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An interesting article.
Yes, I do keep Eggs AND Bread in the Fridge
(I have had many a discussion concerning this)
Oh, Bananas too!!!
The food myths that are costing you: The truth about sell-by dates, what you can freeze and more
Myths and misconceptions are costing us almost £300 a year in food that's chucked for no good reason – these are the facts about what you can and can't keep
We're throwing 10% of our food in the bin, as fruit, veg, meat and more go off before we get a chance to eat it – and that's before we we start talking about leftovers from finished meals.
An average of nine items of fruit and veg and two meat, bread or dairy items are thrown out of each household, each week.
And that's costing us. Figures from ao.com show this waste adds up to an average of £5.48 a week – that's £284.96 a year.
But it doesn't have to be this way. Especially as a lot of the waste comes as a result of simple misconceptions.
How much food is chucked by Brits each year
353m
Litres of milk
733,000
Tonnes of potatoes
473,000
Tonnes of bread
The first thing to know is exactly what is and isn't fit to eat. There's no point letting a misconception cost you perfectly edible food.
Firstly – this is what the labels REALLY mean:
Best Before: Foods with a 'best before' date should be safe to eat after the 'best before' date, but they may no longer be at their best.
Use by: These dates refer to safety. Food can be eaten up to the end of this date but not after even if it looks and smells fine.
Sell by/Display until: These dates are for shop staff not for shoppers. Ignore entirely.
And if you fancy saving some money, there are ways to save up to 70% by buying things that are past or near their sell-by, but still withing their use-by date. This is where to find them and what to watch out for.
After that, there are a lot of misconceptions about where things should be stored – for example, bread actually goes stale FASTER in the fridge and there's no point putting eggs in there either.
Other things you can keep out without any fear of them going off include HP sauce, jam and potatoes – and that just frees up space for the things that can really benefit from cold storage.
Do you keep your bread in the fridge?
So, will it keep?
The next thing is to know what you can and can't freeze. In a lot of cases something that goes off when fresh can either be frozen when it's close to its expiry or frozen immediately and defrosted as and when needed.
Cheese, milk, mushrooms, rice, yogurt, cream and mashed potato can all be frozen. Don't forget bread, either. Sliced bread can be kept in the freezer, then used as needed – massively extending its working life. Oh - and here are 5 ways to use up leftover bread so it doesn't go to waste.
Eggs can be frozen too – just not in their shells. If you crack them, then beat them you can freeze the liquid for use later.
What's more, you CAN re-freeze meat after it's been defrosted. Just make sure it's cooked through between the first and second freezing.
In fact, there are any number of things that might be better off in the freezer than the bin – from leftover baked beans to browning bananas.
Yes, I do keep Eggs AND Bread in the Fridge
(I have had many a discussion concerning this)
Oh, Bananas too!!!
The food myths that are costing you: The truth about sell-by dates, what you can freeze and more
Myths and misconceptions are costing us almost £300 a year in food that's chucked for no good reason – these are the facts about what you can and can't keep
We're throwing 10% of our food in the bin, as fruit, veg, meat and more go off before we get a chance to eat it – and that's before we we start talking about leftovers from finished meals.
An average of nine items of fruit and veg and two meat, bread or dairy items are thrown out of each household, each week.
And that's costing us. Figures from ao.com show this waste adds up to an average of £5.48 a week – that's £284.96 a year.
But it doesn't have to be this way. Especially as a lot of the waste comes as a result of simple misconceptions.
How much food is chucked by Brits each year
353m
Litres of milk
733,000
Tonnes of potatoes
473,000
Tonnes of bread
The first thing to know is exactly what is and isn't fit to eat. There's no point letting a misconception cost you perfectly edible food.
Firstly – this is what the labels REALLY mean:
Best Before: Foods with a 'best before' date should be safe to eat after the 'best before' date, but they may no longer be at their best.
Use by: These dates refer to safety. Food can be eaten up to the end of this date but not after even if it looks and smells fine.
Sell by/Display until: These dates are for shop staff not for shoppers. Ignore entirely.
And if you fancy saving some money, there are ways to save up to 70% by buying things that are past or near their sell-by, but still withing their use-by date. This is where to find them and what to watch out for.
After that, there are a lot of misconceptions about where things should be stored – for example, bread actually goes stale FASTER in the fridge and there's no point putting eggs in there either.
Other things you can keep out without any fear of them going off include HP sauce, jam and potatoes – and that just frees up space for the things that can really benefit from cold storage.
Do you keep your bread in the fridge?
So, will it keep?
The next thing is to know what you can and can't freeze. In a lot of cases something that goes off when fresh can either be frozen when it's close to its expiry or frozen immediately and defrosted as and when needed.
Cheese, milk, mushrooms, rice, yogurt, cream and mashed potato can all be frozen. Don't forget bread, either. Sliced bread can be kept in the freezer, then used as needed – massively extending its working life. Oh - and here are 5 ways to use up leftover bread so it doesn't go to waste.
Eggs can be frozen too – just not in their shells. If you crack them, then beat them you can freeze the liquid for use later.
What's more, you CAN re-freeze meat after it's been defrosted. Just make sure it's cooked through between the first and second freezing.
In fact, there are any number of things that might be better off in the freezer than the bin – from leftover baked beans to browning bananas.
me eggs don't usually last very long anyway.
Good to know, thanks! 
