Oh no! Was that month-old bag of leftovers supposed to be in there? Having a full fridge is a big no-no when it comes to keeping the freshness of your food up. Having poor fridge space optimization can pose severe risks to both your finances and your overall cleanliness!
When over 25% of the food that you buy goes to the garbage can, what should you do to take action? A great way to start is to realize that the problem is there and to start optimizing the space in your refrigerator. Optimizing your fridge space may seem like a daunting task at first, but you’ll soon realize that doing this is not only enjoyable but also productive.
Steps To A Clean And Organized Refrigerator
Don’t worry! These steps aren’t anything too fancy or too complicated. These are just stepping stones so that you can find your system on how to organize your fridge. Treat this as a standard of what is a must when cleaning out your fridge.
Adjust Shelf Placement
This is self-explanatory, those racks have to be organized appropriately so that you don’t overcrowd or leave to much room in your refrigerator. Make sure that your items are sorted from shortest to tallest. Tall items have to be put below and shorter items on top so that you can maximize your space without overcrowding.
Leftovers And What To Do With Them
Let’s be real here, we’ve all been guilty of keeping leftovers for too long. Putting them in plastic containers to “eat tomorrow” but then inevitably forgetting about them entirely. Say goodbye to having disgusting leftovers by doing this.
Instead, put them in plastic containers and label them according to when you plan on eating them. This way, there will be a constant reminder for you whenever you open the fridge that you need to eat or throw away what’s inside. You can also put the leftovers or just old food in general in front of others just so that you don’t end up forgetting them and throwing them away.
Fresh Produce and the Wonders of Organizing Them
This is important if you want your fruits or vegetables to be as fresh as they possibly can! Organizing them and putting them in the containers that are corresponding to their ideal humidity can work wonders. Having them in an area with their ideal humidity makes them last longer and stay fresh a lot longer too!
Store your leafy greens and vegetables in high humidity and your fruits in low humidity.
Condiments Galore
Having condiments on the main shelves of your fridge is a waste of space. Why use the place where you put food and containers when you have a perfectly good fridge door to use! Reserve the door for condiments and shelf-stable items such as rectangular cartons of milk. Aside from condiments, you can also put dairy items such as butter in these slots as they fit perfectly and without trouble.
Vertical Space
Maximizing your vertical space can also open up ways where you can save space or sneak in a few more containers here and there inside your refrigerator. Stacking up your plastic containers to match with the height of things such as milk cartons or water bottles is quite useful. Using tall carafes and similar sized food containers make arranging your refrigerator items very convenient.
Avoid An Empty or Overstuffed Refrigerator
Having an empty or overstuffed refrigerator can lead to you wasting energy and increasing the probability of food spoilage. When there are too many items inside a fridge, it tends to overwork or uses up too much power. In some cases, this can cause the refrigerator to break or overheat.
Having an empty one and keeping it on is also negative because of the energy that you waste trying to cool up one or two plastic containers full of leftovers. Having an overstuffed fridge can also cause spoilage because you lose track of what’s inside.
Make sure to keep it moderate at all times to make sure you don’t waste energy and food!