![]() ![]() I’m not going to tell you where you should put your cabbage, or which side of the fridge eggs go on. If you have a real plan, keep it! If not, throw it away, and take note of what produce you use most slowly before buying more. It’s tempting to keep that sad, limp broccoli for another week, thinking you might make a soup. There’s not a lot to say here, but it does need to be said: If you’ve left something in the fridge too long, and it’s past the point of return, just throw it out. Realistically, you’re not going to do this more than once every six months, so make it count. Use a paper or cloth towel to wipe the fridge floor, the shelves, the roof, and any other nooks and crannies. A cleaning solution will also help rid the fridge of any mildewy or otherwise-unpleasant smells. You can use a diluted combination of (roughly) one part white vinegar to one part water to cut through those little bits of hot sauce and sesame oil on your shelves. I use a natural all-purpose cleaning solution, but don’t stress if you don’t have something like that around. You can wash the bins in your sink if you have space, but in my small apartment I usually just wipe them down. Start by pulling out the bins, and shaking all of those old parsley leaves and carrot tops into the trash. Push everything else into the back corner, so you can clean around and underneath it when the time comes. Take everything out that can safely sit at room temperature for an hour (this won’t take that long, don’t worry). Okay, maybe not a full-on scrub down, but before getting into organization, you’ll want to start with a clean fridge. Consider this your nudge, and go forth with confidence as you label, shuffle, and give your fridge the makeover it deserves. It’s getting started that can take a little nudge. The truth is that organizing the fridge is neither complicated nor intimidating. Reader, I put my head in the sand.Īs I shelter in place, I’m really trying to stay on top of fridge organization, so I never have to tackle it in one dreaded evening, and - more importantly - so that I don’t waste any food. Sometimes in anticipation of this feeling, I’ll put the whole ordeal off until, well, the lettuce turns to goo and I have no choice but to clear it out. I genuinely enjoy the organizing itself, but I hate the idea of coming across food I’ve let go to waste. All those expiration dates - some in writing, some you just have to guess by sight or smell - can turn the fridge into a stage for anxiety. But organizing the fridge isn’t exactly like tidying up and putting the rest of the house in order. I know if I was just a little more organized, I’d never have to deal with any of this.Įven before the pandemic, I cooked at home a lot, so I really had no excuse for letting perfectly good produce (and dairy, and okay yes, also some condiments) get lost in my not-very-big refrigerator. I’ve watched so many once-perfect pieces of produce meet the same fate. Those were some beautiful little gems, I sigh as I turn the near-liquid bag of green slop into my compost bin. And there, once hidden in the very back corner is a mushy, forgotten, aggressively decomposing head of lettuce. I have to move bunches of carrots and kale back to their designated shelves, and the takeout containers need to be stacked and labeled. A cocktail of dread and guilt sometimes keeps me from going deep into my fridge.
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