Doctor Explains Why You Should Put Hot Food In The Fridge!

[CrankyBarista]

As someone who has worked in commercial kitchens for 20+ years...
Putting hot food directly in the fridge absolutely means running the risk of over working the compressor... modern fridge or not.
I have had to repair many fridges/freezers because of staff cutting corners and making this mistake.

[mgsalmon]

As an Environmental Health Officer I would always discourage food handlers from placing hot foods in refrigerators. Guidance from the Foods Standards Agency, UK Health Security Agency and Industry guidance would back up this advice.

Cool down hot foods in small portions using an ice bath or in a cooler area such as a pantry for no more than 90 mins. Then cover over and place in the fridge.

Better still use a blast chiller.

[phylippezimmermannpaquin]

One of the rare times i disagree with dr karan

[aloneinfinland]

The is where expertiese in one field dosent translate to other fields, condensation, stress on the compressor, hot pots going onto cold glass (not all glass shelves in fridges are borosilicate, and even that glass can shatter when repeatadly stressed. Plus that steam is a cross contamination issue. The difference in food coolling for an hour outside of the fridge against steaming inside the fridge for 10 minutes is negligible, but compaired to the factors above... leave it to cool outside and you will get a few more years out your fridge!

[danielfay]

NOPE! see Technology Connections who's tested all this extensively. It WILL increase the temperature of the fridge and the rest of the food. It's not magically heating the food in the rest of the fridge, it's just basic physics.

[Saved_Sinner]

As someone that works in the food service industry, we always use icepacks to chill down soups and stocks before putting them in the fridge. Other items are left to chill to below 100°F before storage You don't want to ruin your refrigerator by overworking it and bringing other items in the refrigerator up above 35° F. Bacteria and gas pockets can also form in hot spots in food that is put directly into cold storage.

[snestah]

The bigger concern is how much food is in that container such that it does not cool off in time and remains in the danger zone longer, despite being in the fridge. Safer to split up the food in smaller container sizes with more exposed surface area.

[ichigolistl]

From an medical point of view :
Fair enough
But from an Engineering point of view you are making the fridge work harder and sie more Energy to cool Food Which could cool down significantly in room Temperatur without exploding your energy bill

[PrimordialShot]

Used to work in the restaurant industry, ServeSafe certified. Do not do that, especially in that size of a container. Ice bath works the best if you're trying to cool it down in order to store in the fridge.

[Linda-kdd]

My glass fridge shelf exploded because of this mistake.

[McDude]

Sorry but No, You'd be better off cooling it down in water Bath with cold water/Ice first to take off the majority of the heat quickly, Then putting it in the fridge. Professional kitchens generally use blast chillers instead of just chucking it in the fridge hot... Source: Chef for 18 years.

[helenc]

Noting that it's in a fridge with wire shelves, not glass. I'm never game to put scorchingly hot pots on glass shelves. If you want it in the fridge straight away, maybe decant your hot leftovers into a different (or several smaller - think surface area for cooling) container(s) and/or place a something non-conductive to heat (eg; oven mitt, tea towel) between the pot and the glass shelves. And make sure you reheat thoroughly, all the way through!

[ParrotPentester]

A doctor tells you to do it, an electrician tells you to be careful when doing this, but a cook/chef is currently screaming and crying watch this video.

[emward]

When I did food hygiene courses, the last one being around 16 years ago, we were told to cool the food down before placing it in the fridge

[JC-pwgh]

Hot food in domestic fridge! Fridge wouldn't last long and the overall temperature would raise effecting other foods

[oakstrong]

Commercial kitchens may have a "cooling fridge" before putting putting it into a holding fridge or a freezer... Even in training about food hygiene it is still mentioned as the preferred method. At home, you can put your pan into a sink filled with cold water to cool your food faster after it's "past" the 'piping hot' phase. Likewise, it is better, to cool the food before putting it into the freezer.

(My fridge/freezer is 10 yo and already been repaired once, which wasn't cheap, so I'm not risking putting large quantities of hot food in).

[RetroVideoGamer]

Maybe ice your food to cool it down, you are going to over work your fridge and we all know those don’t come cheap

[cerinryder]

This is rather misleading 😅 not the safest method of food preparation or storage

[sunla]

Definitely try to avoid doing this with large batches of food. You can shorten the lifespan of your fridge significantly if you make this a habit, especially with large batches of food.
I do it sometimes for smaller batches of food if I don't have time to counter-cool.

Also in the off-chance the food is something you canned at home with a mason jar and a pressure cooker, cool on the countertop every time, never directly put a hot mason jar on the fridge.
I'd avoid that with heated glass in general. (Pyrex might be okay, but do your own research, don't take my word for it - I don't own any Pyrex to try it out)

[tinakerr]

Don't put the cooking pan into the fridge, transfer food into a pre-chilled covered container, and cool in cold or iced water first if possible.