How long does food last? A practical fridge storage guide

Start with the right temperature

Your fridge should hold 4°C (40°F) or colder, and your freezer -18°C (0°F) or colder. A few degrees makes a real difference: milk kept at 4°C lasts days longer than milk kept at 8°C, and bacteria that cause spoilage slow down sharply as the temperature drops. Because the door is the warmest spot and the back of the bottom shelf is the coldest, what you store where matters as much as the number on the dial.

Where things belong in the fridge

• Milk, yogurt and dairy go on a middle shelf, not in the door, where the temperature swings every time you open the fridge.
• Raw meat, poultry and fish belong on the bottom shelf, in a sealed container, so nothing can drip onto food below.
• Cooked leftovers and ready-to-eat food belong above raw meat, covered, and should be eaten within three to four days.
• Vegetables go in the crisper drawer, which keeps humidity higher and slows wilting. Keep ethylene-producing fruit such as apples away from leafy greens.
• Eggs keep best in their original carton on a shelf, not in the door, for up to three to five weeks.

What should stay out of the fridge

Cold storage is not always the answer. Potatoes turn sweet and gritty in the fridge, onions and garlic go soft and mouldy, tomatoes lose their flavour, and bananas and avocados stop ripening. Bread goes stale faster in the fridge too, unless you freeze it. Store these in a cool, dark, dry spot, or freeze them if you will not get through them in time. Never wash berries or leafy greens before storing them: moisture is what makes them rot, so rinse them just before you eat.

Freezer time limits at a glance

• Cooked leftovers and soups: two to three months.
• Raw ground meat: three to four months.
• Raw poultry pieces: about nine months; whole birds up to a year.
• Bread, berries and blanched vegetables: six months to a year.

Freezing keeps food safe indefinitely, but flavour and texture fade after these windows, so label everything with the date it went in.

Trust your senses, then your dates

A best-before date describes quality, not safety, so it is a guide rather than a deadline. Look, smell and touch before you bin something: slime, off smells, mould and unusual colours mean it is time to go. When in doubt about meat, dairy or leftovers, throw it out. Everything else is exactly what FridgeWise is for: log the item with its date, let the app warn you a few days early, and cook what is on its way out first.