Refrigerators can get pretty messy and pretty smelly, pretty fast, and if you’re not careful and don’t keep it clean, you could soon have a real health hazard on your hands! However, cleaning a fridge isn’t always easy if it’s cluttered and poorly organized.
Short of asking your professional cleaner to tackle your dirty fridge for you (which you absolutely can do, by the way!), here are a few little tips that you can easily follow for organizing your fridge in such a way that it no longer becomes a chore to keep clean:
Before you start organizing – clean it
There’s absolutely no point organizing your fridge if it’s dirty, and giving it a quick wipe down inside and out with some kitchen paper and your favourite food-friendly cleaning solution, shouldn’t take long. If you’re worried about items sat out of the fridge for too long while you clean it, simply pop them in a cooler until you’re finished.
Invest in a thermometer
Most refrigerators have different temperatures in different zones, and by knowing which are the coldest parts of your fridge, you can start to organize them more efficiently and hygienically. You’ll also find that your chilled products last longer when stored at the right temperature, helping to prevent spoilt items from smelling and tainting other items.
Make good use of labels
Labels and storage containers are a refrigerator organizers best friend, and quite frankly, you can’t have enough of them! For items that you’ve opened and wish to store in your fridge, place them in appropriate airtight containers and stick a label on each one that tells you what it is, and when it was opened; you can even write the date by which it needs to be consumed to maintain freshness, flavor and quality on the label, if you so wish.
Maintain a constant humidity level in the fridge drawer
It’s worth noting that not all fruit and vegetables require the same levels of humidity, and the following handy hints can help you keep your fresh produce healthy for longer, and less likely to spoil and make a mess in the veggie drawer:
- Strawberries and vegetables that are green and leafy require high humidity levels. Should humidity fall below 90%, they will start to spoil pretty quickly.
- The majority of vegetables and fruits release water, meaning that if your veggie drawers are full, they must be kept as dry as possible to avoid too much humidity.
- Tropical fruits such as bananas and pineapples should never be stored in a drawer in your refrigerator, and neither should cucumbers, peppers, pumpkins and eggplants.
- Tomatoes do not like or need humidity, and you should never store onions, potatoes or garlic in your fridge.
To help you keep tabs on humidity levels in your refrigerator, and preserve your fresh fruit and vegetables for longer, you can purchase a thermo-hygrometer, which can be found cheaply online.
In most instances, a healthy refrigerator just requires a little regular attention, and while it can be easy to skip the steps above, they are worth factoring into your cleaning and tidying schedule, especially as they only take around half an hour at most to do. If your refrigerator is really dirty and requires a deep clean before you can begin organizing its contents, simply ask your regular cleaning service to make it a priority on their next visit.
