Fridge manufacturer Beko has issued a major warning to homeowners. According to the experts, storing your food and drinks in the wrong place could cost you hundreds of pounds
An expert has issued a warning to anyone who is storing their milk in the fridge – and said it is crucial that it is being kept away from one place.
Salah Sun, Head of Product Management at manufacturer company Beko UK, has stressed the importance of placement in your fridge. She explained that putting your milk on the shelf of the door can be a costly mistake. According to the expert, where you decide to place your items “directly impacts food longevity”.
Sun explained that the door is the “warmest” section of the fridge, which means your milk will go off quickly. She stressed that households waste around around £250 worth of food per person in a typical year, or £1,000 for a family of four.
She warned: “The way we organise our fridges can make or break our efforts to reduce food waste. Most people don’t realise that poor fridge organisation isn’t just about aesthetics – it directly impacts food longevity and your household budget.”
Creating designated zones in your fridge is the answer, say experts, to making your food last for longer, reports Express. Sun explains: “Temperature fluctuates within your fridge, so storing items in the right zones is crucial.
“The bottom shelf, being the coldest, is perfect for raw meats, while the middle shelves maintain ideal conditions for dairy and prepared foods. The door, often used for milk, is actually the warmest area due to frequent opening.
“We recommend keeping more stable items like condiments and drinks in the door compartments, moving milk to the middle shelf where temperatures remain more constant.” But the impact of proper fridge organisation isn’t just about reducing waste.
“When you can see and access everything easily, you’re more likely to cook at home and make healthier choices,” Sun added. “Plus, maintaining optimal storage conditions means your fresh produce lasts longer, reducing both waste and shopping frequency.”
Many people will overorder their takeaway, solely so they can chow down on the same delicious meal the next day – but how do you store your leftovers? A lot of people will have the mindset that the correct thing to do to be hygienic is to wait for the food to cool down for an hour or so, and then pop it in the fridge, ready to be heated up the next day.
It comes after a hygiene expert debunked a belief that you should wait for leftovers to cool down before putting them in the fridge. Madame Sweat, captioned a video: “True or False: Is it safe to put warm leftovers in the fridge? Let’s discuss.”
“True or false, putting warm food in the refrigerator can actually cause bacteria?”, she asked, continuing: “My mother-in-law always said ‘Leave your food out, let it cool down before you put it in the fridge otherwise it will grow bacteria’. Well, guess what? She was wrong.”
Madame Sweat then went on to explain: “You should put the food warm into the refrigerator. The sooner you get it in there, the better. The only trick is to make sure that it’s in a shallow dish – don’t put a big ginormous dish in the refrigerator because it’ll take longer to cool down.
“But it’s perfectly acceptable to put warm food in your refrigerator. In fact, don’t leave food out sitting on your counter. If you’ve left it out for more than two hours, you may as well throw it in the garbage.”
