If your fridge is not neatly arranged, you could run into some problems. Forgotten leftovers and other stuff can lead to a disorganized fridge, which can also lead to problems for your health and budget. With a few organizational strategies, though, you can easily avoid these potential problems. By keeping your fridge organized, you can make the most of your available space and keep everything fresh and ready to eat.
Clean and Sort
Firstly, organizing a fridge starts with cleaning and sorting all of your fridge items. Sift through the items in your refrigerator, checking for expiration dates, mold, and other indications of any spoiled food. Should there be any items past the expiration date, remove them. For those leftovers or food in plastic storage containers, unless you know they’re fresh and recent, it’s best to just toss them out. You really don’t want to take any chances when it comes to food and your health.
Because your fridge is now clutter-free, you can take the time to deep-clean your fridge’s interiors. Using hot, soapy water or a mild bleach solution, wipe down and dry all surfaces, including inside drawers and bins. A clean fridge is a great starting point for your new organization system.
Label Everything
Your next step in maintaining your organized fridge is keeping an inventory of how long the food has been kept. While many 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, it would be wise to have some kind of note as to when you added them to the fridge or when they need to be thrown out.
To make it easier for you, use a dry-erase marker to write the dates of meals and takeout on the container. As for your perishables, you can use the inside of your fridge. By noting both when you brought them home and when they need to be used, you can use up your groceries on time before they spoil and you can avoid eating leftovers that might make you sick.
Use Containers
Keeping loose items tidy in a fridge can be hard, especially things like fruits, vegetables, and even small condiment jars. So that these items don’t clutter, try using clear storage bins to group loose items together. A good investment would be 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 again.
You can also use a dry-erase marker on the bins and storage containers to keep track of the dates things were purchased. Using bins and storage containers in your fridge will free up space for larger items elsewhere and more easily track expiration dates of perishable items.
Develop a System
Develop a system for storing everything, now that you are starting to reorganize. You will be able to remember where your items are stored for when you need them, and it makes your food last longer. It also makes your food safer, too. For example, take note that certain items should be kept in certain places.
Meat should always be stored on the lowest shelf because it might drip and contaminate other food. If you don’t want your milk to spoil, don’t store it where it’s exposed to warm air too often, such as the fridge door. You can also separate your fruits and vegetables, and use trays for messy items to prevent spills.
Plan Ahead
When you’ve already cleaned and organized your fridge, your next step is to plan how to keep it that way. In time, even the most organized fridge will need to be cleaned and purged of old items that need to be tossed. Consider creating a cleaning schedule to ensure that your fridge stays organized. Pick a day within a week or a month to thoroughly go through your fridge, rotating and updating your fresh produce, and wiping down fridge surfaces. If you do this frequently, you won’t have to put yourself through the difficulty of having to do a deep-clean and purge of your fridge and freezer.
These are some of the many steps you can take to make sure that your fridge is kept clean and organized.
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