Fab Fridge

Fabulous Fridge

 

Organizing stuff is key to living your best life in so many ways – even in appliances.  The way food resides in your fridge can determine both how well you eat, and how many minutes of your life are wasted looking for something while the expensive cold air escapes into the kitchen.

Save time, energy, money, and maybe a few calories – all by giving your fridge a little love.  Here are some tips for your Big Fridge Makeover.

Basic maintenance – not actually organizing, but you’ll love your fridge more and it will provide better service with a little maintenance.  

1. Wipe down the exterior now and then – kitchen dust is sticky 

2. Clean out the interior as needed for a better look, nicer smell and safer storage.  Mrs. Meyer’s Cleaner is often recommended for its fresh scent and lack of harsh chemicals.  For a low cost option buy plastic placemats to put under easily spilled, sticky, or other generally icky things.  Easier to pull them out and clean than to scrub down a shelf with the door wide open.

3.  Pull the fridge out and vacuum the compressor coils to reduce energy consumption and prolong its life at least once a year. 

4.  Try the dollar bill test.  Shut the door on a bill and if it falls out it’s time to replace your seal. 

5.  Temperature check – be sure to set to 40 degrees or lower to properly preserve food. Also, remember that the fridge has warmer and cooler temperature zones.  Keep milk and other highly perishable things in the inner core.  Store hardy condiments, soft drinks, and less sensitive things in the door.

Go for the Zone – just as in other spaces create zones and store like items together for ease of locating.  If you pull out certain condiments every day to make sandwiches then store them together. 

Consider open bins to store similar items, especially the long versions that fit to the back of the fridge.  Just like roll-outs in lower cabinets they make it easier to get to the stuff in the very back.  Avoid mystery mold by pulling out the bins to review every few days. 

 Freezer Facts – a full freezer holds cold much better than a yawning empty space.  I learned a trick after 2 long storm-related electricity-free periods when I lost everything in my freezer.  Now I only keep what I expect to use within a few weeks, which does not fully fill the freezer compartment.  To achieve that well packed status simply fill plastic juice (or other) containers with water and set them in the back of the freezer.  The frozen water bottles can also be tossed into a cooler in a pinch.  No melted ice mess either.

Shelf Sufficiency – Make the very best use of the space by considering what you store and how you actually use it. 

1.    Move the shelves to fit the size and number of tall bottles you typically store, or create a narrow shelf if you have a lot of cans or small containers of leftovers.  

2.   2.     If you have children a bin or assigned area with their snack supplies can be super handy. 

3.   3.    Save a big wide area in front on at least one shelf for prepared foods, large leftovers, pizzas, cookie sheets, or other big containers that go in and out quickly.   Much simpler than having to re-arrange everything to fit when you need to cool a watermelon.

        4.  Check the fridge and clear out before a shopping trip to really know what you need and to make the put-away process a snap.