Organizing &Cleaning the Fridge

I love a nice clean fridge that's organized and neat. Maybe a few of these tips will help us get it done!
Do you dread cleaning and organizing your fridge, as I do sometimes? It just seems like such a daunting task that I can't seem to manage unless I tend to it on a regular basis. I actually know someone who cleans out her fridge and throws everything in it away, every time she buys groceries. That seems a little extreme, but it also sounds like a very simple way of handling the chore!

I've never had such a hard time keeping up with this until we bought a new french door fridge. It's very nice, with two icemakers, air filter, water filter, and so spacious things really get lost in there. But at the same time, our two extra fridges went out and we never repaired or replaced them. So this caused the new fridge to be overfilled most of the time. I have to stack and pack things, and knowing that isn't really good to do that, I have no other choice really. An extra fridge is always good to have especially with large families or for large once a month shopping hauls. There's only three of us at home now, but occasionally we have as many as 8-12 to cook for. So it would come in handy to store extras.

Another thing I wanted to mention is how weird it is that the fridges with a thermometer comes preset to Freezer: 0 degrees and fridge: 36 degrees I think. I know that freezers can actually be set a little higher in temp somewhere between 38 and 42 degrees is much more economical than 36 degrees, in my opinion, and the food stays nicely frozen. I noticed my fridge would freeze certain foods on the left side right under the small icemaker, if it was turned down too low, so I experimented with it until I found mine worked just as well at 38-40 degrees, and the food no longer froze near the small icemaker.

Some freezers also have vents that disperse the air into the fridge for cooling, and when set too low it can freeze the foods in the fridge, and it can sometimes freeze up the actual vents if moisture gets in them. So keep a check on those and don't store packasges of food in front of the vent, so as to block the flow of air, because that will also cause the vents to freeze up, and shut the air off to the fridge section, causing the food to get warm. We had this happen to our fridge, and the repairman told us what was going on. We had seen a red glow in the vents and thought something was wrong with it, but come to find out the vents actually have heating elements in them that comes on when the vents freeze. So when the element heats up, it thaws and the ice starts to melt and drip into the fridge. That was another thing we noticed when it started getting warm, wondering where the water was coming from. So this is another reason to clean your fridge often, to make sure nothing is blocking the vents, and everything is working properly. With the cost of groceries being so high, none of us can afford to lose a whole refrigerator full of food, when it can be prevented through keeping an eye on things.
Just a side-note:
​I never keep ketchup or mustard in the fridge, it never goes bad. At one time I thought it was safe to let pickles stay out of the fridge after opening, but I was sadly mistaken. This even goes for olives, pickled okra, as well as pickled asparagus. It all starts fermenting when left at room temperature. You would think some of the storebought items would keep well out of the fridge with the vinegar and "preservatives" in them, but think again. ​​
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Image by Pexels from Pixabay
So a few months ago I wrote down a list of how to somewhat organize the contents of my big fridge. Well, I lost the list! I just happened to find it a couple of days ago and I'm finally ready to try and get it organized now. For whatever reason, when I have lightbulb moments, I really have to write it down before I forget. This goes with groceries, things to do, or anything along those lines.
Anyway the fridge organization list goes something like this:
  • Left door-condiments 
  • Right door-frequently used items
  • Top shelf-more condiments and dry goods, such as flour, grits, cornmeal
  • Open space on left-dairy and eggs
  • Small shelves on right-leftovers
  • Lower shelves-Lunch stuff, such as sliced cheese, lunch meats
  • Produce bins-fruits and veggies, I buy more veggies than fruit so the veggies end up in both bins.
  • Bottom drawer-meats to be used within a week or less. Always place meats where they won't drain onto other foods. 

These are the organizers I use for my fridge. You can find them HERE. And they are actually on sale for a cheaper price than what I paid for them nearly two years ago!
Now, as you see, there's usually no room for lots of extra water, drinks, juices, etc. So unless I have juice that must be refrigerated, I just store them in the pantry, then squeeze them in the fridge after opening. Most condiments and juices can be stored unrefrigerated until you open them, then they must be refrigerated. Just read the labels.
Tips:
  • Remove everything from the fridge.
  • Have a couple of big laundry baskets to hold everything.
  • Take out bins and shelves and clean them in the bathtub.
  • You can use the handheld shower nozzle if you have one to rinse everything.
  • Wipe with a dry cotton tea towel if you have them, they are pretty much lint-free.
  • Replace all shelves and bins and pads.
  • If you have water or air filters, change them now if needed.
  • Fill a big bowl with lukewarm water with baking soda dissolved in it.
  • Don't use harsh cleaners in the fridge.
  • A little dish soap can be added to the water and use a plastic scrubbie for tough stuff that is stuck. 
  • Or use straight baking soda to scrub..
  • Let it sit on there a few minutes as you would dishes to soften it. 
  • Use a soft brush to get in cracks and crevices.
  • Clean all surfaces, then dry them. 
  • Sort through everything and throw out things that are no longer usable.
  • Combine bottles of dressings, juice, milk, etc to save space.
  • Wipe down all the bottles, packages and containers with a damp rag before replacing them in the fridge.
There's also the dreaded cleaning of deep freezers that are not frost-free. I'll post more on that later. . .
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