Surely you have done it a few times yourself or you may never have done it, but it is important for you to know that this fairly common habit is wrong and you risk ruining everything.

One of the common kitchen habits is to put everything in the refrigerator. Any food we store it in the refrigerator, with the idea that the cold will protect our food from developing bacteria. And we usually do it any way we can, without thinking much about how, when or why. But what happens if a good storage strategy is not followed? Let’s see it together!

Don’t put it in the refrigerator! You risk ruining everything, yet everyone does it

One of the most common causes of food poisoning is improper cooling of cooked food. Bacteria are everywhere; even after a food has been cooked to a safe internal temperature, they can easily reproduce. There are many people who, after cooking food, store it still warm in the refrigerator, not knowing that doing so risks spoiling everything.

1. The refrigerator consumes more energy

The first problem by storing food still warm is that we force the refrigerator to work twice as hard. The purpose of this appliance is to keep temperatures low so that food stays cold. If you put something at higher temperatures, the temperature inside this appliance will rise and therefore it will have to work harder and consume more energy. Because of this, the refrigerator will suffer and with it everything inside.

2. Nearby food heats up

When a hot container or dish is placed in the refrigerator, the temperature inside and the food nearby increases. Thus, what was cold becomes warmer, increasing the risk of food contamination and reducing its optimal storage time.

3. The refrigerator cools unevenly

Another drawback is that cooked food placed in the refrigerator will cool unevenly. This is because the temperature will not drop evenly, but will drop more slowly in the part where you have placed the cooked food. Again, this can increase the risk of bacteria forming in certain foods. One of the most common causes of food poisoning is improper cooling of cooked food.

4. Food absorbs odors

When we introduce a food while it is still warm, the odors of what we have stored in the refrigerator will be more easily absorbed by other foods than if we did so instead at the ideal temperature.

5. Make the refrigerator work harder

By putting hot food inside, the refrigerator has to maintain the temperature and expend more energy so that it drops again. As a result, you spend more electricity and reduce the life of the appliance if done daily.

To avoid this, there is an easy and inexpensive technique to be able to speed up the natural cooling process. This consists of placing the container containing the hot food inside another one with ice water before storing it in the refrigerator. This is a perfect technique to be able to cool the food quickly and store it almost immediately in the refrigerator, without the danger of bacteria breeding.