Doing a weekly food purge saves room in your fridge. It can also save you from a stomachache or worse.
Foods without a lid
Will you get sick if you use the uncovered can of tomato paste you opened days ago when making your pasta bolognese? Or could you be harming Fido if you neglect to put a lid on his half-empty can of dog food? Probably not…but don’t expect those products to have the same punch when you pull them out again for Dinner 2.0 (yours or your pup’s). Think of your fridge as a giant food dehydrator—anything directly exposed to air will quickly dry out and probably take all the flavor with it.
According to the USDA, products will retain better flavor if transferred to a glass or plastic storage container that can be properly sealed. This 20-piece set from Amazon is BPA-free, has more than 10,000 five-star reviews, and is fully see-through, so you can avoid excessive lid-popping that exposes food to even more air and spoilage.
Moldy berries
This may seem like a no-brainer, but how many times have you poked through that carton of blueberries or strawberries to remove the offenders and eat the rest? Not always a good idea. “Sure, you can pick out one or two of the offending berries, wash the rest in clean, cold water, and you should be fine,” Schaffner says, but don’t try to salvage individual berries by cutting away the spoiled portions. “Throw out the entire bad strawberry—even if it’s half moldy, and make sure there are no other moldy ones around it.”
To get the most bang for your buck, store fruit in an aerated container that elevates berries from any moisture that may have dripped down and regulates the flow of oxygen and carbon dioxide to reduce spoilage.
Foods you’ve double-dipped
Pulled out the tuna salad and enjoyed a few forkfuls for lunch, then popped it back into the fridge? Tons of onion dip left after watching the big game with friends? Put thoughts of food waste aside and toss the lot—they may be contaminated with pathogens. “Staphylococcus aureus is commonly found in and around people’s noses,” Schaffner explains, “and it could be transmitted to foods by sneezing or by cross-contamination from nose to hands to food.”
A safer bet: Always keep food pristine by transferring individual portions with a clean serving spoon, and throw out the dip unless you’ve had a food cop watching the bowl for all four quarters. To avoid waste, set out only half the dip to start, and keep the rest safely in the fridge until needed. Or hand out cool individual dip “caddies” so guests can avoid contaminating the big bowl.
“Dead” shellfish
You may have purchased those clams, crabs, and mussels in the last 24 hours, but that doesn’t mean they’re safe to eat. In addition to making sure you buy them from a vendor who refrigerates seafood and/or presents them on a thick bed of fresh ice, perform your own safety check once home: Discard ones with cracked or broken shells; do a “tap” test (live clams, oysters, and mussels will close when the shell is tapped); and look for leg movement in crabs and lobster. To keep seafood as safe as possible during transport home from the store, consider keeping an insulated tote in your car.
Homemade salad dressing
Unlike commercially prepared salad dressings, which can be kept for one to three months after opening, homemade salad dressings (or ones you purchase fresh from a restaurant or deli) are far more perishable—their shelf life is in the one- to two-week range. Craig keeps track of hers by using a permanent marker to label the container or bottle with the date of purchase and date of opening, but you can also use these handy premade labels, which dissolve in water so they won’t ruin your storage containers. “This reduces food waste and helps me rotate and use refrigerated foods,” Craig explains. “It’s an easy habit to adopt and takes very little time.
Cooked chicken or beef that’s more than three days old
“Most harmful bacteria cannot grow at refrigeration temperatures, but spoilage organisms can,” cautions Yavelak, who urges consumers to trust their “gut” instincts. “My rule of thumb is always to look at it first, then to smell it, and, if everything else seems fine, to finally taste it. This method will keep you from smelling or tasting something that may be unpleasant, as that can make some people sick to their stomach. However, getting an upset stomach after smelling or tasting spoiled food is likely not a food-borne illness caused by pathogens.”
Eggs in the door
Your fancy fridge might come equipped with a convenient built-in egg rack in the door, but pull it out to make room for other items and place eggs on a fridge shelf instead, says Vlatka Lake, a marketing manager at the storage company Space Station. The frequent door opening exposes eggs to fluctuating temperatures and can cause them to rot faster, she explains. This elegant holder, which can house up to 21 eggs, keeps them protected and visible for longer storage.
