Fridge Tips

Keep the fridge at a cool 1 - 5 degrees and chilled food will stay fresh for longer. Our most perishable (and often most expensive) food is kept in the fridge, so keep tabs on their use-by dates - the freezer may be the option for food we won't get round to eating in time.

• Stay fresh salad

  Submitted by Robin Greenwood, Dunblane

  If you have leftover salad, cover with a damp piece of kitchen paper before covering with cling film or putting in a sealed container. This REALLY prolongs the life of the salad leaves. This also works well with salad bags, which when left in the bag tend sweat and go limp/brown very quickly.

• What did I do with that bit of onion? (and similar questions)

  Submitted by Judith KIein-Dial, New Hampshire, USA

  One of the best things I ever did to cut down our food waste was to put a plastic shoe bin in my fridge. I put in it the 2 pieces of cooked asparagus, the 4 slices of cooked roast, the odd bits and pieces, and yes, the chunk of unchopped onion, or the extra bits of chopped onion too, all in small containers. When I'm cooking, it takes just a second to look in the box for the odd bits that were left over to see what I can use in whatever I'm cooking now. It took a little while to get used to looking in the box at first, but it has cut down our food waste a good deal.

• Keeping coriander fresh

  Submitted by Jen Clews, Australia

  Instead of putting your coriander in the veg crisper drawer, half fill an old coffee jar with cold water, put in the coriander and cover with a (recycled!) plastic bag held with an elastic band. Keep in the door of your fridge, change the water every few days and it will keep well.

• Keeping Peppers Fresh

  Submitted by Love Food Hate Waste,

  Store peppers in the fridge in a loosely tied plastic bag, for freshness and quality

• Lemon Fresh

  Submitted by Love Food Hate Waste,

  Keep lemons in the fridge, in a loosely tied plastic bag, for freshness. Bring to room temperature for taste.

• Stay-fresh carrots

  Submitted by Marilyn Thorne, Llanelli, S. Wales

  When I buy carrots from my greengrocer I alway clean them immediately, wrap them and put them in the fridge. This is especially important in the summer months when fresh vegetables go off quickly if you store them in a cupboard or basket.

• Fresh and Firm Oranges

  Submitted by Love Food Hate Waste,

  Oranges stay fresh and firm for even longer in the fridge if kept in a loosely tied plastic bag.

• Fridge Odour Eater

  Submitted by Lucy, Derbyshire

  To keep the fridge smelling sweet, put in the fridge half a tub of bi-carbonate of soda salts that are past their 'best before date' - no need for an extra container and no wasting the bicarb!

• Succulent Apples

  Submitted by Love Food Hate Waste,

  Apples stay fresher and more succulent in the fridge if kept in a loosely tied plastic bag.

• Storing strawberries

  Submitted by Love Food Hate Waste,

  Store strawberries in the packaging you bought them in and refrigerate for freshness.