How to store your medicines safely at home
Heat, humidity and sunlight quietly weaken medicines long before the expiry date. A few simple habits keep what you paid for working properly.
Reviewed by Dr Chika Samsons on 31 May 2026.
Most people think about medicines expiring and very few think about how they are stored. That is the wrong way round. A medicine kept in a hot, humid room can lose strength months before the date printed on the box, and nothing about it will look different.
In our climate this matters more than it does in cooler countries. Here is what makes a real difference.
Keep them cool, dry and out of the light
The three things that damage medicines are heat, moisture and sunlight. Most tablets and capsules are happiest somewhere below 25°C, in a dry place, away from a window.
Places that seem convenient but are usually a poor choice:
The bathroom — steam from bathing is exactly the humidity you are trying to avoid.
The kitchen, near the cooker or a window.
A car glove compartment. On a hot afternoon this becomes an oven.
On top of a fridge or near any appliance that gives off heat.
A closed box or a drawer in the coolest room of the house works well. If a medicine needs to be refrigerated, the label or the pharmacist will say so — otherwise the fridge is not automatically better, and the door shelf is the warmest part of it.
Leave them in the packaging they came in
Blister packs and dark bottles are part of how a medicine is protected. Tipping tablets into a single container mixes them up, removes the expiry date, and exposes them to air and moisture.
If you use a weekly pill organiser, that is fine — but fill it from the original packaging, keep that packaging, and only fill a week at a time.
Check what you already have, twice a year
Most households have medicines they have forgotten about. Pick two dates you will remember and go through everything.
Throw away anything past its expiry date.
Throw away anything you cannot identify, or where the label has worn off.
Look for tablets that have changed colour, gone soft, cracked, or developed a smell, and liquids that have separated or gone cloudy. Discard those even if the date is fine.
Note what you are running low on before you actually run out.
Do not flush old medicines or throw loose tablets into an open bin where a child or animal could reach them. Bring them to us and we will dispose of them properly.
Keep them where children cannot reach
This is the one that matters most. Small children explore by putting things in their mouths, and many tablets look like sweets. A high shelf or a locked box is not excessive caution — it is the single most effective thing you can do.
The same applies to anything sweet-tasting, including paediatric syrups and vitamin gummies. If a child swallows something they should not have, do not wait to see what happens. Take the packaging with you and get medical help immediately.
Never share prescriptions
A medicine prescribed for one person has been chosen for their weight, their other conditions and the other medicines they take. The same tablet can be useless or harmful for someone else, even with what looks like the same illness.
If it was not prescribed for you, it is not your medicine — however similar the symptoms look.
What to bring when you come to see us
If you are collecting a prescription or want a pharmacist to look over what you are taking, bring:
Everything you currently take, in the original packaging — including anything bought without a prescription, and any herbal or traditional preparations.
Your prescription, if you have one.
Anything you have been told you react badly to.
Herbal and traditional preparations count. People often leave these out because they are not thought of as medicine, but they can interact with prescribed treatment. Tell us about them — nobody will be judged for it.
Ask us — it costs nothing
If you are unsure whether a medicine is still good, whether two things you are taking can be taken together, or how to store something you have just been given, bring it to the counter and ask. There is no charge for the conversation and no appointment needed.