Optimal Food Storage: For Longer Lasting Freshness

You’ve come home from your weekly grocery shop or maybe you’re entertaining over the next few days and you’re thinking “how do I keep my food fresh for longer?”. Whether you have a conventional fridge or one with a designated adjustable drawer, store your food to ensure they last longer.

When it comes to food safety, it’s recommended that you keep the fridge temperature below 5°C and the freezer below -18°C. We’ve collated the best cooling temperatures to help you keep food fresh to avoid food poisoning and thus reducing waste.

Temperature guide:

• Meat, Poultry & Seafood – around 0°C in the fridge or approximately -18°C or below in the freezer
• Butter & Cheese – in the dairy compartment where it’s slightly warmer, with max temperatures of 6°C
• Condiments & Drinks – best to be stored where you can easily retrieve, including door pockets or front of the top shelf
• Eggs – are fine to be kept in their original carton which slows moisture loss
• Fruits & vegetables – best in the fridge crisper where it’s cool, best temperatures are 0°C to 6°C to maintain humidity so that they don’t freeze
• Milk – contrary to popular belief, milk is best stored in the centre of the fridge where it’s about 4-5°C, not in the door pockets
• Bread – best stored outside of the fridge to stop it from going stale and crystallising. Freezing bread however is fine as it slows down the process and can be safely stored for longer periods.
• Pantry (or room temperature): from 11 to 13°C, this is perfect for food that don’t need to be cooled thus allowing them to ripe at the perfect rate, these include: bananas, tomatoes, avocadoes, fresh herbs and tropical fruits.
• Chill mode: if you’ve got a designated chiller zone, chill temperatures of -1.5°C to 0°C are great for chilling items before entertaining, think drinks, cured meats, sashimi and so forth.

Cooling Technology for Optimal Foodcare

Many refrigeration companies such as Fisher & Paykel have introduced multi-temperature cooling drawers to adapt to Australian cooking and eating lifestyles. From everyday items such as vegetables, diary or for cooling drinks when entertaining, Fisher & Paykel’s Variable Temperature Zone (VTZ) offers precise temperature control to suit your cooling and freezing needs.

Fully customisable, the VTZ can be set in Fridge Mode (0 to 6° C), Soft-Freeze (-10 to -6° C) and even Deep-Freeze mode (-25° C). If you’re after total control, you’ll love the Variable Temperature Zone, which can be found in Fisher & Paykel’s family of refrigerators and CoolDrawer™ Multi-temperature Drawer. Never serve spoilt food again!