The right temperature for your Fridge and Freezer

Setting the correct temperature, will help prolong the life span of the food you put inside

Written by Tomas Lyngen

Published: 29 May 2024

Keeping food fresh

We all hate opening the fridge, just to find that the milk has gone sour or some other food item gone bad. So there's a few different things to keep in mind when wanting to prolong the freshness of food, where temperature is one factor

Correct temperature

Setting the correct temperature is but one of the factors you should keep in mind, when you try to prolong the freshness of your food

Frige

Fridge should colder than +4°C to avoid bacterial growt, according to The Norwegian Food Safety Authority (Mattilsynet)

Samsung Norway recommend +2°C, when the ambient temperature is +25°C

Freezer

Freezer should -18°C or colder according to The Norwegian Food Safety Authority (Mattilsynet)

Samsung Norway recommend -18°C, when the ambient room temperature is +25°C

Avoid hot food

Never put hot food or drinks straight into the freezer, you should always let them cool down a bit first

Yes, the fridge and freezer will manage to cool down the hot products eventually. But it also comes with a cost and not just the extra energy it needs to use to cool them. There's also the impact it has on everything else in the fridge and freezer. When you put a hot item inside, it will start to warm up the surrounding food and can make them go bad quicker

Defrost your freezer

Over time there will be build up of snow and ice in your freezer, if the freezer isn't defrosted regularly

Many fridge and freezer combos today comes with auto defrost, where the freezer will increase the temperature slight to defrost the walls and no action is needed by you

Not all freezers has this feature and that's especially true for chest freezers. So when you see a decent buildup of snow and ice, it's time to defrost your freezer

By not defrosting your freezer, the freezer will have a harder time keeping the food inside cold. As the layer of snow and ice works as an insulation. Meaning food will quicker go bad and you power consumption will increase

Keep the fridge clean

Food that's gone bad or spills, can spoil other food that would have been fine otherwise. So it's important to regularly clean the fridge and remove spoiled food

Extra sensitive food can be smart to store in seperate containers, to help prolong their life's and protect surrounding food items

Avoid overfilling

For your fridge and freezer to work as intended, there needs to be some airflow inside and this is especially true for fridges. So it's important to not overfill or block the openings for the airflow, to ensure the food stays in the desired temperature

Put food in the intended zones

You might have noticed that your fridge have different zones and never thought much about it, but they're labeled for a reason

The lower parts of the fridge are normally the coldest area and why you'd normally find a fish and meat zone in the bottom

While the door is holistically the hottest place in the fridge, so why storing food items less temperature sensitive shouldn't be there. Modern higher end fridges often try to design in a way to keep the door decently cool. But if you feel your milk or other products isn't cold enough in the door, try placing them elsewhere in the fridge