Have you ever imagine how much food waste occurs in your house in a day or year? According to Money magazine, the average household tosses out about 14% of the food they buy. For the typical family, that adds up to over $1,000 worth of food per year!  Yes, that big amount can already use to pay for bills, buy new clothes or spent time with your family for a family vacation.

There are simple tips and tricks for food storage. When foods are stored properly, they’ll stay fresher and have a longer life. Doing a few simple changes to the way you store your food can help you avoid waste, and will lessen your grocery bill! Here are some of the tips and tricks that you can try at home to save more money.

#1 Temperature inside your Fridge

Make sure that your fridge have the right temperature all the time. Ideal temperature is around 38-40°F. This will keep your food as fresh as possible, without making your food so cold that it freezes. You can use a fridge thermometer to verify the temperature of your fridge.

#2 Plant your own food

Start planting your own vegetables. If you have a wide backyard, why not take advantage of planting vegetables that you can use daily? You are not just saving a lot of money but you are also not worrying about how long your food has traveled or how long ago it was picked when you grow it yourself.

#3 For Storing Fruits and Vegetables

Paper towels to the rescue! They are a good absorber of residue of fruits and water excess. By doing this, you are avoiding your fruits to get rotten easily. Just check it from time to time.

You can help keep mushrooms from getting slimy by wrapping them in paper towels before refrigerating.

If you notice your tomatoes are about to go bad, roast them in slices or chunks. Place the roasted pieces in a container with olive oil, and they’ll stay good in the fridge for about a week.

#4 For Storing Fish, Egg, and Meat

For fish, you don’t want the smell of the fish all over your fridge. The best way to store them is to keep them in a bag on top of a bowl of ice. But you need to eat it as soon as possible. If you are planning to keep it for a while make sure that your fridge can keep it frozen to keep it fresh for longer.

For Meat and Poultry should be kept in its original packaging if you are going to eat it right away. But if not, wrap it in tin foil or stick it in a ziplock bag, then store it in your freezer. 

While for Eggs, keep it in its original carton. To check if the eggs are still fresh, place one in a cup of water. Fresh egg should sink, while old egg usually float.

#5 Bread and Baking Supplies

You can freeze your flour for 48 hours to kill any insects that may be present. Once done, transfer it into a clean and tightly sealed container. Store it into a dark and cool place.

Storing bread in the fridge can actually cause it to store more quickly due to the moist environment. Bread is best kept on your countertop in a tightly sealed bag or container.

Store your dry foods in airtight containers, rather than the packaging they came in! This will help keep pasta, cereal, pretzels, and other foods fresher for longer. I like to use mason jars, but any airtight container will do.

#6 Dairy Products

Wax paper is the best tool to use in storing your cheese. Wrap your cheese in wax paper, wax papers allows your cheese to breathe while keeping it dry. To store shredded cheese in the freezer, simply shred, toss with cornstarch, and place in an airtight baggie.

For Milk, stored it in the door of your fridge. Milk will always stay fresh for longer if it kept nice and cold. If you’ve bought a gallon of milk and only then realized you were going on vacation, don’t worry, it won’t spoil — if you freeze it. There are several rules, however. Pour out some milk before freezing, as it will increase in volume. It’s best to freeze fresh milk and keep it in the freezer for no more than 4 to 6 weeks.

Stock up some butter when it’s on sale. Keep it in it’s original package and then seal it up in a freezer bag, it will stay good for up to 6 months, believe me!

#7 For your favorite sauce

There a lot of left over every time that you ordered food and delivery it into your house. Best way to keep it is, pour everything into a storage bag and place it in your freezer. Within an hour it will be hard enough and you can cut into cubes and use it when needed.

Food needs to be maintained at cold temperatures to prevent the growth of bacteria and other microbes that make food spoil—and can make people sick. Refrigerators should be kept at 40 F or lower, and freezers should be set to 0 F. But even when the refrigerator is sufficiently cold, the temperature will vary in different parts of the fridge depending on how close they are to the cooling element. Master the art of the refrigerator, and your food will last longer.

Here is some tips from FoodSafety.Gov in keeping your fridge organize.

One of the tougher questions is figuring out if something goes in the fridge in the first place. Certain foods don’t belong in the fridge. Tomatoes will turn mealy and odorless in the fridge—keep them comfy at room temperature. Onions, squash, and potatoes do best in a cooler environment with low moisture, so store them in a dark cupboard or other place outside of the fridge. Avocados and many fruits are just fine being left on the counter to ripen, but also can go in the fridge to slow the process down if needed. Herbs can be kept in the fridge or in a vase on the countertop if they’ll be used with a few days.

Fridge needs to be clean more frequently to avoid any bad smell and to make sure that spoiled left over food has been thrown away properly. But sometimes we are too lazy in doing or maybe we don’t know when is the best time in cleaning your fridge. The best way is to hire a cleaning company, since most of the cleaning company have enough knowledge in cleaning this kind of appliances and they are well-trained on how to properly organize your fridge.

One of the best company in Chicago that can help you is, Maria’s Green Cleaning Services Seattle. This cleaning company is only using organic products to your house or appliances. They also have the best rates and best people that can help you in cleaning your appliances.