Food Safety in Your Refrigerator

Ever wonder how long you can safely keep something in your refrigerator or freezer? Follow this food safety advice to be sure. Also, find out which foods you do not refrigerate and why.

Foods Kept In The Freezer
As long as your freezer is cold enough, it's the ideal environment for long-term preservation of a wide variety of foods. A good rule-of-thumb for freezer temperature is that it should be cold enough to keep a pint of ice cream brick solid. Items in the freezer are at risk for freezer burn, which can be minimized by storing things properly - everything should be tightly wrapped or placed in a tightly sealed container.

Foods best kept in the main freezer Compartment:

Ground meat - use within 3 months
Pork - use within 6 months
Bacon - use within 2 months.
Poultry - whole use within 4 months; cut up pieces, 6 months. (Air in cavity of bird can speed freezer burn.)
Home cooked foods - use within 1 month
Shrimp: - Because most shrimp are previously frozen, they can be acceptably refrozen for up to 2 weeks. But it's best to buy still-frozen shrimp, rather than display shrimp, which have already thawed. Not all stores will accommodate you, however.
Beef, lamb or veal - use within 8 months

Foods Kept In the Freezer Door Area

All purpose flour, whole wheat flour - use within 6 months.
Butter use within 6 months.
Nuts - use within two months.
Fruits and vegetables - use within 6 months.

Foods Placed In The Refrigerator

Foods Best Stored on the Door of the Refrigerator:
The door is the warmest place in the fridge, so keep items here that are less at risk for spoilage.
Salsa, tomato sauce - once opened, consume within 1 week.
Condiments like mustard, soy sauce, ketchup, salad dressings.

Foods that you Don't Store in the Door:
Milk - Cheese - Cold Cuts

Foods Best Stored In the Lunch Meat Drawer
The lunch meat drawer or cheese drawer is designed to be more humid and warmer than the rest of the fridge because cold air is not circulated through it. Principles of cheese storage vary widely depending upon the type of cheese, but most will benefit from being wrapped in wax paper, then placed in a plastic bag with the top folded over.

Best in the Crisper Drawers:
This is the best place for vegetables and fruits that should be refrigerated, like apples. Line drawers with paper towels to absorb condensation. Fruits and vegetables that don't fit or are too delicate can be placed in plastic bags or in covered containers inside the fridge for the same effect.

Best for the Top Shelf of Your Refrigerator
Prepared Foods such as
Chicken salad, egg salad - use within 1 day.
Cooked meat and poultry - use within 3 days.
Soups, casseroles - use within one week or freeze.

Butter Shelf
Butter absorbs other flavors very easily, so it needs to be segregated from other foods. Use within 2 months.

Best on the Bottom, Back of the Shelf:
Keep foods that need to stay the coldest in the back, such as raw meat, seafood and milk. Fish and shellfish should always be used within 1 day. Meat and poultry should be used within 2 days or placed in the freezer.
Eggs - If properly refrigerated can maintain quality up to 5 weeks past expiration date. But as they get older, the membranes thin and weaken, so they're best used for cookies, cakes and scrambled eggs rather than souffles or poached eggs.
Cold cuts - If open, use within 4 days. Discard at "use by" date.

Foods You Do Not Refrigerate:
Tomatoes - because they will become mealy. Keep at cool room temperature.
Bananas or avocados - because they release ethylene, which speeds ripening (and rotting). Can regrigerate once reipe to minimize decay, but it may have adverse effect on other goods.
Citrus fruits - keep at cool room temperature, use within two weeks.
Potatoes and onions, keep in cool, dark area, use within two weeks or before they sprout.
Basil - keep at room temperature with cut ends in water.
Coffee - because it will take on flavors of food, Keep it in an airtight container on the counter. For best results grind yourself, and use within one week.