Home chef secrets to making refrigerated foods last

Fresh food can only last so long, but there are ways to make it last a little bit longer. Here are some guidelines for keeping common refrigerated foods from spoiling.

The average shelf life of cottage cheese is five days, but there's a simple trick to keep it fresh longer: refrigerate it upside down in the container. The creamy liquid will move from the original bottom to the original top, keeping the entire contents fresher.

It's always a good idea to store eggs in their protective carton and not in the door of the refrigerator. An egg can leak through even a tiny crack in its shell and because eggs are porous, they will absorb odours if refrigerated out of their containers.

Place well-wrapped fish in the coldest part of the refrigerator for less than one day. You should freeze it if you plan on keeping it any longer than that.

Place well-wrapped meat or poultry in the meat drawer, if your refrigerator has one, or in the coldest part of the refrigerator.

Keep spices that are red or orange in colour like ground ginger, chili powder, and paprika in the refrigerator. These spices lose their flavour quickly once they are opened.

Cut off the leafy, green tops of root vegetables like carrots, beets and turnips before storing because the tops extract nutrients from the roots.  Removing them will keep the vegetables flavourful and nutritious.

Wash leafy greens like spinach and kale and dry them thoroughly. Store them loosely wrapped in a paper, plastic or cloth bag.

If you use vegetable oils infrequently, be sure to refrigerate the container once it's been opened. This will reduce the chance the oil will turn rancid. The shelf life of refrigerated oil is about three months.

Here are some storage times for more common foods. This may fluctuate slightly but these are a good guideline:

• Butter or margarine -- 1 to 2 weeks
• Cottage cheese -- 5 days
• Hard cheese (Cheddar, Edam, Swiss) -- 3 to 4 months
• Soft cheese (Brie, Blue, Camembert) -- 2 weeks
• Milk and hard-boiled eggs -- 1 week
• Yogurt -- 7 to 10 days
• Lean fish fillets and steaks (cod, flounder, halibut, sole) -- 1 day
• Oily fish fillets and steaks (mackerel, salmon) -- 1 day
• Bacon -- 5 to 7 days
• Beef roasts and steaks -- 2 to 4 days
• Chicken or turkey, whole or pieces -- 1 to 2 days
• Cooked meats -- 2 to 4 days
• Ground beef, veal, and lamb -- 1 to 2 days
• Ground pork -- 1 day
• Lamb and veal roasts -- 2 to 4 days
• Pork roasts, chops, and sausage -- 2 to 4 days
• Apples, citrus fruit, and cranberries -- 1 to 2 weeks
• Apricots, ripe bananas (skin will darken), berries, and cherries -- 2 to 3 days
• Avocados, melons, nectarines, peaches, pears, and plums -- 3 to 5 days
• Artichokes, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, eggplant, peas, peppers, radishes, and spinach -- 3 to 5 days
• Asparagus, cooked vegetables -- 2 to 3 days
• Beets, green and red cabbage, carrots, turnips, and squash -- 1 week
• Corn -- 1 day
• Lettuce, tomatoes, and celery -- 1 week

These are some simple, easy ways to make sure what's in your fridge doesn't turn bad before you need it.

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