#durftevragen: can you put warm food in the fridge or freezer?

Say wine, snacks or haute cuisine and the gourmands at online food magazine FavorFlav know where to drink, how to eat it and what to cook. This time our cheffies serve you: #durftevragen: can you put warm food in the fridge or freezer?

There are quite a few do's and don'ts when it comes to storing food. In or out of the fridge or freezer, for how long and especially why? But before you store those leftovers, they must first be cooled down. Or not?

Who saves has something. Leftover roasted vegetables are delicious in the salad the next day, and a homemade pasta sauce is always handy to have on hand. But can you put warm food straight into that Tupperware container and put it in the fridge, or is it wiser (and better) to let it cool down?

America versus Europe
Opinions on this differ. In America, for example, they prefer to put leftovers straight into the fridge so that it spoils less quickly than leaving it out for hours. Food does spoil faster when stored outside of refrigeration for a long time, as bacteria can develop more quickly. Europeans, it seems, wait until the food has cooled down – cooling down cooled food uses less energy than a steaming hot container. In that last case, the fridge has to work much harder to get everything cooled.

The warmer the food and the larger the portion, the longer the fridge needs to bring the temperature back to the set temperature. Moreover, warm food can warm up the fridge, which can affect the shelf life of other food items.

Room temperature
The best way to store leftovers is when the food has cooled down and around room temperature is good. Bacteria can develop quickly if you store food outside the fridge, but during eating, it cools down already, so you really have a bit of leeway. Cooling food goes faster in a large container or in several small containers. Pasta sauces can also be very conveniently stored flat in a ziplock freezer bag (tip from Jamie Oliver). It also saves space in the freezer and... it cools down faster. You should always store leftovers airtight anyway. Then bacteria have much less chance!

Perfect freezing? This is the tip to make optimal use of your freezer!

Source: Liebherr