Waste and Recycling

Store it right

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Store it right

Coloured food containers stored in a packed fridge

One of the most important things you can do once you buy your food is to store it correctly to get as much life out of it as possible.

Not sure what to do or where to store your food, these are our top tips:

Have a good selection of tubs and bag clips will keep food fresher for longer. Use the clips on bread, cereal, pasta, rice and large bags of crisps. Clothes pegs work just as well if you haven’t got any clips
takeaway tubs can be reused for batch cooking as they tend to hold one portion of food
make sure your fridge is set at the correct temperature. Most fridges are set too high and this contributes to food going off. Your fridge should be between 0° and 5°C;
use your freezer as your friend; it hits the pause button on food. Food can be frozen right up until the “Use By” and “Best Before” dates
make sure you are storing your food on the best shelf. For example; milk ideally should be on one of the shelves as the constant opening and closing of the fridge door makes it go off more quickly
most fruit and vegetables should be stored in the fridge; the exceptions being onions, bananas and uncut pineapple - even potatoes can be stored in the fridge
putting bagged salad into a tupperware container with a sheet of kitchen roll will stop it going slimy in the packet
pop your loaf of bread in the freezer as soon as you get home if you know you aren’t going to use it all. Toast can be made straight from the freezer and it helps reduce the 20 million slices of bread that go to waste in the UK every day
invest in a Fresh Pod (link to https://www.freshpod.co.uk). This amazing little pod absorbs the ethylene gases given off by fruit and vegetables and helps extend their life by up to four times longer;
add an “eat me first” fridge shelf – by putting food nearer its end of life at the front of your shelf to make sure it is easier to see so it gets eaten
have a fridge or freezer forage stir fry to use up food one day a week
have a good selection of store cupboard heroes (link to relevant page)
Love Food Hate Waste have tips on storage on their website: Love Food Hate Waste website