What's the best temperature to keep food in the fridge? in the freezer?

Factual Questions
1

The Piper household recently got a new refrigerator, with a digital display in the outside of the door showing the internal temperatures of the fridge and the freezer. (Plus an ice and chilled water dispenser in the door, which was my only real contribution to the specs sheet when we were shopping. :stuck_out_tongue: )

At any rate, the digital read-outs seem a bit more precise than the old dials that just said “more cold” and “less cold”.

Mrs. Piper and I were wondering what the recommended temperatures are for the two units. I said “I dunno”. She said, “Ask those doper guys.”

So I pass it over to you, Dopers - what temps should I set them at?

Currently the fridge is at +35 Farenheit and the freezer is at -4 Farenheit.

2

Colder is better for purposes of food safety but to save energy, you can go a little higher. Say about 40 F for the fridge and 5-10 F for the freezer.

3

Consumer Reports says that a fridge ought to be around 40 and a home freezer no higher than 0. As for the fridge freezer, I would just try to make it as cold as I could without lowering the main fridge too much. I don’t know to what extent you can set them independently. I think maybe 10 would be a good target to aim at, but I don’t know for sure.

Incidentally, if you are concerned with energy efficiency, a chest freezer is much more eddicient than an upright.