In our box each week, you’ll find a mix of ingredients that do and do not need to be refrigerated. The more you cook and get to know the food, the more you’ll develop a sense of intuition about what should be in the fridge and what’s best left on the counter.

To give you a head start, today we’re sharing six ingredients that should always find a home in the 35°F comfort of your kitchen’s fridge.

Do any surprise you? Let us know in the comments! And check back tomorrow to see 5 foods that should never make it into your fridge.

1. Dairy products

Milk, cream, cheese, and butter should definitely be in the fridge at all times. The only exception to that rule is butter, which can be stored in a French crock known as a “butter keeper“–that’s mainly handy if you’re a toast-with-butter fanatic who wishes your butter were always soft and spreadable.

2. Meat


Meat should always always be stored in cold conditions. But you already knew that!

3. Nuts


Nuts contain oils that can become rancid if left at room temperature for too long. If you’re a subscriber, you don’t have to worry about rancidity in the small servings of nuts that come in your knick knack bags; but if you’re holding on to a larger quantity, you’ll find your pine nuts, walnuts, and macadamias have much more longevity if stored in a cool atmosphere.

4. Bread


All the bread we send out doesn’t have preservatives. That means it’s much more healthful for your body, but all-natural bread will stay fresher longer if stored on the chilly shelves of the refrigerator. The cold can knock the crunch out of your bread’s crust, so before you prepare your sandwich, reheat the bread in the oven–we show you how in this video.

5. Ripe Avocados

Is your avocado hard? Leave it on the counter–we’ll talk more about this tomorrow. But once that avocado of yours is ripe, stick it into the fridge to freeze it in its current stage of softness; once ripe, room temperature storage will turn that avocado much too mushy. Here’s how to tell if your avocado is ripe. 

6. Fresh pasta


Unlike its dry brethren, fresh pasta contains raw eggs, which means that the fettucine or trofie will spoil if left at room temperature. Though you’re probably used to storing spaghetti and linguine in the pantry, if the pasta is fresh you’ll want to break that habit and find some shelf space in the fridge.