How To Organize A Fridge – Follow These 9 Steps
chaitra krishnanMA (Journalism & Mass Communication) Experience: 5 yearsChaitra has a triple main bachelor’s degree in journalism, communicative English, and economics from St. Aloysius College, Mangalore, and a master’s degree in journalism and mass communication from St... more
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Have you ever opened your fridge and thought it looked more like a puzzle than an actual fridge? An unorganized fridge is not just messy but it’s also very unhygienic. When the whole set up looks like a jungle, things can easily get lost inside. You may have to move around a lot of other things in order to grab hold of an apple or a can of berries. These are the things that get easily forgotten and end up rotting over time. The only way one realizes that the leftover pizza slice is still inside the fridge is probably when it starts to stink and rub off its odor to every other item present in the fridge.
But, all of this mess can be avoided if you know how to organize your fridge.
Organizing your fridge may sound like a time-consuming and a boring task. Well, we can’t make you believe that it’s interesting but it’s definitely not time-consuming. In this article, we will help you understand how to organize your fridge within just a couple of minutes so that your food remains fresh and easily noticeable.
1. Clean And Disinfect Your Fridge
The first thing to do is to clean your fridge using a disinfectant liquid or spray. Turn off your fridge and remove all the items from it before you start. Finish the cleaning as quickly as possible so that none of your items get melted or spoilt. Remove the plastic trays and separators before cleaning the fridge. Cleaning these parts separately would be easier than cleaning them when they are fixed inside the fridge.
2. Start From The Topmost Shelf
Keep all your leftovers on the top shelf so that their smell is restricted to that particular area. This way, you will also notice the leftovers when you open your fridge. Even if you forget to eat them they won’t get ruined or start to stink. The idea is to arrange these food items in the order of consumption and shelf-life. For example, the leftover of a dessert you made today can go somewhere behind so that the sandwich you made yesterday can take the front row.
3. Group Similar Items Together
Keep all the items that are of the similar kind together. For example, organize dairy, packaged snacks, and juices separately. To make this task easier, you can get some food-grade or ziplock bags and label them according to the content inside. This way, you only have to check in the particular group when you’re searching for something.
4. Use Drawer Dividers
Investing in a few drawer dividers will come handy when you want to separate your fruits and veggies without any hassle. Remember to place paper towels at the bottom of these sections so that it collects the residue that falls off from the fruits and veggies. Change these towels once every two weeks.
5. Don’t forget Lazy Susans And Hanging Baskets
Lazy Susans are discs on which you can keep spices and condiments that need quick access. These discs can be easily spun so that you can find what you’re looking for faster. Hanging baskets are great to store yogurt, bottles of hummus, and prepared lunch meats. These can be stored in the fridge to make things more organized. Use regular suction caps to stick the baskets inside your fridge.
6. Organize The Items On The Door Drawers
The shelves on your fridge’s door are amazing! That’s where your beer, candy bars, and fruit syrups need to go. You can also place holders to keep your eggs intact on the door shelves. Make sure that you stock up these drawers with cans of soda, bottles of juices, etc, that need to be kept upright.
7. Prevention Of Meat Drips
Keep your meat in plastic covers or on plates to avoid drips. Seafood can be packed in plastic covers along with some ice cubes. Remember to keep all of these items in the freezer. If you are going to need them in a few hours, keep them on a lower shelf. Never keep meat and fish on the top shelf since the low temperature will leave meat residue behind in the form of drips; this can contaminate the whole fridge.
8. Bottom Shelf
The bottom big drawer is always dedicated to fruits and vegetables. They are usually spacious and can hold quite a lot of items. You can make two separate sections within this drawer to store fruits and veggies. Herbs such as mint, lemongrass, coriander, and others, that have strong scents need to be washed and covered in tight plastic covers before storing them in the fridge.
9. Set The Temperature
Set the temperature of your fridge according to the climate and also the temperature outside. If you live in a hot and humid place, your fridge may need to work a little harder to keep the things inside cool. You can purchase a fridge temperature or thermometer dial separately to check if the temperature inside your fridge is right. This will help you detect if there are any manufacturing defects in the fridge or not.
While the whole process may take less than an hour, it will save your time, energy, and health. Remember to clean your fridge at least once a month to keep it organized and hygienic.
How often do you clean your fridge? Do you have any special tricks to keep your stuff organized inside the fridge? Let us know in the comments.
