What you should (and shouldn't) keep in the fridge
The first time I visited the States, as a 10-year old at the end of the 1970s, I marvelled at the enormous fridges. Not so much the broom-cupboard sized beasts themselves, with their chrome fittings and cavernous, brightly lit freezers. No, it was the contents that seemed so odd. Jam, ketchup, mustard even, were all arranged in the deep doors, eggs and bread on the shelves, oranges and apples in the drawers.
Back in Blighty, none of these would have been considered candidates for the cooler. Jam and sauces went in the cupboard, fruit in the bowl on the table, vegetables in a wire rack next to the kitchen work surface, bread in the slightly musty bread bin.
These days, we’ve adopted the Stateside “bung-it-in-the-fridge” mentality to much of our food. This is partly because our houses have changed. Where once we might have had a cool larder or at least a ventilated cupboard for food, few modern kitchens have these luxuries. Simultaneously, our houses have got warmer, assiduously centrally heated, and making it less realistic to store food at the ever increasing room temperature. So, fridges have had to take the place of larders, expanding to make space for all the contents.
Aesthetics are at play too. Open-plan living has meant our kitchen areas are on display as never before. We’ve all looked longingly at the photographs of shiny, uncluttered surfaces in minimalism-loving interiors magazines. Where can that ramshackle collection of jars on the work surface go? You guessed it, the fridge.
To be fair, this may be a good move. Sugar, which is a great preservative, has become ingredient-non-grata, and the amounts in jam and preserves have plummeted.
The result? Jams tends to go mouldy if left at room temperature. Maybe we are more squeamish too: while my mother would have thought nothing of scraping a white fuzz off the top of the marmalade before plonking the jar on the breakfast table, few would think that acceptable now.
The way we shop has changed as well. When vegetables and meat were bought every day, they could be kept happily on the kitchen table until it was time to cook. Now, we stock up in bulk and ingredients have to be stored until the next weekly shop.
Not only that, but with the dazzling array of produce available and a more laissez-faire approach to menu planning than our grandparents, many of us buy more than we need. Without the fridge we’d end up throwing even more away than we do already – a shocking £4.4 million worth a year, according to anti-waste campaigners WRAP. The fridge isn’t just a convenient tool, or a lazy one-stop drop for the groceries, it’s part of our battle to save the planet.
So yes, I love my fridge. But when I open the door, it’s as packed as a pre-pandemic rush hour train in there, jammed with packets, bags, jars, packet and bottles, some of which have been there for years. It’s time to reclaim some shelf space.
What actually needs to be there? Here’s the low-down.
Eggs
Room-temperature eggs are better for baking and less likely to crack when boiled, so keeping them out of the fridge is fine – as long as your kitchen is reasonably cool, no hotter than 20C. They’ll last three weeks, although as time goes on the albumen will weaken, making the eggs less neat for frying and poaching (although older whites are be better for meringue making). Make sure you use them in order (British Lion eggs are date stamped) – I’m hankering after an egg helter-skelter to help with this.
If you do decide to keep them in the fridge, they’ll last up to two months. What you can’t do, however, is put them in the fridge, then change your mind and keep them out on the side. The condensation which forms on the shell as the chilled egg come back up to room temperature damages the cuticle, the outer layer of the egg which guards against bacterial growth. Washing eggs also destroys the cuticle, so if you need to rinse away some mud or feathers from home-laid eggs, make sure they go in the fridge afterwards. In the US, where eggs are washed as standard, they are always kept in the refrigerator.
Jam
As I said above, the lowering of sugar in jam means that once it is opened it will need to go in the fridge unless it’s made with at least an equal weight of sugar to fruit. Even if it is, you may be better off chilling it. The size of the opening means that contaminants – a breadcrumb say, or a smear of butter from a knife – can get in and provide food for a mouldy invasion.
Tomato ketchup and brown sauce
Ketchup, brown sauce and barbecue sauce have plenty of sugar, salt and vinegar in to preserve them so are fine stored in the cupboard, although predictably Heinz does recommend keeping its ketchup chilled after opening. Because of the narrow opening on sauce bottles, they are much less likely to be contaminated by rogue dirty spoons, knives or fingers, which helps them keep well too.
Mayonnaise
Mayonnaise (especially in wide-mouthed jars) is much more prone to contamination, has less salt, sugar and vinegar, plus it contains eggs, so best keep this in the fridge.
Mustard
While there’s no danger to storing mustard out of the fridge, English mustard will keep its kick for longer if it is chilled. And if there is any chance a less-than immaculately clean spoon has been dunked in the jar, keep it in the fridge.
Tomatoes
Most tomatoes we buy are a bit underripe, as in this state they are firmer and easier to transport undamaged, which suits the supermarkets. Don’t bring these back and shove them in the fridge, but let them ripen in a bowl, so they develop their full flavour.
If you still have some when they start to go soft and verging on overripe, these should be moved the fridge. According to food scientist Harold McGee, writing in On Food and Cooking, below 13C tomatoes “lose flavour due to the loss of flavour-producing enzyme activity,” but they can recover somewhat, providing they are allowed to recover at room temperature for a day or two.
Onions
One reason for keeping onions in the fridge may override all others: chilled onions are less likely to make you cry, as the sulphur compounds which are released when the onion is cut are less volatile at low temperatures. Generally onions will last for a good week out of the fridge, and a couple of months in a cool place (around 10C). If you haven’t got a cold cellar, then opt for the fridge as low temperatures prevent sprouting.
Bread
Keeping bread in the fridge is a sure-fire way to turn it hard – useful for making breadcrumbs, not so much for sandwiches. The reason is that the starch molecules recrystallise (aka starch retrogradation) at cool temperatures.
You can reverse some of this by warming the bread, but a much better bet for long-term storage is to stash the loaf, ready sliced and wrapped in a plastic bag, in the freezer. Take out pieces as you need them and pop them in the toaster.
Bananas
It’s common knowledge that storing bananas in the fridge will turn the skin black – but less well known that the fruit inside the skin will stay good for a week or so. So as long as you aren’t bothered by black peel, putting ripe bananas in the fridge until you need them makes sense. Alternatively, slice and freeze them to add to smoothies or make quick “ice creams” by blitzing them in the food processor until smooth.
Herbs
Most cut herbs benefit from being kept in the fridge. Wash them, shake them dry (use a salad spinner if you have one) and wrap in dry kitchen towel, then put the whole bundle in a plastic bag or airtight box, before sealing and putting in the fridge. The paper will absorb any residual water, and maintain an even moisture level.
The exception is basil, which hates the cold, turning an unappetising slime-y black. You’re best off keeping the King of Herbs like a bunch of flowers, at room temperature in jar or vase with an inch or two of water at the bottom.
Nuts and nut oils
Nuts – and nut oils – aren’t cheap so finding they have gone rancid is especially annoying. Nuts should keep fine for a week or two in a cupboard (depending on how fresh they were when you bought them) but for longer term storage, they’ll keep in the fridge for at least six months and the freezer for a year. Nut oils are more fragile than ordinary vegetable or olive oil (according to McGee it’s down to a large proportion of fragile polyunsaturated acid) so put them in the fridge as soon as they are opened – that way they’ll stay tasting good for a year or more.
