Fridge organisation is even more crucial in the summer – and the 'milk in the door' myth needs to go

Whether you're stocking up for BBQs, garden parties or simply trying to fit a week's worth of fresh salad ingredients into your fridge during a heatwave, most of us make the same mistakes with our fridges: we fill every available gap and don't have rules for organisation other than habit.

Whilst packing your fridge to the brim might feel like you're making the most of the space, experts say an overpacked fridge actually struggles to keep food at a consistent temperature. Poor airflow can mean fruit and vegetables spoil sooner, dairy doesn't stay as fresh when it's sitting in the door, and your appliance has to work harder overall.

The good news is that a few simple fridge organisation tweaks can make a surprising difference to how long your groceries last and how much food you can fit in when entertaining over the summer. So, we asked refrigeration experts exactly how to load your fridge during the hot weather and the mistakes they say to avoid.

Summer fridge organisation tips, recommended by experts

When you come back from doing a big shop in the summer, you need to pack the fridge properly. Every household seems to have its own way of loading the fridge. Unlike the age-old debate over whether jam or cream belongs on a scone first, though, there is a right way to organise your food if you want it to stay fresh for longer.

After speaking to experts, we've curated the table above, explaining the technically perfect way to order food in the fridge. A lot of it makes logical sense, but you might be surprised to spot that one of the biggest mistakes is where we keep the milk.

Many of us instinctively slot the milk into the fridge door, but Jamie Cooper, Senior Product Manager for Refrigeration at Hotpoint UK, says it belongs on the middle shelf instead. "Every time the fridge door opens, the items stored there are exposed to room temperature air. For milk, that repeated fluctuation causes it to spoil faster than it would on a middle shelf where the temperature stays stable. It is a small change that makes a real difference."

During summer, when kitchens are naturally warmer and the fridge door is likely to be opened more often for cold drinks and barbecue essentials, those temperature fluctuations become even more significant. Storing milk on a middle shelf is one of the simplest ways to help it stay fresher for longer.

Make sure you have space and airflow

With everything in its proper place, it's tempting to squeeze in just one more tub of hummus or another punnet of strawberries after a big supermarket shop. But when we're stocking up for barbecues, picnics and easy summer lunches, an overfilled fridge is one of the biggest mistakes we can make.

"How you load your fridge after a big shop has a direct impact on how long your food stays fresh," says Jamie. "Fridge organisation is not about neatness for the sake of it, it's about making your appliance work as efficiently as possible."

James equates efficiency almost with airflow. He explains that "proper airflow is essential for maintaining consistent temperatures throughout your fridge. Avoid overpacking shelves so tightly that food touches the shelf above". Without enough space for cool air to circulate, some areas of the fridge become warmer than others, forcing the appliance to work harder and causing food to spoil more quickly.

While giving your fruit and vegetables enough breathing room will make the biggest difference, some newer fridge freezers are also designed to help maintain better storage conditions.

The Hotpoint Care Frost Free Multi-door American Fridge Freezer, for example, has a FreshShield crisper drawer that helps maintain the ideal humidity for fruit and vegetables, alongside VitalCare technology that recreates the natural daylight cycle to help keep produce fresher for longer. So, if you're thinking about upgrading your fridge, it's well worth looking for features like these, which offer a helping hand for how you're storing fresh food in warmer weather.

Keep fruit and vegetables separate

If you've never understood why so many modern fridges have separate crisper drawers, we've found the reason. Keeping fruit and vegetables apart isn't just about staying organised; it can help them stay fresher for longer.

Jamie Cooper explains that "certain foods produce ethylene gas as they ripen, including apples, pears and avocados. When those are kept alongside other vegetables in a confined drawer, the gas speeds up deterioration across everything in there."

In practice, that means storing apples, pears, and avocados separately from vegetables wherever possible, rather than piling all your fresh produce into the same drawer. If you know what temperature to set your fridge and it has humidity controls, Jamie also recommends setting the humidity to "high for vegetables and low for fruit" to create the ideal conditions for each.

Some newer fridge models are designed with food preservation in mind. Newer models, including Hotpoint's fridge freezer, use quick freezing technology that brings food down to low temperatures as fast as possible or Dual No Frost technology to help maintain consistent storage conditions while preventing ice from building up.

As Jamie explains, "Hotpoint fridges are designed with technologies such as EvenFlow to help circulate cool, consistent air across every shelf, helping to maintain a more stable temperature so food is kept fresh for longer, wherever it is stored." Even so, he stresses that good organisation and using the correct fridge zones remain the foundations of keeping food fresh.

Minimise and streamline packaging

Once the shelves are organised and your fruit and vegetables are stored correctly, a few small habits can make an even bigger difference during warmer weather. Especially the way that you choose to store your food. Here are two of Jamie's top recommendations:

• Store leftovers in glass containers: I've been singing the praises of glass food containers for years as an alternative to plastic, so I felt particularly vindicated reading this tip. Jamie recommends glass because it offers better visibility of what's actually in your fridge, making it less likely that leftovers will be forgotten at the back of a shelf. As he points out, "glass also maintains a more consistent temperature, helping food stay fresh longer."
• Ditch unnecessary packaging: Bulky cardboard sleeves, oversized plastic trays and excess packaging all take up valuable space in the fridge. Removing them before storage can improve airflow and make it easier to see what you have on hand. I like to decant fruit and vegetables into ceramic bowls and baskets, which not only frees up space but also makes healthy ingredients much more visible when I'm deciding what to cook.

Keep your leafy greens and herbs hydrated

As with separating fruit and vegetables carefully. when you're hosting over the summer, it's highly likely that you're buying lots of leafy greens and herbs. These are notoriously sensitive to changes in environment and temperature, but Jamie has a couple of tips to keep them fresh:

• Turn leafy greens upside down: It might sound unusual, but storing lettuce, spinach and other leafy greens with their stems pointing upwards can help them stay fresh for longer. According to Jamie, this prevents excess moisture from collecting around the base of the leaves, where it can accelerate rotting and wilting.
• Wrap herbs in a damp tea towel: Fresh herbs have a frustrating habit of turning limp and yellow within days, especially during warmer weather. Jamie recommends wrapping herbs in a damp tea towel before storing them in the fridge, as it creates "the ideal environment for maintaining freshness" by helping to lock in moisture and prevent them from drying out.

Summer is probably the hardest time of year for your fridge, aside from the 'Christmas fridge'. Between supermarket hauls, BBQ ingredients and fresh produce, it's easy to overload every shelf. But giving food a little breathing room, storing it in the right place and separating fruit from vegetables can help your food stay fresher for longer.

If you're also thinking about upgrading your appliance, features such as even cooling, humidity-controlled drawers and dedicated freshness zones can make those good storage habits even more effective.