The carrots end up mouldering in the crisper drawer, the lettuce wilts away and the milk goes sour. Food spoils and your money end up in the trash. Here are a few ways to avoid having to toss spoiled food.

• Get a good fridge thermometer. Foods should be kept at or below 4◦ Celsius.

• Have too many bananas? Don’t leave them out until they fall apart. Peel and slice them and stick them in the freezer. You can add the frozen banana slices to smoothies or shakes. If you’ve already got overripe bananas, turn those into yummy banana bread.

• If you’ve got meat in the fridge, keep it on the bottom shelf; that’s where the temperature is coldest.

• Don’t keep milk on the fridge door. Store milk as low as you can in the fridge, the lower temperatures at the bottom of the fridge will help keep your milk fresh. You can also add a pinch of salt to milk or cream to help it last longer.

• Wrap cheese in parchment or wax paper and foil. Stick the wrapped up cheese in the crisper drawer. You can also try rubbing a little butter on the exposed side of a block of cheese to prevent it from drying out.

• Store foods that produce lots of ethylene gas (this promotes ripening) separately from those that don’t.

Foods that produce ethylene gas while ripening include:

• Bananas
• Avocados
• Tomatoes
• Cantaloupes
• Peaches
• Pears
• Green onions

Keep those away from ethylene-sensitive produce such as:

• Potatoes
• Apples
• Leafy greens
• Berries
• Peppers

When in doubt, freeze. If you’re not sure how long something can last in the fridge before you use it up, freeze it. Check out this list of the easiest foods to freeze.

Sources: Reader’s Digest, ABC News