Set the temperature
Refrigerators belong at 40 degrees or below, and freezers at zero. Many older units have a dial marked one through five rather than a temperature, so spend a few dollars on an appliance thermometer and check. The door is the warmest spot, which makes it right for condiments and wrong for milk and eggs. Those go on an interior shelf, with the eggs left in their carton.
How long raw food keeps
These are the refrigerator limits the USDA gives for food held at 40 degrees.
- Raw ground meat, raw poultry and fresh sausage keep one to two days.
- Raw steaks, chops and roasts of beef, pork and lamb keep three to five days.
- Fresh fish and shellfish keep one to two days.
- Eggs in the shell keep three to five weeks from the day you bring them home.
- Opened packages of lunch meat keep three to five days, and bacon keeps about a week.
If you will not cook something inside its window, freeze it on the day you buy it. Food held at zero degrees stays safe indefinitely. What declines is quality, so wrap it tightly with the air pressed out, label it with the date, and aim to use most meats within a few months to a year.
Thaw it safely
There are three approved ways to thaw, and the kitchen counter is not among them. The refrigerator is the slow one, at roughly a day for every five pounds. A sealed bag submerged in cold water, changed every thirty minutes, handles a pound of meat in about an hour. The microwave works if you cook the food immediately afterward. Meat thawed in the refrigerator can be refrozen uncooked, with some loss of texture.
Produce has rules too
Tomatoes, potatoes, onions, garlic, winter squash and unripe bananas do better outside the refrigerator, in a cool, dark spot. Keep potatoes and onions apart, because each shortens the life of the other. Apples, bananas, avocados and tomatoes give off ethylene gas as they ripen, which wilts and yellows nearby greens, so store them separately. Leave berries unwashed until you eat them, since moisture invites mold. Bread goes stale fastest in the refrigerator. Keep it on the counter for two or three days and in the freezer beyond that.
Note The one date label that federal law requires is on infant formula, and it should be followed to the day. Dates on most other foods are the manufacturer's estimate of peak quality.
