Cleaning out the refrigerator
Are you avoiding this project?
Are you growing a specimen worthy of an award-winning science project in the back?
Rest assured it will take less than an hour to have a sparkling clean refrigerator again. Since my little one spilled a liquid-filled bowl of fruit all over mine, it was the perfect time to clean it.
Step 1: Preparation
Line a trashcan with a new bag. Use a heavy duty lawn leaf bag if you are going to be tossing a lot of yucky stuff since it is less likely to leak. Keep the trashcan nearby to dump out things that aren’t going back in the refrigerator.
Remember some containers are recyclable, so rinse and recycle them.
Step 2: Empty out the refrigerator
Work your way down two shelves at a time so the food will stay cold. As you move items to the counter, check expiration dates and toss the old items.
Step 3: Wash the shelves
Fill the kitchen sink full of water with some dish-washing detergent. Wash off the shelves and dry them with a towel before returning them to the refrigerator.
Step 4: Wipe the inside walls
Before returning the shelves to their spots, wipe off the walls of the refrigerator to remove any splatters of food.
Step 5: Line the vegetable and meat drawers
The drawers stay cleaner if you line them with two layers of paper towels. Now if that cucumber you forgot about starts to ooze, you can just replace the paper towels so your vegetable/fruit bin is clean again.
Step 6: Organize your shelves
Put like items together. I have one shelve for yogurt and fruit that I call the “snack” shelve and one for dinner ingredients. Beverages are on the bottom. Find what works best for you and organize your refrigerator so things don’t get lost in the back.
Don’t put it off
It took me only 30 minutes to clean the refrigerated side.
I’m going to go admire the results again. I can see through the drawers!
What? Yes those are refrigerated cookies in the drawer. Shhh..you didn’t see that. They could ruin my bake sale reputation.
I love the oozing cucumber visual you put in my head. I never thought to line the veggie drawer I will start doing that. I discovered cleaning out my fridge also uncovers where most of the missing dishes/bowls/utensils/cups are at.
lol that is because that is what I found. So true about the dishes. I ended up with more plastic containers than I could fit back in their place. I had bought more and was wondering where they all went.
Melinda, we’ve thrown out more oozing veggies than I’d care to admit to. I never thought about lining the drawers, either. Great tip!
Here’s my contribution: don’t throw away the veggies, add them to your compost bin.
Cheers,
Mitch
Some gross unidentifiable vegetables usually find their way to the back to die in mine. The paper towels are a lifesaver (you don’t have to touch it with your hands). ha ha One day I’m going to attempt composting again. That is a good point.
To maintain the cleanliness of our refrigerator and avoid the bad odor it it important that we should arrange everything in it. We should place the same food together to avoid the mixing of odors that causes bad smell inside our refrigerator. Nice reminders, I am always having a difficult time to arrange my refrigerator due to busy schedule, but if I have time I really sees to it that it smells good and everything is in the proper order.
If I don’t organize it a little, I forget what I have.
I know what I’m doing this weekend…cleaning the fridge! At the back of my fridge, we have old probably expired condiments like ketchup and mustard. Probably several bottles of each too so we could really throw some of them out. I think I’m going to organize my drawers according to how frequently we eat/use those items. That’ll keep us a little more on track with the expiration dates.
Things just always tend to get lost in the back. I do find it isn’t as bad if it is organized by what it is.
Well, cleaning the ref is no longer my problem since we no longer have one! 😀 Ours was an old one, older than my husband, which my mother-in-law handed over. It got cold so easily that our electric meter could make a fan of itself!
Cleaning tips to share, though…baking powder gets the odor away at the same time it cleans and putting a piece of charcoal the size of your fist absorbs the odor as well. Just let it stay there by the door.
OK I have to know how you live without a refrigerator? I didn’t know about using charcoal but that makes sense.
Hey Melinda, I’m loving the paper towel trick. Thanks!
It saves me weekly 😉
I just print out this posts. LOL i just realize I messed up everything on my refrigerator. Thanks for the post!
Hahahaha!! This is such a great post! I just cleaned out my fridge after avoiding it for about 2 weeks! YUCK! I am going to put your tips into place and go for weekly! 🙂
You just reminded me that it’s time to clean my fridge LOl.. I love the way you organize the shelves, you are right sometimes I tend to forget other stuff I have specially if it’s at the back and before I know it, I can’t use it anymore! Thank you Good job!