A disorderly fridge can easily transform into a major problem. From neglected leftovers to missing ingredients, a disarranged or disorganized fridge can pose a peril or danger to your health and budget. The good thing is that you can opportunely avoid these problems by using a few simple organizational strategies. By keeping your fridge organized, you can make use of your available space and keep everything fresh and ready to eat.
Clean and Sort
The first step to organizing a fridge is to clean and sort all of your fridge items. Take everything out of the refrigerator, looking at expiration dates, mold, or other signs of spoiled food as you go. Discard anything that is past the expiration date or looks yucky. For leftovers or food in plastic storage containers, if you’re not positive how long it has been in there, throw it out. When it comes to your food, it’s best to err on the side of caution.
With everything out of the fridge, make sure to deep-clean your fridge’s interiors. Utilizing hot, soapy water or a mild bleach solution, wipe down and dry all surfaces, including inside drawers and bins. By doing so, you will effectively start with a clean fridge for your new organization system.
Label Everything
The subsequent step to an organized fridge is to retain a record of how long your food has been there. Though a lot of pre-packaged foods will be associated with an expiration or sell-by date on them, for fruits and veggies or food that you carry home or that is leftover from meals, you have to have a system to keep track of when it was added to the fridge and when it will have to be thrown out.
One beneficial advice is to employ a dry-erase marker to write the dates of meals and takeout on the container. You could do the same thing for other perishables, using the inside of your fridge. By logging both when you brought them home and when they need to be used, you can better guarantee that you are using up the groceries you buy before they spoil and avoid eating leftovers that can make you sick.
Use Containers
Preserving and keeping loose items clean in a fridge can be complicated, in particular things like fruits, vegetables, and even small condiment jars. To keep clutter and make certain that you have everything you’re looking for at hand, think about using several clear storage bins to group loose items together. Take into consideration investing in some quality reusable food storage containers with tight-fitting lids. This can let you store food safely and decrease waste by reusing your containers over and over.
You can additionally take advantage of a dry-erase marker on the bins and storage containers to keep track of the dates things were obtained. Taking advantage of bins and storage containers in your fridge will free space for larger items elsewhere and more effortlessly track expiration dates of perishable items.
Develop a System
As you go ahead with replacing items, it’s vital to develop a system for storing everything. This has two benefits: first, that you will constantly find where things are, and second, that it can make your food last longer and make it safer. As an example, observe that certain items should be kept in certain places.
Meat should always be kept on the lowest shelf to get away from dripping and contaminating other food. Furthermore, never store milk in the fridge door – it can spoil quickly if exposed to warm air very often. You can furthermore separate your fruits and vegetables, and employ trays for disorganized items to prevent spills.
Plan Ahead
If your fridge is clean and organized, the most crucial thing you can do is to make a plan to keep it that way. Even the most organized fridge will entail being routinely cleaned, and old items are thrown out at times. Look into creating a cleaning schedule to ensure that your fridge stays organized. For instance, you could choose a day of the week or month to go through everything, rotating and updating your fresh produce, and wiping down fridge surfaces. By doing this habitually, you can avoid the dreadful deep-clean and purge of your fridge (and freezer), a job very few appreciate.
By keeping these trouble-free notes and tips, you can keep your fridge clean and organized week after week with less effort than you thought possible!
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