When I was in my 20s and rode my bike more than I drove, I’d typically pick up some veggies every day or two. Sure, it was time-consuming, but I’d always find myself living just a short ride or walk away from a co-op or grocery store. These days, the store near my house is high in price and short on variety, so, like most Americans, I pick up groceries at Trader Joe’s around once a week—supplementing with better produce or more obscure ingredients wherever I can find them. I always love the sight of a full fridge, but having to throw out uneaten produce every week or two is a little depressing (not to mention wasteful).

Last month we spoke about following meal plans. Adding an extra few days to each plan to use up all the leftovers is always a good idea. Most leftover produce and meat can easily be made into a soup, a stir-fry, a salad, an omelet or some combination thereof. But if you need more tips on how to optimize your fridge, check out the following tips—courtesy of Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics spokesperson Joy Dubost—an experienced food scientist, RD and CSSD with 15 years of experience working with food science and nutrition.

Temperature

• Keep your fridge between 32 and 40 degrees Fahrenheit. And your freezer at 0 degrees or below.

Where to keep what

• Keep fruits and veggies in separate crisper drawers in your fridge. It’s true that crisper bins help fruits and vegetables retain moisture (according to the Academy’s Complete Food & Nutrition Guide), but Dubost points out that fruits produce ethylene gas that can hasten ripening in veggies. Also, if you can control each drawer’s humidity levels, make sure to do so. “Vegetables require higher humidity conditions, while fruits require lower humidity conditions,” she says, so keep that in mind.

• The Produce for Better Health Foundation has a list of ethylene-producing fruits and ethylene-sensitive vegetables if you’d like the specifics. They also recommend storing certain foods only at room temperature (bananas, citrus and tomatoes among them), ripening certain fruits (avocados, peaches, pears and plums are included) on the counter before refrigerating. Download the complete PDF for more on storing fresh produce.

• “Do not put highly perishable foods in the door,” Dubost says, so keep your eggs inside your fridge where the temperature is less likely to fluctuate.

• What about uncooked meat, poultry or seafood? Keep it “on the lowest shelf of the refrigerator in the center,” Dubost says. It should be sealed or wrapped (you know, so the juice won’t end up on your other food) and only kept in the fridge if you plan to use it within a few days. And if you’ve got a meat drawer where you can adjust the temperature, keep it cooler.

• Don’t overload your fridge. If it’s completely full, cold air doesn’t circulate as well, and so the food doesn’t stay as cool, and then your food spoils faster. No bueno. (Freezers, on the other hand, are more efficient when they’ve got more food in them.)

• Much as you might want to freeze everything, Dubost points out that the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics Complete food and Nutrition Guide recommends not to freeze certain foods, including bananas, fresh tomatoes, lettuce, celery, hard-boiled eggs, raw potatoes, and unblanched veggies, since this affects their quality. (If you’re throwing bananas in a smoothie this may be less of an issue—but that’s just my opinion.) Best also to keep fresh eggs, opened egg substitutes, canned ham, and egg, ham, chicken or tuna salads in the fridge, according to the guide.

Leftovers

• Got leftovers? It’s obvious that they should be sealed in containers, but Dubost further recommends keeping large amounts of stew or soup in shallow, small containers so they cool more quickly. “This helps ensure the temperature is quickly reduced to a safe storage temperature of 40º F or less,” she says.

• The best way to store leftovers to keep out bacteria, retain moisture and stop them from picking up odors from the rest of the food in your fridge? Says Dubost, “cover leftovers, wrap them in airtight packaging, or seal them in storage containers for storage in the refrigerator/freezer…. Immediately refrigerate or freeze the wrapped leftovers for rapid cooling in shallow containers.” Leftovers should last for a few days in the fridge or a few months in the freezer. “Leftovers can be kept in the refrigerator for a few days or frozen (0° F or below) for several months, depending on the food item. Although safe indefinitely, frozen leftovers can lose moisture and flavor when stored for longer times in the freezer, so the recommendations are for quality purposes,” Dubost explains.

• There are some benefits to keep foods in their original packaging. It’s recommended for raw foods (though adding additional freezer paper, freezer bags or aluminum foil are helpful).

• As far as containers, “Foods that need to be chilled quickly, should be placed in shallow containers, and some foods such as tomatoes or other acidic foods may interact with certain substances, so glass may be preferred for that reason,” says Dubost. They’re also easier to clean, I’ve found.

• If you’re like me, you’re constantly on the lookout for special bags or gadgets that help food stay fresher longer. “While there are many products that claim to extend the life of vegetables and greens in the refrigerator, few are actually able to stop the decay caused by the natural release of gasses from the vegetables,” Dubost says. “The original bags that spinach and produce come in from the grocery are specially designed to release the gasses. It is therefore better to store leftovers in the original packaging and tape the bag shut to ensure freshness.” She recommends wrapping or covering food when refrigerating it (unless the bag is torn or you need to store it in smaller portions), in which case, you can wrap the food or use sealed storage containers.

• How long will your food last? Dubost recommends the shelf life listing on the Is My Food Safe? app for, and www.HomeFoodSafety.org as another resource.