Can you put hot food in the fridge or freezer?
There are plenty of do’s and don’ts when it comes to storing food. In or out of the fridge or freezer, for how long and, most importantly, why? But before you store those leftovers, they need to have cooled down first. Or do they?
Those who save something have something. Leftover roasted vegetables are delicious in a salad the next day, and homemade pasta sauce is always handy to have on hand.
Hot food in the fridge or freezer
But can you put hot food straight into that Tupperware container and put it in the fridge, or is it wiser (and better) to let it cool down first?
America versus Europe
Opinions differ on this. In America, for example, people prefer to put leftovers in the fridge immediately so they spoil less quickly than if they were left outside the fridge for hours first. Food naturally spoils more quickly when it is kept out of refrigeration for a long time, because bacteria can multiply more quickly. If you really take it too far, you could even get Fried Rice Syndrome, and you really don’t want that.
Europeans, or so it seems, wait until the food has cooled down—cooling cooled food takes less energy than cooling a steaming-hot container. In the latter case, the fridge has to work much harder to cool everything down.
The hotter the food and the larger the portion, the longer the fridge needs to bring the temperature back down to the set temperature. In addition, hot food can warm up the fridge, which may affect the shelf life of other foods.
Room temperature
The best way to store leftovers is once the food has cooled down to around room temperature. Bacteria can multiply quickly if you store food outside the fridge, but it also cools down while you eat, so you really do have a little leeway. Incidentally, food cools down faster in one large container or several small containers.
You can also conveniently store pasta sauces flat in a ziplock freezer bag (a tip from Jamie Oliver). It also saves space in the freezer and… it cools down faster. You should always store leftovers airtight anyway. That gives bacteria far less chance!
Perfect freezing? This is the tip for making optimal use of your freezer!
Read also:
- 10 things you can (also!) store in the freezer
- 10 tips for keeping your food fresh for longer
- Five really good tips for freezing (and thawing) meat
