First, the Zones of the Refrigerator
The first step in building a healthy refrigerator is to be sure foods are kept at the appropriate temperature. You surely don’t want food to spoil, and you’ll be changing your dinner plan if the lettuce for the taco salad is frozen. You might even be tempted to go through he drive-thru! According to the USDA, to measure the temperature in the refrigerator, put the thermometer in a glass of water and place in the middle of the refrigerator. Wait 5 to 8 hours. If the temperature is not 38 to 40 °F, adjust the refrigerator temperature control, and then check again after 5 to 8 hours. You may need more than one thermometer-or put small containers of water in different area. I find that the temperature in my fridge is not uniform at all. Different areas are much colder than others.
To measure the temperature in the freezer: Place the thermometer between frozen food packages. Wait 5 to 8 hours. If the temperature is not 0 to 2 °F, adjust the freezer temperature control. Check again after 5 to 8 hours. An appliance thermometer can be kept in the freezer to monitor the temperature.
Here is a general guide for refrigerator temperatures
- The door-warmest part, most fluctuations in temperature-No eggs, but condiments or well-preserved foods are OK
- Upper shelves, usually consistent in temperature-but what temperature? Use a thermometer to find out. Use for dairy, drinks, containers of leftovers, and anything you want to be able to see first like healthy snacks! 40 degrees is the magic number here-less than 40 means find another shelf or adjust you’re the temperature of your fridge.
- Middle shelves-hard to say. Use a thermometer to find out. Lettuce freezes on my middle shelves
- Bottom shelf-often the coldest, think meat drawer; meat, fish, maybe eggs, although I’ve frozen boiled eggs there, so watch out!
- Raw eggs should not be stored above 50 degrees, and most sources say 40-45 degrees.
- Crisper drawers-humidity havens. Good for storing produce. Do not store meats with produce. You should separate fruits and vegetables into ethylene producing ones and ones that are sensitive. (Storing apples, melons, apricots, bananas, tomatoes, avocados, peaches, pears, nectarines, plums, figs with other produce will cause ripening to occur much faster due to the ethylene gas these fruits give off.)
- On top of the fridge-very warm and NOT for food! Maybe crackers?
- Keep foods that are about to expire closer to the front. For example, if you have two quarts of half and half, be sure the oldest one is used first.
Coldest Zone
Let’s start stocking the healthy refrigerator, AKA, REAL FOOD FRIDGE, with what needs to be coldest: dairy, meat, seafood, and poultry. Again, watch for additives, processing and where this food actually comes from. I’ll talk about food production and commercial feeding operations in a later post. I’ve included basic recommendations here. Stick to foods that have five ingredients or less, no added sugar, and no ingredients Grandma wouldn’t recognize. Foods without labels are ideal!
Store these grocery items in the coldest part of the refrigerator, usually the meat drawer.
- Dairy: Buy organic or imported from Europe (their standards are much higher, especially UK standards). The higher up on the food chain you go, the more important buying organic is. Cows eat a LOT of grass and concentrate chemicals in their milk. This includes pesticides or any other chemicals applied to grass. As for antibiotics, in the US, all meat, dairy and poultry must be “free of antibiotic residues” under the FDA’s 2017 guidelines. Organic meat with a label that say “no antibiotics ever” and “never given antibiotics,” mean no antibiotics of any kind were used in the raising of that animal. Sick animals that required antibiotics would be removed from the “no antibiotics” line and sent for processing with animals raised under conventional circumstances. This can be confusing-more on that later.
- Meat (has hooves!): This is complicated too. So It helps to think about this in terms of “happy meat.” Animals do best when raised in natural surroundings, not in cages or cramped feed lots. For beef, I check with Dr. Hyman’s comments in “What the Heck do I Eat?” He recommends “grass ed” meat, and ideally it should be certified by the American Grassfed Association; look for the green logo that says “American Grassfed.” If you can’t find grassfed, go for “organic”. This is still much better than conventional. Avoid additives, especially in processed meats such as sandwich meat, bacon, salami, hot dogs, sausage, etc. Uncured is better. Even high-quality sandwich meat can have a lot of sodium.
- Poultry: Again, think happy animals. Birds do best with sunlight, real food, and room to breathe. Ignore words like hormone free and antibiotic free since these are prohibited by law in poultry. Certified organic is best. Free range doesn’t tell you how long birds were outside or what they ate. Look for “pastured”, sadly, being nice to birds makes them awfully expensive. Fortunately, there is such a thing as “certified humane” which is good, but there is some concern about the oversight of this designation. Processed poultry and poultry parts may also be injected with a salt solution, so be aware of sodium levels.
- Seafood: My favorite seafood in the fridge is a can of tuna-nice and cold for tuna salad. Other fish and seafood has a very short lifespan in the fridge. Oh yes, don’t worry about cholesterol in shrimp, since there is little correlation between dietary cholesterol and blood cholesterol. Keep seafood very cold; it only lasts a day or two if uncooked. For information on mercury content of different fish (big fish will have more than small fish), you can go to NRDC for a handy wallet card. Take a picture of it and carry it with you. https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/walletcard.pdf
A healthy diet does not need to avoid “meat.” Really, the biggest problem is usually too much meat or poor quality meat. By “poor quality” I mean meat that is not “clean” (contains pesticides, antibiotics, hormones, etc. ) or “happy” (raised in crowded, inhumane conditions. If you buy high quality meat and think of it more as a side dish instead of the main event, you’ll be headed away from the SAD (Standard American Diet) and toward the GLAD (Giving Life American Diet). As part of the New American Plate from the American Institute for Cancer Research, your plate should usually be no more than 25% lean protein. (However, some people do have different protein requirments, like those who are working out a lot.) This comes as a shock to many Americans! As you can see, it’s not really meat itself that is such a problem-it’s quality and quantity.
Do keep meat, poultry, and seafood away from produce and sealed tightly. If you’re thawing in the refrigerator, be sure you put a plate under the frozen item.
Also, very cold
- Leftovers: the colder they are, the longer they last. Four days is max, according to Mayo Clinic, and that would be when you’ve been very diligent about not leaving the food out in the first place and refrigerating it promptly. Dishes with meat or eggs may only last a couple of days. PLEASE label and date your leftovers. No one wants food poisoning!
Cold, but down to 50 degrees
- Eggs: The most nutritious eggs come from the happiest chickens. Pasture raised is good; organic is good. Check the certifications to get an idea of how they were raised. And don’t worry about cholesterol. In 2015, after decades of telling us to avoid eggs, the US Dietary Guidelines found “no link between dietary cholesterol and heart disease.” This may be very surprising news to many who have been sticking to egg whites; yolks are now nutritious!
Vegetable Crisper
Humidity haven. Great for fruits and vegetables (not potatoes, avocados, bananas, onion, garlic, or unripe tomatoes-or any unripe fruit). Don’t store those ethylene producing fruits with your vegetables. If you do, they won’t last very long. Keeping moisture in is the goal here, so it’s best to put produce in bags or glass or plastic containers. Future blogs will give you tips on making all your produce last as long as possible. Do NOT put meat in these drawers.
You’ll find a lot of articles about “superfoods.” In his book, “What the Heck Should I Eat?”, Dr. Hyman has a great list for superfoods, divided by type of food. For produce, he lists arugula, beets, broccoli family (Brussels sprouts, cabbage, collards, kale, kohlrabi), cilantro, dandelion greens, onions, parsley, sea vegetables (like seaweed), shiitake mushrooms, shirataki noodles (“zero pasta”), sweet potatoes, and watercress. Superfruits in his list are apples, avocados, berries, kiwis, lemons, and pomegranates.
I buy organic whenever I can, using the Environmental Working Group’s list of the Dirty Dozen and the Clean Fifteen, www.ewg.org. If a produce item is not part of the “Dirty Dozen” and you’re on a budget like most of us, buying organic is not such a priority. It’s also important to consider how much of a fruit or vegetable you and your family eat. For example, if you eat a lot of apples, buy organic; but if you never buy spinach and need some for a dish, buying organic isn’t so important. Greenhouse grown produce will usually have less pesticide than conventionally grown, non-organic). The bottom line is this: eat more fruits and vegetables and buy the best quality you can afford! In my post, What Foods Should I Buy Organic , you’ll find more information on organics and how to best wash pesticides off of non-organic produce.
Refrigerator Doors
Here is where temperatures are so unpredictable and vary a lot during the day-especially after school! The doors are not a good place for eggs, dairy, or any other proteins, or even produce, but condiments and well-preserved foods like pickles do fine. Mayonnaise needs a colder spot, especially mayonnaise that has no preservatives.
Top of Refrigerator
The only food items that might go on the top of the fridge are crackers. I put trays there, upside down to avoid dust. And it does get dusty!
Building MY Healthy Refrigerator
Now you might be wondering what I keep in my refrigerator regularly. This list is organized by type of food:
Proteins
High quality meat, poultry, or seafood for the next few days – thawing or ready to use (more on that in my post WHAT DO FOOD LABELS MEAN?
Can of light skipjack tuna in water
Organic/ Humane Eggs-raw
Organic/Humane Eggs-boiled
Organic beans-unopened can
Sandwich meat-no nitrates or organic
Organic beef hot dogs
Dairy
Whole milk organic yogurt
Whipped organic cream cheese
Cheddar-organic
Butter-organic
Half and half-organic
French Swiss cheese-from WALMART!
Condiments
Avocado Mayonnaise
Mustard (refrigeration not required)
Ketchup (still looking for a low sugar variety without artificial sweetener)
“Crystal” hot sauce-no preservatives
Bar-b-cue sauce (It does have sugar in it.)
Hoisin sauce
Red curry paste
Produce
Washed organic lettuce in a plastic bag
Box of organic spinach
Organic carrots
Organic celery
Cut organic sweet onion in a glass container
Organic green onions
Cut organic bell peppers in a glass dish
Cabbage in a plastic bag-non -organic
Organic Cauliflower-whole
Prepped veggies for tonight
Minced organic garlic for the week in a small glass container
Organic green pepper
Organic apples
Oranges-not organic (washed carefully with baking soda and water)
Organic lemon-mainly because I want zest from an organic lemon
Greenhouse grown tomatoes for tonight
Miscellaneous
Sesame Oil
All fruit spread-imported
Raw honey in glass
Pickles (organic)
Olives-read labels carefully for additives
Opened jar of organic salsa (Lots of tomato cooked down so organic is a good idea)
Opened jar of organic marinara (same as salsa)
Leftover soup/chili/stew etc., thawing in the middle shelf in a glass container
2 cans of LaCroix sparkling water
Glass bottle of filtered water
Glass bottle of organic vegetable juice
Almond milk-no carrageenan (not a good additive)
FISH OIL supplement and probiotics (should be refrigerated)
What’s NOT in my Healthy Refrigerator
- Soda-Please note that there is NO soda in my refrigerator. I do have some ginger ale hidden in a storage closet for stomach emergencies. The average 12-ounce soda contains almost 10 teaspoons of sugar! And I already mentioned the need to get rid of artificial sweeteners. If you buy it (and this goes for any food or food-like substance), they will eat it. Or I will eat it. I don’t bring things home that I don’t want eaten. Many foods are treats, and it’s better to go out for a soda than get snagged by the buy one case, get one free at the grocery store. Trust me, the soda will disappear in no time! I do have some flavored unsweetened seltzer water from time to time (LaCroix, Polar, Bubbly, etc.).
- Alcohol-A few words about alcohol: If you think of alcohol as a treat, there is no reason to keep it in the refrigerator where it’s an easy temptation. Like tomatoes, only chill what you’re going to use right away, and I say this not as a person who has a problem with alcohol but based on human nature; any food that is easy to reach will be consumed more. This’s why healthy snacks should be easy to get to and unhealthy ones should be out of reach or better yet, left at the store. Later, I’ll write more on alcohol, but when you hear that the research says a little red wine every day is good for you, try measuring out five ounces-that is a little more than ½ cup. This is what “a little” means and is probably a lot less than you were thinking!
Real Foods for the Healthy Refrigerator
There are lots of lists of recommended foods that should be in your REAL FOOD refrigerator. You can look those up, but this should get you started. When you know what to look for that makes food not only healthy, but UNhealthy, you can build your own REAL FOOD FRIDGE. You really have to pay attention to the labels; and ingredients in a product can change over time. Getting to a REAL FOOD FRIDGE will take time. This is a journey and not a destination, so be patient. If you can’t transition all at once or your family rebels, ease them into it.
Once you have a REAL FOOD Refrigerator, the goal should be to make it as easy as possible for everyone in the home to “follow your plan.” This means making things easy to reach with plastic bins that act like drawers, boxes that hold like items, a lazy susan turn table, and careful placement with no items hidden if possible. When you have everything organized, label the locations of the main items. You might even have a box that says EAT NOW. There are lots of caddies and containers that you can get for cheap at the dollar tree. My next post will be more about refrigerator organizing and the freezer.