Lifting-Fairy: Organize your fridge

Hey there.

How was your weekend so far? Did you planned anything special, or were you just recovering from this exhausting week? As far as I'm concerned, I was very busy this weekend, as it was that time of the month again... Meaning, Ken and I had to go to the grocery stores again to get some juicy meat, veggies and fruits.

But before we left the house, it was definitely time to clean our fridge. And that's what we are going to talk about today: Organizing and keeping an healthy fridge.

Here a small list why a clean fridge is important:

The fridge is one of the most important places to keep clean as stale food can pollute fresh food with fungus and bacteria.
A dirty fridge can increase the risk of food poisoning.
If your fridge isn't clean, the risk is even bigger from raw meats and fish to easily spread germs like e-coli and salmonella.

And while having a clean fridge matters, using the right products plays its role aswell:

Modern fridges should have removable shelves and drawers, so those should be attacked first.
If they are not covered with food residue, they only need to have a long soak in a basin of warm water and dishwashing-soap.
If you have stubborn stains, you should consider to use a dedicated cleaner for your refrigerator, or a food-friendly antibacterial cleaner or even a natural homemade solution.
Make sure that your products are food-friendly. Don't get me wrong here, with 'food-friendly' I mean that it is generally safe for food to be replaced into the fridge once it has been cleaned.
If you can't find such products, simply use all-purpose kitchen cleaner, which should be food-friendly as well.
The perfect case would be if you found disinfectant sprays and surface wipers, but please stay away from anything with harsh chemicals.
For a homemade-solution, here is what you'll need: baking soda and warm water; or warm water with distilled, white vinegar. You can also add some drops of lemon juice, this will help you to eliminate the strong smell of the vinegar.

Additionally to that, a comprehensive cleaning schedule will ensure that your fridge and your food are kept clean and healthy:

Daily: E.g while cooking dinner, quickly check your fridge for any spills. The earlier you clean up the spills, the easier it should be to remove.
Weekly: Before grocery shopping, sort out all your food in your fridge. Food that should have been used by that day should be thrown away. If anything is still within its date, but you don't planned using them, perhaps give it to someone else to avoid waste.
Less Frequently: If it is really necessary, take everything out of the refrigerator, including shelves and drawers, and give it a complete clean. In case you don't have the time to clean your whole fridge, consider a rota for cleaning the different parts of it over the course of a month.

Now that your fridge should be clean, you should also consider organizing your fridge. This means that placing the different foods is also of importance to obtain an extended keeping property:

Top-shelf:

- Fresh fruit packed in Tupperware.

- Preserved food

Middle-shelf/door:

- Eggs, in the original cartons / Or in the fridge egg container

- Deli meats

- Butter & Soft cheese. (Tip: drawer should be air-tight once these items have been opened)

Bottom-shelf/ door:

- Milk

- Yogurt, sour cream & cottage cheese

- Ketchup, Mayonnaise or salad dressing

- Nut oils (walnut, sesame etc.) (Olive oil and vegetables oils should be kept in the pantry)

- Juices, if pasteurized. Fresh-squeezed juice should be kept on the bottom shelf.

Drawer:

- Packaged raw meat (Tip: if they drop juices, at least they won't contaminate the whole fridge )

- Vegetables

- Fruits (Tip: don't wash the veggies and fruits if they are still going to stay in the fridge as the water can easily promote mold and cause bacteria to grow)

As Ken and I don't have any diary products, dressings or juices, our fridge looks a bit different. I made my best to organize my fridge the most accurate.

At the end I want to apologize for this long post, but for me hygiene is on the number-one burner and needs to be specified.

Now I wish you a great last day of your weekend, stay healthy.