What temperature is your refrigerator supposed to be at

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Keep your food fresh longer—and help prevent foodborne illness—by finding the ideal refrigerator temperature.

Is your food going bad more quickly than usual? (Psst! Here’s how long fresh produce should last.) If produce is wilted, cheese is warm and ice cream is coming out of the freezer like soup, your fridge temp might need a checkup.

The Best Temperature for Your Fridge

The ideal refrigerator temperature is at or below 40°F (4°C), and your freezer temperature should be 0°F (-18°C). While some refrigerators and freezers are outfitted with all the bells and whistles, they might not have a built-in thermometer. Fortunately, appliance thermometers are generally inexpensive and can be found in most kitchen appliance stores or on Amazon.

Finding the optimal refrigerator temperature is key to making sure that your produce and leftovers last as long as possible, and is one of the easiest ways to prevent foodborne illnesses from eating expired and rancid milk, eggs and dairy. While properly freezing is a great way to store bulk items like meat, the FDA notes that it does affect “tenderness, flavor, aroma, juiciness, and color” the longer that your foods are frozen. Here’s our guide to navigating foods with freezer burn.

If you’re worried about your leftovers going bad before you can get to them, get creative! As our food editor, Peggy Woodward, says, “Leftover meat can be added to a simple soup or combined with eggs into a flaky quiche or frittata. If you have a small amount of leftover cooked vegetables, put an egg on top and enjoy the dish for supper. Leftover grains make tasty fried rice. Fruits can go into a fruit salad, chopped vegetables into a stir-fry.” Try these recipes for leftover chicken, too.

Why Is My Refrigerator Freezing Food?

It’s frustrating when you open your refrigerator and find frozen food. Especially when something freezes that can’t be salvaged, like lettuce or other fresh produce. Is the fridge broken? What’s going on? Luckily, a freezing issue can usually be fixed with a simple solution. Here are few possible reasons your fridge is getting too cold.

Temperature Setting

Check the temperature setting on your refrigerator. It should be set between 37°F and 40°F—the ideal refrigerator temperature to keep food fresh and cold but not frozen. If you have a numbered dial setting instead of a temperature reading, the highest number is the coldest (usually 5). Appliance brands recommend keeping it on the coldest setting, but if your food is freezing, try turning it down to 4.

Food Placement

Refrigerators need sufficient air circulation to maintain a proper temperature. Make sure your fridge isn’t overloaded, and that food isn’t blocking any of the air vents. On the other hand, an under stocked fridge can be a problem as well. Without enough items inside the fridge, the cold air settles at the bottom of the fridge and might freeze the food in your bottom drawers.

Leak in the Door Seal

If your fridge is leaking cold air due to a faulty door seal, the fridge will constantly be running trying to keep the temperature at the right level. And if your fridge is working in overdrive, it could cause freezing (or worse yet, the motor to go out!). Inspect the door seal and look for tears or warping, then replace if needed.

The Best Refrigerator Rules to Follow

Regularly monitoring your thermometer is the best way to make sure your food is safe, but just in case your refrigerator or freezer gets too warm or chilly, there are ways to ensure everything is working properly.

• Close the door! It’s easy to leave the door open while you’re cooking or unpacking groceries, but only leave the doors open when absolutely necessary.
• Spread out your food. It seems silly, but keep your food spread out so air can properly flow through the fridge and freezer. A fully stocked fridge is more likely to be warmer than a less stocked one.
• Clean your coils. Like other appliances, your fridge might need a little TLC from time to time. Make sure to clean the coils at least once per year to avoid refrigerator repairs.

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Have you ever opened the door to your fridge to search for something to eat and you pulled something out from the back corner that was frozen solid? You’ve probably wondered why an appliance designed to keep your food cold would keep some cool-ish while others turn into a block of ice.

The most important job your fridge and freezer performs is keeping your perishables fresh for longer, but to preserve your food for as long as possible you need to do more than just throw it all inside and shut the door.

Here’s why your refrigerator temperature is so important, what the best spot to place different types of food really is, and what temperature your fridge and freezer should be set at.

What’s the ideal temperature to keep food fresh?

More than anything else, the most important reason to keep your fridge and freezer at the right temperature is to keep your food free from bacteria.

Health Canada has guidelines for slowing the growth of bacteria. They recommend you keep your fridge set to 4°C (40°F) or colder and your freezer at -18 °C (0 °F) or lower. At that temperature bacteria growth can be slowed down. Anything higher than that and you enter the ‘danger zone’ of 4 °C (40 °F) to 60 °C (140 °F) where bacteria has the opportunity to explode.

The consensus from multiple sources online is that the best temperature range for your fridge and freezer is 35°F to 38°F for the fridge and -18°C (0°F) for the freezer.

What’s the best placement for food in a fridge and freezer?

It’s a great feeling when your fridge and freezer are packed full of food. It means you don’t have to go shopping anytime soon and you have enough food to cook and eat. Having a full fridge also means it will be better at maintaining its temperature.

While a full fridge is better for keeping your food cold, putting too much food inside or putting your food in the wrong spot can virtually eliminate the airflow required for keeping everything consistently chilly. That’s why it’s so important to know proper placement for food in a fridge or freezer.

What foods should be placed in the door of your fridge?

The door of your fridge is the warmest spot in the entire appliance. It’s not a great place to stash anything that’s highly perishable, and that includes foods like raw chicken, leftovers you want to eat again, and any dairy products. Even if your refrigerator has a handy egg compartment on the door, eggs do best when stored on an interior shelf.

Keep your condiments in the door of your fridge. BBQ sauce, jam, mustard, ketchup, and canned drinks all do well when placed in the door.

What foods should be placed in the upper shelves of your fridge?

Your upper shelves tend to maintain their temperature the best, so this is the spot where you should store anything that doesn’t need to be cooked. Your milk jug, other dairy products like butter or yogurt, meats that are already pre-cooked, or other ready-to-eat foods.

What foods should be placed on the bottom shelf of your fridge?

While the top shelves maintain a better consistent temperature than anywhere else in your fridge, the bottom shelves are the coldest. This is the prime spot to store raw chicken or other meat, eggs, and seafood.

What foods should be placed in the crisper drawers of your fridge?

The crisper drawers are where you store fruits and vegetables. The key thing to keep in mind when placing these foods in the crisper drawers is that they should be kept separate. Some types of fruit emit ethylene gas, and that can make your vegetables go bad a lot faster than if they were in a separate compartment.

Types of fruit that emit ethylene gas include plums, bananas, nectarines, peaches, pears, tomatoes, and avocados.

Best practices for placing food in your freezer

You can avoid freezer burn by making sure all of your frozen food is stored in airtight containers. You should also let your food completely cool off before you freeze it. Excess moisture in warm food tends to turn to ice crystals, and that can cause freezer burn.

How to set the temperature in your fridge and freezer

Because there are many different makes and models of refrigerator, the way you set the temperature in one fridge won’t be the same as the way you set it in another. French door refrigerators that open without opening the freezer will need to have the temperature set differently than a one-door refrigerator.

A good rule of thumb if you aren’t sure how to use the temperature controls is to check the manual. It contains best practices for your specific make and model.

5 tips for keeping food fresh in your refrigerator

• Keep your refrigerator door closed – Standing in front of your fridge wondering what to make for dinner causes it to lose cold air, and then it has to start the cooling process all over again
  
• Don’t put warm food in your fridge – It takes longer for your fridge to cool down foods that are warm or hot. Leave them on your counter until they cool off, then put them in the refrigerator
• Keep your eye on those “Keep Refrigerated” labels – If a food says ‘Keep Refrigerated’ right on the label, you should keep it inside your fridge whenever you aren’t using it
• Eat your leftovers within a few days – Health Canada has a great list of storage guidelines for leftovers, but a good rule of thumb is to keep them no longer than two days
• Once defrosted, consume asap – If you defrosted any type of food, you should try to eat it within two days

Following these guidelines for setting temperature and best food placement in your fridge and freezer means you can minimize any food borne health threats from eating spoiled foods. You also eliminate food waste, and that keeps money in your bank account by saving on your grocery bill.

Take a look at all of the refrigerators and freezers available right now on Best Buy.

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