A refrigerator is a device that keeps food cool and fresh, but it’s also an appliance that has the power to save you money. A refrigerator can help prevent food waste by keeping your produce fresher for more extended periods of time. That means less food will go bad before you get around to using it. It also means less wasted energy from refrigerator use, which benefits both your wallet and the environment.
My personal experiences influence this article, so it might not entirely apply to everyone out there. Still, I am confident that a fair amount of people is living in similar or relatable situations right now and could comprehend what I am sharing.
My path to reducing food waste (with the help of technology)
It took me many years to realize, but actually, a fridge is great to store food and to preserve things to be fresh longer. You are likely to know as much. However, the one thing I did not know was how different the duration of preservation could be when comparing old refrigerators to modern fridges. Preventing food waste is a priority for me. I don’t want to preach, but you wouldn’t read this post if you didn’t care at all, I suppose.
When I moved into my current apartment about a decade ago, I just bought a pre-owned kitchen set from a colleague that included a fridge, a dishwasher, an oven, and some countertops and shelves. I just wanted to get some equipment in without paying too much, so this seemed like a good thing to do. I actively tried my best to keeping food waste to a minimum, but now and then, things just got moldy, and I hated throwing stuff away just because it didn’t stay fresh as long as I expected it to.
A little while ago, I decided to buy a new refrigerator that was bigger and could store some more things and one that would also come with a section that could freeze some of your food. While I was at it, I thought it might be nice as well to pick a newer model with some fancy features, perhaps. I always wanted an ice cube dispenser in my fridge, but I ended up not getting one with such a feature. Regardless of missing out on that, I noticed that it’s actually the unpopular features that impacted my life most.
The fridge I bought came with a feature that absolutely didn’t matter to me when I was deciding which one I should buy, but it mattered so much in the end that I ended up writing this article for you to be aware of it. The features I mean were e entirely focused on keeping fresh things fresh and maximizing the lifetime of how long you can consume something that is stored within. The refrigerator I got was from the brand Haier, and if you care for the model, it’s called B3FE742CMJW. However, I’m sure that other brands have similar features as well. You could have a look at what LG is doing or check out models by brands such as Samsung, Midea, Bosch, or Siemens, just to name a few.
The important features are about managing conditions and hygiene
For instance, the fridge has an ABT feature which means that it uses antibacterial technology and UV lighting for more hygiene. The other important feature I want to mention is the humidity zone which is a function to intelligently manage the environmental conditions within particular areas of the refrigerator, and vegetables, fruits, or other food you store here can keep fresh twice as long. Well, the manufacturer says twice as long, but in my experience, it goes much further. It’s almost otherworldly how long you can keep things inside, and they simply stay fresh and nice. Of course, there’s a limit to everything, and there’s no magic that would keep your food fresh forever, but I found that it’s close to miraculous just how long it keeps food perfectly nice and edible.
I can clearly remember that my older fridge, which had absolutely no feature other than cooling goods, would oftentimes disappoint me. At that time, I sometimes wanted to grab something nice, and it was already spoiled, moldy, or so unfresh that it was simply no longer healthy to consume. I’m sure you know that feeling, and no need to include an evidence picture for that. Since I upgraded to a newer refrigerator that’s more modern, this never happened anymore. Of course, you should still make sure only to buy the food that you can consume in a reasonable timeframe to prevent food waste but knowing that produce or meat just keeps fresh and nice for this much longer also helped me to reduce my food waste even more.
The other nice side effect of upgrading from an old fridge to a modern refrigerator is that it’s likely to run on a lot less electrical power in comparison to what the old generation of fridges might have drained from the power plant. So you save not only on food waste and what the food costs, but you also save power. That is not only good for your wallet but also for the planet. Even if you’re sourcing renewable energy that is produced entirely on sustainable methods, it’s always good to save power, to begin with. Believe it or not, but a refrigerator is one of the home appliances that costs the most power normally because it simply runs 24/7.
So what now?
So now I don’t expect you to spread out and grab a new fridge, of course. I understand that very well that this type of investment is done as least frequently as possible. However, if you happen to run into the situation and need to buy a new refrigerator, perhaps you have a close look at the features that are not just nice to have, like that ice cube dispenser or perhaps a smart home integration. Maybe you have a good look at the features that the fridges offer in regards to prolonging the freshness and quality of your food as well and of course how much power it consumes to operate. I’m not even saying that this would cost more. The one I got was a good deal as well, I’m just trying to raise some awareness that there are really cool technologies out there that might not be popular, but those might really help you out and save money in the long run.
I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m shunning all geeky cool, and modern features either now. I love that stuff, and you know it. If you have the money, of course, go get all the nice things you like. That’s all good in my books, even if I didn’t have the coin for that futuristic model that orders new cheese when I’m about to run out. Jokes aside, I really only mean to share my experiences and that by sheer coincidence got the features that I now love, which are keeping my food fresh for just a lot longer than before, and I almost never have to throw spoiled food away and reducing my food waste even more gave me a lot of joy. Maybe you’ll like that as well. And also, to all the makers and brands out there, I know it’s not sexy for marketing, but maybe you can find a way to make it sexy to let people know about this. It’s important.
In case you want to keep your vegetables and other foods fresher for longer and can’t buy a new fridge right now, you can also check out the video below, which shares some tips with you.
YouTube: Properly Refrigerate and Store Your Fresh Produce | Problem Solved
Photo credit: The feature image has been done by Sergey Chumakov. The photo showing the author in front of the fridge was taken by myself for TechAcute. The picture with the woman and child in front of a refrigerator was prepared by Serhii.
