Can you store hot food in the fridge? Yes, you can. Doing so won’t damage the appliance in any way, and it won’t cause the other food inside to spoil. If it wasn’t for energy efficiency concerns, there would really be nothing wrong with putting hot foods directly into most modern refrigerators.

What Happens When Hot Food Enters the Fridge or Freezer? 

Essentially, your hot leftovers create a heat wave in the otherwise cool refrigerator or freezer. This places a large burden on your refrigerator’s compressor as it works to bring the temperature back down. To do this every once in a while won’t be a major drag on your household energy efficiency. If you regularly store freshly cooked leftovers in the fridge, you may want to consider a plan for minimizing waste.

Food Safety First

Protecting your refrigerator’s energy efficiency is a simple matter of making sure leftovers are mostly cool before putting them inside. But it’s critically important to not leave food sitting out for too long, or bacteria can develop and lead to foodborne illnesses like salmonella or E. coli. The FDA recommends that cooked foods remain unrefrigerated for no longer than two hours, or one hour if the room temperature is 90 degrees Fahrenheit or higher.

If you have to choose between putting still-warm foods in the refrigerator or letting them cool on the counter a for more than two hours, put the food in the refrigerator. Safety first, always. Two hours is usually plenty of time to allow foods to cool. Here are a couple of tricks that can help foods cool faster:

  1. Smaller containers: If your leftovers are mostly liquid like soups or stews, split them up into multiple shallow containers. Make sure the food is less than two inches deep. This will speed cooling on the counter, and it will help the leftovers cool more rapidly and evenly in the fridge.
  2. Ice bath: Put the hot leftovers in a covered dish and set it in a shallow bath of ice water in your sink, just be sure the water doesn’t get into the dish. A few minutes of this will rapidly cool down even piping-hot foods.

Old Refrigerators vs. Modern Refrigerators

If you’ve been given time-tested advice against putting warm leftovers in the refrigerator, there may be a reason for that: older refrigerators are less powerful, and the heat from warm food used to be hot enough that it could raise the temperature to an unsafe level. So if your grandmother remembers this practice, that doesn’t mean you need to follow the same rules with your modern fridge.

Looking for more ways to save energy? Consider calling your local electricians to schedule an energy audit of your home or business.

More Energy-Saving Tips for Your Refrigerator

  • Keep your fridge and freezer mostly full. A fuller fridge maintains temperature more efficiently because food acts as thermal mass. 
  • Clean the coils regularly Dust and debris force the compressor to overwork. Vacuum or brush coiks 1-2 times per year. 
  • Avoid browsing for snacks with the door open. Obviously, minimizing door-open time prevents cold air from escaping. 
  • Adjuts the temperature. Keep the fresh food compartment at 37-40 degrees F. The freezer should be 0 degrees F. 
  • Ensure proper ventilation. Surrounding heat sources (ovens, heating vents) or poor air cirbulation make the compressor work harder. 
  • Upgrade your fridge. ENERGY STAR-certified models are typically 9-20% more efficient than standard units. 
  • Defrost manually. Thick frost buildup reduces energy efficiency. Defrost manually if layers are more than 1/4 inch thick.
  • Damaged seals or gaskets. Test this by closing a dollar bill in the door. If it slides out easily, you may have a problem.