Your refrigerator is a necessity to keep foods fresh, but what is the optimal temperature to keep foods happy? Well, in order to keep bacteria from quickly growing, the best temperature is 34 to 40 degrees. At this temperature foods will last longer, stay fresh, and minimize bacteria growth.

If you keep leftovers to eat later, then it is very important that you put these in the refrigerator as fast as possible. Some people think that cooking food that was left out the refrigerated(leftovers) will kill the bacterias on it. This is not true. Some bacterias can release toxins and these toxins resist to very high temperatures.

• You must keep the food you store away from areas such as ovens, water pipes or dishwashers. Hot places are not good to store food, so if you have a room that does not get much sun, then this would be ideal. This room should be dark and relatively cold so that the food keeps fresh. 50-70 degrees is the ideal.

• You should know that these are some of the foods that do not do well when frozen: eggs, dairy products and eggs.

• Leftovers should be separated into small portions. Do this before freezing them, and this will allow the food to freeze faster.

• This next advice is important if you have many food in your refrigerator. You should always mark items with a date before freezing so that you know if they are frozen for long or not. It will keep things organized.

• If you don't already have one, keep a thermometer in your freezer and keep the temperature at zero degrees

• Another advice would be for you to check the seals on your refrigerator and make sure that they are air tight.

Proper Thawing

Here are some of the most common methods that people use to unfreeze food: they put the meat/chicken under warm water or put it on top on counter tops. Neither of these methods is good because can lead to some food-borne illnesses. Instead of it, here are the recommended thawing solutions: microwave thawing, refrigerator thawing or cold water thawing in a sealed leak proof package or container.

If you follow these tips, then your food will stay fresh longer.