Category Archives: Food Tips

Your Refrigerator Cleaning Checklist

Thanksgiving is fast approaching and your refrigerator needs to be in tip-top shape to get you through the holiday. That starts with some maintenance and there is no reason to carry a dirty refrigerator into the most important time of the year. Use this checklist we have provided to clean things up and get your kitchen back on track!

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  • Take Out the Food- Clear some counter-space, put down a towel and start removing everything from your refrigerator. Once it is all clear, go through the items and sort them into groups based on their expiration dates. Then, throw away all items that are past their limits.
  • Remove Shelves/ Drawers- After you’re done with the food, you can continue your excavation by removing shelves and drawers. Place these items in the sink under soap and hot water so they can disinfect.
  • Wipe it Clean- Take a cloth and run it under soap and hot water and wring it out until it is damp. Be sure to gently scrub your refrigerators gasket to ensure that there is no grease or debris weakening the seal.
  • Clean and Replace Shelves/ Drawers- Wipe down your drawers and shelves in the sink with dish soap and warm water. If you let them soak as we mentioned earlier, the grease and dirt should come right up.
  • Replace Food Properly- Remember when we said to organize your food and drinks into groups? Now it is time to take those groups and place the newest items in the back and the oldest in the front. This will force you to use up the groceries that might have gone to waste if you kept them in the back of the fridge.

If your refrigerator needs more than a clean, we can help you with that. We are currently offering a $39.95 Refrigerator Tune-Up special that will kick things into high gear for the busiest time of year. If you are concerned about the current state of your refrigerator, our team can be there to assist you in one hour or less.

To schedule service, call Speedy Refrigerator Service at 866-782-9376 or click around on our website!  

3 Ways a Chest Freezer Helps You Save

Chest Freezers are perfect for families with busy schedules and the desire to eat home-cooked meals. The chest freezer works separate from a refrigerator, and its sole purpose is keeping your food frozen for long periods of time. It saves you from the cost of eating out, but it can also help slash your energy bill. Read below to learn about all the ways you can save money with a chest freezer:

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Cool Air Containment
Cold air is denser than warm air (a little science fact for you) so it sinks towards the bottom of your freezer. With a front opening freezer, this cool air escapes when the door is opened. This forces your freezer to work harder to produce more cold air, causing it to use more energy. More energy costs you more money. A chest freezer opens from the top, minimizing the loss of cold air.

Exploiting the Sales
The extra freezer space alone will help you save money. If you are wandering around the grocery store and see a sale on meat, you can capitalize to the fullest extent. Take it home, leave this week’s portion in your fridge/freezer and store the rest in your chest freezer. The days of eating out two or three times a week are finished! Feeding the whole family can be hard, but a chest freezer can ‘cool’ down the costs.

Managing Waste
Cleaning out your fridge/freezer used to be a necessary evil. You find yourself throwing out unused food, the equivalent of throwing hard earned money straight in the garbage. The chest freezer is a great place to store the food that you might not want right away. It will keep your meals fresh until you are ready to eat them, and it will also keep them out of the garbage.

The average chest freezer costs around $500 and might seem like a wasteful investment. But for the average 4-person household, the savings could double the cost over the span of just one year. Treat your food and your money with the care they deserve!

If you run into any problems with your chest freezer, the experts at Speedy Refrigerator Service are just a phone call away. We offer 24/7 service to Long Island and New York City, so call us any time at 866-782-9376.

 

The Definitive Guide to Crisper Drawers

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Nearly every new refrigerator comes equipped with crisper drawers, but are you using them to their full potential? In this article the experts at Speedy Refrigerator Service break down everything you need to know about the mysterious crisper drawers…

What is a crisper drawer, and how does it work?

The crisper drawer is a small section inside of your fridge that offers a humidity-controlled environment for fresh produce. Most refrigerators come with two drawers, each with a fully-adjustable humidity slider. You can use these to set the humidity level anywhere from “low” to “high”, or in some cases, “fruit” to “vegetable”.

The science behind crisper drawers is relatively simple. They have a small hole in them that allows moisture and ethylene gas (which will be explained later) to escape. By adjusting the slider, you are simply revealing or obstructing this hole, thereby controlling the humidity level.

What should I store in my crisper drawers?

It’s no coincidence that most refrigerators come with two drawers – one for your fruits, and one for your vegetables. As most fruits ripen, they emit ethylene gas. On the other hand, vegetables are sensitive to this gas, and it can cause them to spoil prematurely. If you want to maximize the shelf life of your produce, you should keep them separated for this exact reason.

Unfortunately, there are a few tricky exceptions to the fruit and vegetable rule. Use this list as a guide for storing your produce:

High-Humidity (Vegetable) Drawer

  • Most vegetables

  • Watermelon

  • Strawberries

  • Unripe bananas

Low-Humidity (Fruit) Drawer

  • Most fruits

  • Avocados

  • Tomatoes

  • Ripe bananas

To learn more about the humidity drawers in your refrigerator, check out this article from The Kitchn.

If you run into any problems with your crisper drawers – or anything else in your fridge – the experts at Speedy Refrigerator Service are just a phone call away. We offer 24/7 service to Long Island and New York City, so call us any time at 866-782-9376.

A Beginner’s Guide to Storing Wine

You don’t need to be a wine enthusiast to enjoy a nice bottle of chardonnay every now and then. If you want to get the most out of your wine and preserve its taste, the most important thing you can do is store it properly. Luckily, you don’t need a professional wine cellar to do so, just keep these tips in mind:

  • iStock_000079345037_SmallFind the ideal temperature. You don’t want to keep wine in your standard
    refrigerator. It is known that heat can damage the integrity of wine, but cold can be just as detrimental. Different types of wine are best stored at different temperatures, so refer to this chart to find what climate is best for your bottle.
  • Store it on its side. Storing wine on its side ensures that the liquid in the bottle will always be in contact with the cork. This prevents the cork from drying out and shrinking, which could allow air to enter the bottle and alter the taste.
  • Limit exposure to light. While UV rays cause the most damage to wine, artificial light from your home’s light bulbs can still affect taste and consistency.
  • Keep it consistent. Above all things, make sure to keep your storage area consistent. Fluctuations in temperature can destroy a bottle of wine, and some experts are starting to believe that vibrations (even minor ones) can speed up chemical reactions and agitate the sediment.

For most wine drinkers, a wine cooler will be sufficient to preserve your bottles, and many of them can purchased for under $200. If your wine cooler is giving you problems, the repair experts at Speedy Refrigerator Service are just a call away. If you live on Long Island, call us for all of your refrigerator, freezer, and wine cooler repair needs at 866-782-9376.

The Difference Between “Best By”, “Sell By”, and “Use By” Expiration Dates

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If you’re a savvy food shopper, you probably look at a product’s expiration date before making a purchase. Over the years, you may have noticed some different verbiage on these dates such as “best by”, “sell by”, and “use by”.

To the untrained eye, all of these terms mean the same thing. In reality, they do not. These small, subtle changes in wording actually change the entire meaning of the date.

Here is what each type of date means, according to the Institute of Food Technologists

Best By

This is more of a general guideline than it is a strict expiration date. It simply means that the product will taste its best if consumed before that date. Eating a food after its “best by” date won’t necessarily get you sick, but it might have a slightly different taste, color, or texture.

Sell By

This label is aimed at retailers to help them keep track of their inventory. Typically, one-third of a product’s shelf life remains after the “sell by” date, a time period in which it is completely safe for consumption.

Use By

“Use by” is the typical expiration date. Be wary about eating any food after its use by date – you could risk getting sick. It is important to note that the appearance/smell of a food isn’t always a good indicator of how safe it is to consume.

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Speedy Refrigerator Service provides same-day refrigerator and freezer repairs to Long Island and New York City. Our technicians are fully licensed and insured, and have the tools and experience needed to fix any make or model of refrigerator. Our phone lines are always open, so call us any time to schedule your appointment at 866-782-9376.