Skip to Content

Housekeeping 101: Tips to Organize Your Refrigerator

Belleview Woman Reaching into a Clean Refrigerator for a Red Bell PepperA messy, unorganized fridge can swiftly become an immense problem. From overlooked leftovers to missing ingredients, a disorganized fridge can pose a huge threat to your health and budget. The terrific news is that you can swiftly avoid these problems by using a few simple organizational strategies. By keeping your fridge organized, you can definitely make the most of your available space and keep everything fresh and ready to eat.

Clean and Sort

The first step to organizing a fridge is to clean and sort all of your fridge items. Get everything out of the refrigerator, inspecting for expiration dates, mold, or other signs of spoiled food as you go. Do away with anything that is past the expiration date or looks gross. For leftovers or food in plastic storage containers, if you’re not exactly sure how long it has been in there, throw it out. When it comes to your food, it’s best to err on the side of caution.

With everything out of the fridge, make an effort to deep-clean your fridge’s interiors. Just use hot, soapy water or a mild bleach solution, wipe down, and dry all surfaces, including inside drawers and bins. Thus, you can then go ahead and start with a clean fridge for your new organization system.

Label Everything

The next practical step to an organized fridge is to obtain a log of how long your food has been there. Even supposing multiple pre-packaged foods will come with an expiration or sell-by date on them, for fruits and veggies or food that you take home with you or that is leftover from meals, you ought to have a system to keep track of when it was added to the fridge and when it will need to be thrown out.

One valuable tip is to simply use a dry-erase marker to write the dates of meals and takeout on the container. You could do the same thing for other perishables, using the inside of your fridge. By monitoring and logging down the dates of both when you brought them home and when they need to be used, you can better see to it that you are using up the groceries you buy before they spoil and avoid eating leftovers that can make you sick.

Use Containers

Effectively keeping loose items tidy and organized in a fridge can be arduous, especially for things like fruits, vegetables, and even small condiment jars. To avoid clutter and make sure that you have everything you’re looking for at hand, consider using many clear storage bins to group loose items together. Think about investing in some quality reusable food storage containers with tight-fitting lids. This can enable you to store food safely and minimize waste by reusing your containers repeatedly.

You can similarly use a dry-erase marker on the bins and storage containers to keep track of the dates things were bought. Using bins and storage containers in your fridge will empty out space for larger items elsewhere and more effectively track expiration dates of perishable items.

Develop a System

As you set off replacing items, it’s relevant to develop a system for storing everything. This has two benefits: first, that you will, all the time, actually know where things are, and second, that it can make your food last longer and make it safer. For illustration, remember that certain items should be kept in certain places.

Meat should always be kept on the lowest shelf to prevent it from dripping and contaminating other food. In addition, never store milk in the fridge door – it can spoil quickly if exposed to warm air all the time. You can further separate your fruits and vegetables, and service trays for really messy items to protect from spills.

Plan Ahead

Now, once your fridge is clean and organized, the most vital thing you can definitely do is to make a plan to keep it that way. Even the most organized fridge will require to be cleaned, and old items are thrown out sometimes. Think of setting up a cleaning schedule to always make sure that your fridge stays organized. As an instance, you could choose a day of the week or month to go through everything, rotating and updating your fresh produce, and wiping down fridge surfaces. By doing this routinely, you can avoid the horrible deep-clean and purge of your fridge (and freezer), a job very few take delight in.

By bearing in mind these easy tips, you can keep your fridge clean and organized week after week with less effort than you might have thought possible!

 

Are you in the market for a new rental home? Let Real Property Management Diversified help! You can view our listings online or speak to one of our professional Belleview property managers today.

We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. See Equal Housing Opportunity Statement for more information.

The Neighborly Done Right Promise

The Neighborly Done Right Promise ® delivered by Real Property Management, a proud Neighborly company

When it comes to finding the right property manager for your investment property, you want to know that they stand behind their work and get the job done right – the first time. At Real Property Management we have the expertise, technology, and systems to manage your property the right way. We work hard to optimize your return on investment while preserving your asset and giving you peace of mind. Our highly trained and skilled team works hard so you can be sure your property's management will be Done Right.

Canada excluded. Services performed by independently owned and operated franchises.

See Full Details