A disorganized fridge can swiftly become a big problem. A messy fridge can unavoidably threaten your health and budget, from forgotten leftovers to missing ingredients. The very exciting news is that you can effectively avert these issues by using some proven and simple organizational strategies. Keeping your fridge organized makes the most of your available space and keeps everything fresh and ready to eat.
Clean and Sort
The first step to organizing a fridge is cleaning and sorting all your items. Carefully take everything out of the refrigerator, noting expiration dates, mold, or other signs of spoiled food as you go. Get rid of anything that is past the expiration date or looks distasteful. For leftovers or food in plastic storage containers, if you’re not clear how long it has been in there, throw it out. As regards your food, it’s fine to err on the side of caution.
With everything out of the fridge, take the time to clean its interiors completely. Wash and dry all surfaces, all includng inside drawers and bins, utilizing hot, soapy water or a mild bleach solution. In this way, you will start off with a clean fridge for your new organization system.
Label Everything
The next step to an organized fridge is to keep an inventory of how long your food has been there. Event though it’s true that plenty of pre-packaged foods will come with an expiration or sell-by date on them, for fruits and veggies or food that you bring home or that is leftover from meals, you’ll have to have a system to keep track of when it was added to the fridge and when it will need to be thrown out.
One good piece of advice is to use a dry-erase marker to write the dates of meals and takeout on the container. You could do the same thing for other perishables inside of your fridge. By noting both when you brought them home and when they need to be used, you can make absolutely sure that you are using up the groceries you buy before they spoil and avoid eating leftovers that can make you sick.
Use Containers
Keeping loose items tidy in a fridge, above all fruits, vegetables, and even small condiment jars, can be quiet difficult. Take into account using clear storage bins to group loose items together to prevent clutter and warrant you have everything you’re seeking for. On top of everything, reckon purchasing some quality reusable food storage containers with tight-fitting lids. This can help you store food safely and reduce waste by reusing your containers over and over.
You can, in the same way, use a dry-erase marker on the bins and storage containers to keep track of the date things were brought in. Using bins and storage containers in your fridge will free up space for more oversized items elsewhere and make tracking the expiration dates of perishable goods much simpler.
Develop a System
As you kick off replacing items, it’s primal to develop a system for storing everything. This has two benefits: first, you will frequently know where things are, and second, it can make your food last longer and be safer. Specifically, have in mind that specific items should be kept in certain places.
Meat should consistently be kept on the lowest shelf to avoid dripping and contaminating other food. Likewise, never store milk in the fridge door – it can spoil in an instant when exposed to warm air often enough. You can, in addition, separate your fruits and vegetables and use trays for all those messy items to prevent spills.
Plan Ahead
If and when your fridge is clean and organized, the primary thing you can put into practice is a plan to keep it that way. Even the most organized fridge will need to be totally cleaned, and old items thrown out from time to time. Consider creating a cleaning schedule to make sure that your fridge stays organized. For instance, you could pick out the best a day of the week or month for you to go through everything, rotating and updating your fresh produce and wiping down fridge surfaces. By putting this routine into a regular schedule, you can avoid the dreaded deep-clean and purge of your fridge (and freezer), a job very few take pleasure in.
By applying these manageable tips, you can keep your fridge clean and organized week after week with less work than you thought feasible!
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Originally Published on Nov 12, 2021
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