Fruit, Veg and Milk Query - any way to stop quick spoiling?

[Earlybird]

Maybe a daft question, but I never claimed to be Delia Smith. So, here goes......do any of you refrigerate fresh fruit or vegetables, and if so, which ones? Especially wondering about strawberries and raspberries, but would be interested to hear what others do. Wonder if sticking them in the fridge would keep them from going off so quickly?

And while I'm at it - recently, I keep having milk go off before the date on the jug. This morning I had to bin a just opened bottle that had 30 June stamped on it. Any tips on prevention, or is it just bad luck? Do you complain to the shop where it was purchased? I just dump it down the sink, and mutter to myself....but, it is so irritating and wasteful!

i put everything except banana's and oranges in the fridge - milk sometimes goes off if nnot put straight backin fridge try checking fridge temp if a common occcurance also make sure air can circulate around inside fridge

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yes milk must have a lid or keep top on bottle otherwise it goes off much quicker

I do put lid on milk, but wonder if the fact that I keep milk in fridge door rack is part of the problem? I have just adjusted the fridge to make it colder, so will see if that helps.

Back to fruit in fridge - thanks for advice on strawberries and raspberries. What about grapes, blueberries and peaches? Tomatoes? Ears of corn? Feel silly asking, but these are things mum never taught me. Is that another thing I can blame her for when I finally make it to the psychiatrist's couch?

I put grapes in the fridge, but no other fruit. Not tomatoes either, refrigerating them inhibits ripening. Veg I put in the fridge, except potatoes and onions. Has anyone (maybe I should start a new thread for this) ever bought/used one of those vaccuum shrinkwrap things for food? Lidl have them on sale and I was wondering how effective they are?

You can buy "stayfresh" bags in Lakeland - I've never bought them but am tempted as I keep having to chuck out veg (mostly because I can't be bothered to cook them and end up eating oven chips instead of something healthy and homemade )

Don't put new potatoes in the fridge as it riuns the flavour!

I don't think it is a silly question at all. Each fruit and each vegetable has its own growth cycle and has its own storage needs. I have learnt about these from my parents and also several of my recipe books give advice about optimum vegetable storage. I put all fruit and veg in the fridge in summertime except for bananas. If there is not enough space then I would leave out root veg such as onions, garlic, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and squashes and pumpkins, and carrots, in that order. It is important not to wash fruit and vegetables until you are about to use them, because that makes them go off faster even if you dry them up. Mushrooms keep best in a paper bag, and go bad very quickly in plastic. I do the shopping once a week and buy lots of fresh produce, but I then plan the meals during the week so that I use up the ones first which go bad first. Eg, cauliflower needs to be cooked when very fresh, so do mushrooms, fresh spinach, kale and beansprouts, fresh ripe berries, avocadoes and mangoes. I have to adjust my fridge in summertime, and then in wintertime I turn it down again or things freeze. When you buy fresh milk (same for yogurt and cream) make sure that you pick a carton from the back of the fridge in the shop and if the carton even slightly swollen, reject it. If you have the time, you can take any product back the supermarket if it has gone bad before sell-by date, complain and demand a refund, but you will have to say that you have kept it properly refrigerated since purchase. If milk is not really gone off, I mean not got to the stage of having lumps in it and going sour, but just smells a bit odd and you don't feel like drinking it, you can make this into good yogurt or bread-and-butter pudding or rice pudding.

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take the milk back, i did the other day even though dh had poured it down the sink! (cheeky)

We use stay fresh bags - ours came from Australia via BIL. But they are very good and do work. MIL uses them too. I think they are similar/same as the Lakeland ones. These are used loads in Australia apparantly and work very well even over there in hot weather.

Be a bit careful with some of these things in the fridge though as they will flavour other things. So don't put onions in, melons make other things taste funny, as do strawberries, and peppers once cut flavour other food quite strongly. So if you're putting things like this in the fridge make sure they're well wrapped to seal their smell in.
I keep milk in the fridge door and it lasts for ages. It sounds like your fridge may not be cold enough.