last even longer, a great hack is to cut them up and put them into ice cube trays with olive oil. When cooking you can just pop one out and let it melt."
Bottom shelves
The prime real estate for foods that are most costly and spoil the quickest should be kept towards the bottom shelves. This includes milk - rather than its typical fridge door slot - as well as eggs, butter, cheese and meat.
The coolest part of the fridge is at the back of the bottom shelf, making it a prime location for milk. Fragile items such as herbs should not be put here as it can cause them to freeze and die.
Scott said: "When placing your food in the fridge try not to put anything too tall at the back of the fridge as it could block the fridge's vents. You also don't want to overfill your fridge as you will stop the air circulating as much and cause your food to spoil quicker."
Storing butter at the bottom of the fridge can seem like a controversial choice. Scott added: "If you like your butter to be at room temperature then cut a section off and leave it in a butter dish in the cupboard, then put the rest in the fridge to make it last a little longer."
With a large tub of butter costing up to £7 a tub, keeping the majority of it in the cold and only using a little at a time will save you money over the year.
The freezer
While packing your fridge will limit the length of time the items held within will be kept fresh, packing your freezer will help it stay colder for longer, and also use up less energy to cool the freezer down. The freezer can be utilised to buy food in bulk and use them a little at a time.
"Buying food in bulk often leads to savings, all you need to do is check whether the food you are buying is safe to freeze and how long you can freeze it for," Scott said. Foods ranging from eggs to milk to cooked pasta to various fruits and vegetables can be frozen to make them last longer.
Finally, Scott advises people to double-check the temperature on their fridge to make sure it is at the optimal level. The ideal fridge temperature is deemed as being between 3C and 5C.
