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Americans throw away up to 40 percent of their food says the Environmental Protection Agency. This not only wastes money and energy, but the food decaying in landfills also produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas. To reverse this trend, the EPA has teamed up with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to challenge Americans to change their habits. The agencies are asking grocers, restaurants, stadiums, and other food-serving venues to rethink their food-handling practices. And by learning how to keep food at its freshest, you can meet the challenge too.
Much of the food we waste is not waste at all, but actually safe and wholesome, says the EPA. While stocking up at the big-box stores can be tempting, don't buy more food than you can consume before it starts to spoil or gets stale. Storing refrigerated food correctly can keep it fresh longer. Here are some tips from the experts at Consumer Reports.
Check the temperature. Most of today's refrigerators have digital thermometers but if yours doesn't, buy an appliance thermometer and make sure the refrigerator's temperature is between 37 and 38 degrees F and the freezer maintains 0 degrees F.
Space it out. For food to stay at the right temperature, there needs to be room for the air to circulate so use all the shelves and bins. When putting packages of food in the freezer, place them in single layers and stack them after they're frozen.
Find the chill. The back of the refrigerator is the coolest place and best for storing milk, eggs and raw meats. Don't keep those items in the door bins where temperatures are more variable.
Double wrap your frozen meats. When freezing meats from the supermarket, overwrap the supermarket packaging with aluminum foil, freezer paper, freezer-weight plastic wrap or bags.
Put a lid on it. Airtight containers are ideal for keeping cold cuts, cheese, and fresh berries from spoiling quickly.
Portion out leftovers. When putting away food left over from a party or holiday dinner, transfer it into small containers so it cools down faster.
Place ripe bananas in the refrigerator. Our food experts say that the peel will get darker, but the fruit is still good for up to five days.
But leave whole tomatoes on the counter. Tomatoes get mealy and lose flavor in the refrigerator.
All of the top refrigerators in Consumer Reports tests had very good to excellent temperature performance, which means they maintain a constant temperature despite the warmth of the room. And our top-scoring French-door refrigerator, the LG LFX28991[ST], $3,000, kept its cool without expending a lot of energy. The highest-scoring top-freezer, the GE Profile PTS22LHS[WW], $1,600, also has excellent temperature performance but cost more to run than the larger LG. The Samsung RS265TD[WP], $1,300, our top-scoring side-by-side has very good temperature performance and energy efficiency and lots of shelving options that make it easy to organize.
--Izabela Rutkowski
