Your refrigerator is one of the most important appliances in your home. Not only does it keep your food cold, but it also helps you to save money by buying foods in bulk and cooking more meals at home. However, if your fridge is not organized properly, it can make your groceries go bad faster and cause you to waste money.
Keeping your refrigerator organized can help you keep track of what you have to eat and what needs to be used up. It can also help you save money by buying less food than you need and throwing away less food than you normally would.
- First, clean out your refrigerator. If you haven’t done this in a while, it’s time. Take everything out and clean the shelves and drawers. This will give you a fresh start on organizing your fridge.
- Next, take stock of what you have to work with. This will help you figure out what needs to be tossed or eaten first.
- Finally, set up a system for storing leftovers and other food items so they don’t go to waste.
Here are some tips for keeping your fridge in tip-top shape:
- Store milk and other liquids on the bottom shelf so they don’t spill over onto other foods in the fridge. Also make sure they are covered with lids or containers to prevent them from spoiling too quickly.
- Plan meals ahead of time. If you know what meals you’re going to make and when, you’ll know what ingredients are needed. And if you’re cooking according to meal plan, it’s easier to keep track of what’s in the fridge and how much is left.
- Keep produce covered with a towel or wax paper when stored in the refrigerator and make sure there is enough room for air circulation around each piece of fruit or vegetable.
- If something smells bad or tastes funny, throw it away immediately.
- Put up shelves and baskets on the door of your refrigerator so that they can hold small items such as condiments and butter.
- Make sure that all food items are stored in containers or bags that can be easily closed and opened. This will prevent any spills, which can make a mess in your fridge.
- Label containers with expiration dates on them so that you can keep track of how long foods have been stored for. When an item has been stored for too long, throw it out before it goes bad!
- Keep like items together. Put items that are similar in color together so the contents of your fridge aren’t scattered around all over the place — this makes it easier for you to see everything that’s in there at a glance. For example, put all fruits together in one area, all vegetables together in another area, all dairy products together in another area and so on. This way, when something gets low or starts to expire, it will be more noticeable because all that type of item will be grouped together instead of spread out throughout the fridge’s contents.
- Alternatively, you can organize by meal. If your family has regular weekly meals, make sure you store ingredients for those meals together in one place within the fridge. For example, put all the meat and cheese near each other so that when it comes time to make tacos or grilled cheese sandwiches at dinner time they will be easy to find and prepare quickly.
- Vegetables and fruit should be kept in clear plastic containers on their sides in the crisper drawer of your fridge so they are visible without having to open every container or drawer to see what’s inside them!
