Most of us are on the lookout for small household changes we can make to save us money.
The recent increase in food prices means that weekly spends have soared, piling on the pressure to large families. But there are certain things that people can do to make their weekly food shop go further, and most of it's down to how food is stored within the fridge.
While most people know the basics for storing food, such as meat going on the bottom shelves, it's also important to know how different temperatures affect different areas of the fridge.
Scott Evans, owner of self-storage company Pink Storage, has revealed the best fridge hacks to keep your food fresher for longer and save money in the process as reported by Wales Online.
The fridge door
The door of the fridge is one of the warmest parts, so although many households choose to store fresh juice and milk here, it's not the safest.
Instead, the advice is to store items such as bottled water, ketchup, mayonnaise and soft drinks as they can handle the changing temperature.
Scott said: "The door of the fridge seems the perfect place to keep your eggs, milk and juices as they often have compartments for them, but due to the fridge door being the warmest in temperature it will cause them to spoil quicker.”
To make your milk last longer, try storing it on the bottom shelves instead.
Upper shelves
The upper shelves should store foods that go bad when they come into contact with moisture.
Scott said: "Berries are a good example of this as if you keep them in the lower drawers of the fridge where it is cooler they can develop moisture and rot.
Fresh herbs are another item that can last longer on the top shelves of the fridge.
He continued: "To keep herbs lasting longer you should wash them and put them into a container with water just as you would do with flowers.
"If you want to make your herbs last even longer, a great hack is to cut them up and put them into ice cube trays with olive oil. When cooking you can just pop one out and let it melt."
Bottom shelves
Foods that are the most expensive and spoil the quickest should be stored here, including milk, eggs, butter, cheese and meat.
The coolest part of the fridge is at the back of the bottom shelf, making it a prime location for milk. Fragile items such as herbs should not be put here as it can cause them to freeze and die.
Scott said: "When placing your food in the fridge try not to put anything too tall at the back of the fridge as it could block the fridge's vents. You also don't want to overfill your fridge as you will stop the air circulating as much and cause your food to spoil quicker."
For those concerned about keeping butter in the fridge, he added: "If you like your butter to be at room temperature then cut a section off and leave it in a butter dish in the cupboard, then put the rest in the fridge to make it last a little longer."
With some types of butter now costing around £7 for a tub, doing this tip could save you money as you're only using a small amount at a time.
Scott advises people to double-check the temperature on their fridge to make sure it is at the optimal level. The ideal fridge temperature is deemed as being between 3C and 5C.
Th e freezer
Freezers are handy for storing food that you're not going to eat right away, and it'll last much longer than in the fridge.
The freezer can also be used to buy food in bulk and use them a little at a time.
"Buying food in bulk often leads to savings, all you need to do is check whether the food you are buying is safe to freeze and how long you can freeze it for," Scott said.
Plenty of foods ranging from eggs to milk to cooked pasta to various fruits and vegetables can be frozen to make them last longer.
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