Today's active lifestyle requires food to be fast and easy to make - hence the instant meals, heat-and-serve dinners, and freeze-and-thaw food. As a result, refrigerators are stocked full of ready-to-heat meals, just when electricity bills are going their skyrocketing way. Indeed, saving on electricity is as important as saving on food, and an energy saving refrigerator is becoming more and more fundamental to today's high living, fast driving culture.

An energy saving refrigerator has to be clean, sealed, and set. In fact, making your appliance an energy saving refrigerator requires you to buy an efficient one. When scouting for a refrigerator, make sure it's an energy saving refrigerator by looking for the Energy Star label. The refrigerator accounts of 11% of the monthly energy bill, so begin with a wise investment.

A real energy saving refrigerator is clean. Before storing your leftovers, let the hot food cool down. Hot food stored immediately in the refrigerator makes the appliance work harder to cool it, using up time, electricity, and money. Food that's been stored without being cooled first is also a potential nest for bacteria and fungi to grow in. The energy saving refrigerator is not only clean, it has to be next-meal-friendly too.

Cover everything stored in your refrigerator, especially liquids. Anything left exposed to refrigerator air will leave their smells behind. Moreover, liquids can evaporate quickly in a refrigerator - and anything that evaporates will end up as frost on the refrigerator evaporator, which the appliance has to melt off - again, using energy, and again, using up electricity and money.

To keep your energy saving refrigerator working, don't overfill it. A crowded refrigerator will consume more energy than an overfilled freezer. Once food is stocked into a refrigerator, air circulation is blocked, so that the refrigerator's motor has to work harder to keep everything in the refrigerator cool. Overfill your freezer, however, and it will work better than an empty one.

Not only should the appliance be clean inside, it must remain clean on the outside for it to remain an energy saving refrigerator. The refrigerator's condenser coils, for instance, should be cleaned regularly. The coils can accumulate dust and hair through the appliance's use, so that the motor has to work harder to maintain the low temperature.

An energy saving refrigerator should be well sealed to keep the heat out. Every time a refrigerator is unsealed, it has to work doubly harder to cool its interior. Make sure that the seals on the refrigerator door are clean and tight. You can test this by shutting it on a sheet of paper. If the door grips it, your refrigerator is safe.

When buying refrigerators, look for one that's frost-free. Some models are still not frost-free however, but that shouldn't stop you from turning your ordinary appliance into an efficient energy saving refrigerator. Watch the frost levels, and defrost the refrigerator when your frost is about 1 cm thick.

Keep your refrigerator closed as often as possible, and if you do have to open it, keep it open for only a short time. Know what you want to get, and if you have to get more than one item, get all that you need in one quick go.

An energy saving refrigerator works best at the right location. Keep your refrigerator away from heat. Don't place it near a stove, or in the sun, or against an uninsulated wall. Allow about a foot's worth of space behind, above, and on refrigerator sides for proper air flow, and don't cover the appliance with any material that will keep air from circulating.

An energy saving refrigerator should be set for the needs of the user. That is, don't get anything that's too big for what you need, so that you have an empty refrigerator that uses up a lot of energy. Don't get anything that's too small either, so that you end up with a crowded refrigerator stocked wall to wall with food, keeping it from cooling properly. Choose a size based on your current needs, so that your energy saving refrigerator is clean, but comfortably full.

Set your refrigerator at the right temperature - don't overcool or undercool your foods. As a standard, refrigerators are set at 4 degrees celsius, while freezers are kept at minus 18 degrees celsius. If you're not sure about the temperature level of your refrigerator, buy a fridge thermometer and check the appliance regularly.

If you don't need more than one refrigerator, switch the unused ones off. Older, less efficient refrigerator models will take up more energy, so buy one, real energy saving refrigerator to meet all your needs. Money saved on an old model will mean more money spent on electricity tomorrow - so invest wisely, and make sure that the refrigerator you buy will not only allow you to keep your fast paced lifestyle, but keep your foods fresh, and your pocket happy as well.