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Food Cans: Opened Do Not Put in the Refrigerator

Canned peas, carrots, and corn are popular pantry preserves. Once opened and not completely used up, the canned vegetables often end up in the refrigerator. However, cans that have just been opened should not be stored there.

Food cans: Opened do not put them in the refrigerator

If opened canned goods are stored in the refrigerator, the tin present in the can accumulates in the food inside. This happens especially with acidic content such as tomatoes and fruit.

However, canned mushrooms are also affected by the process in which the food reacts with the tin of the metal can after opening due to the oxygen. This reaction can change the taste of the food. Large amounts of tin in the body can also put an unnecessary strain on the kidneys and lead to stomach irritation.

Decant canned goods

To avoid a reaction with tin, canned food should always be transferred to porcelain or plastic container with a lid and then placed in the refrigerator. This keeps fruit and vegetables fresh for another two to three days. Unopened and in the undamaged original condition, the contents of the can have a shelf life of around one year if the canned food has been stored in the dark and below 20 degrees Celsius.

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Lifestyle

Save Electricity and Costs: When is The Right Time For a New Refrigerator?

The refrigerator is often responsible for high power consumption. With a high-quality device, you can save a lot of energy in the long term and reduce CO2 emissions. But when is a new device due?

The electricity consumption of refrigerators and freezers

There is a perception that a refrigerator needs a new model every 10 to 15 years. But that’s not necessarily true. If the old refrigerator is an energy-saving model, it can still have acceptable consumption values ​​today – especially if you operate it in a cool location.

In any case, it is advisable to get to the bottom of the energy consumption with a power meter. Basically, modern, efficient compressors get by with significantly less energy than the old devices. This is confirmed by a short study on the electricity efficiency of old and new refrigerators and freezers carried out by the Freiburg-based consulting company Ö-quadrat on behalf of the North Rhine-Westphalia consumer advice centre. A total of 1069 devices, 884 of which were free-standing and 185 built-in, were tested.

The results of the study are unequivocal: the power consumption of refrigerators has fallen continuously since the early 1990s. Here is the comparison: around 30 years ago, a standard refrigerator with a freezer compartment consumed 410 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year. The average consumption of a new appliance today is only around 40 percent of that and is around 170 kWh per refrigerator. The other types of appliances, such as refrigerators without a freezer compartment and large fridge-freezer combinations, also show significantly lower power consumption in new appliances. Information on how to select the right cooling device and how to use it is provided by the NRW consumer advice center.

Device type, location and temperature setting are crucial to save costs and energy

A model calculation by shows exactly the difference: the price of a kWh is just under 42 cents today, compared to just 30 cents in 1990. In 1990, a refrigerator cost 123 euros in electricity per year. The same device with the same consumption in 2022 is 172.20 euros. What is not taken into account is that the power consumption of cooling devices increases significantly over the years. This is mainly due to the aging of the insulation material. With older devices, defects such as leaking doors or heavily dusty cooling grids can also lead to increased consumption. The age-related additional consumption is estimated at around one percent per year of life. With the recommended measuring device you can check the power consumption and decide whether it is worth buying a new device.

The advice from energy expert Gerhild Loer from the consumer advice center in North Rhine-Westphalia is clear: “If you have a refrigerator with a freezer compartment as a free-standing appliance, replacing it after around 15 years is worthwhile. For built-in devices, this only applies from the age of 20, due to the higher acquisition costs”.

She has even more tips up her sleeve to save electricity when operating a refrigerator. The temperature setting is seven degrees Celsius for the refrigerator and minus 18 degrees Celsius for the freezer. “The location of the device must also be taken into account. The less sunlight falls on the refrigerator, the less the cooling unit has to work. This saves electricity in the long term and efficiently extends the performance of cooling devices,” explains Loer.

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Lifestyle

Instructions for Defrosting and Cleaning the Refrigerator

Defrosting the fridge is not that difficult. We offer you many useful tips and a guide that will get the job done quickly.

The fridge needs to be defrosted regularly to keep it working properly. Electricity costs also increase if cleaning is not carried out. We would therefore like to show you a few tips on how to defrost the refrigerator, clean it quickly and keep it clean.

Always defrost the refrigerator quickly

It is important to defrost the refrigerator quickly. Because the food has to be cooled again quickly. Most of the time, the refrigerator is also connected to the freezer, so that the frozen food could thaw there when it is switched off. Therefore, action must be taken quickly. Incidentally, the most important reason for defrosting the refrigerator is that energy costs increase when there is a lot of ice.

Regular defrosting is important in order not to have any energy guzzlers in the house. The food from the fridge can easily be on the table for an hour, after all, when you go shopping, you don’t have the opportunity to put the food in the fridge immediately. If you also want to defrost your freezer, you have to think better. Neighbors with space in the freezer could help here. Otherwise, in winter, you can put things outside to keep them cold and frozen.

Quickly clean the fridge

The refrigerator can be cleaned with warm water and washing-up liquid. Simply wash, dry, and put away. All glass panes, fruit trays, and more can basically be put in the dishwasher. If the fridge smells bad, you no longer have to clean it, but instead, use a solution of lemon washing-up liquid. That means you prepare water with washing-up liquid and add citric acid. The bad smell is masked and the refrigerator shines like new after cleaning.

But even after cleaning, the citric acid can be placed in the refrigerator. The liquid is in a cup of slices of lemon is on a plate. So the fridge smells like pure summer.

Defrost hot water in the refrigerator when there is a lot of ice

If the fridge is very iced up, simply place a pot of hot water in the unit. The same goes for the freezer too. Some people also like to use the hairdryer to make ice removal easier. If you do this, you save long waiting times and can put the food in the fridge faster.

The condensation water must of course be collected, this can be done with towels that you simply put in the bottom of the fridge or with dishcloths. The fat pan from the oven is also a great help.

Vinegar disinfects the refrigerator

If you feel like you have to disinfect the refrigerator, you should use vinegar. Simply mix warm water with vinegar and not only unpleasant smells are gone. Vinegar essence is not recommended here, it smells far too strong and of course, the smell also spreads to the food in the refrigerator.

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