Have you ever opened your refrigerator and realized that you couldn’t find what you were looking for because it was overflowing with miscellaneous items? If so, you’re in good company. The majority of households pack items into the fridge that simply don’t need to be there. Here’s a list of 10 items you don’t need to refrigerate, but are probably taking up room in your fridge right now.
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Butter
Consider this: we build homes to keep us warm from the cold. Then, we add refrigerators—large boxes to keep our food cold in our warm homes. And inside our refrigerators are even smaller boxes to keep our butter slightly warmer than the cold box inside our warm home.
Many people assume that butter has to be refrigerated because it’s dairy-based. While it’s true that butter can go rancid if stored too close to a heat source (such as a too-hot oven) or in direct sunlight, if you store your butter in an opaque butter dish and place it somewhere cool, your butter might outlast the rest of us. In fact, a recent excavation in Ireland uncovered a cache of butter estimated to be almost 3,000 years old.
Butter is also a great compromise item. If you’re not 100% sold on leaving it out, just place one stick in the butter dish, and leave the rest in the fridge. That way you can see how fast you use it, and what the best storage solution is for you.
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Basil
A delicious herb that enhances almost any dish, basil is often placed in the fridge by well-meaning home cooks. Unfortunately, one of the best aspects of basil—its tendency to blend the smells and tastes of the items around it—also means that keeping it refrigerated can cause it to pick up the properties of its shelf-mates.
Instead, keep fresh basil in a little bit of water as if it were a bouquet of freshly cut flowers. It will taste better, look great and may even help keep flies at bay.