Content

• To step
• Part 1 of 3: Organizing your shelves and racks
• Part 2 of 3: Keeping the refrigerator clean
• Part 3 of 3: Arranging the freezer
• Tips
• Warnings

Do you make a habit of haphazardly filling your fridge after you get home from the grocery store, and just put everything everywhere you can find a place? Clearing the shelves in your fridge will help you remember which items you have enough and which ones are running low. Your food will also have a longer shelf life if you put everything in the right place, so you don't have to throw away food that is spoiled or out of date as often. You save money and time when you choose the right storage space for meat, vegetables, dairy products and spices by applying smart ideas to keep everything tidy and fresh.

To step

Part 1 of 3: Organizing your shelves and racks

1. Place the fruit in the drawer that is least moist. Fruit is best preserved when not exposed to too much moisture. Most refrigerators have a special drawer with a lower humidity than the other shelves and drawers. Sometimes with the inscription "low humidity" and other times with the inscription "verse". This is where you should store your fruits, such as apples, bananas and grapes.
   • If you plan to eat fruit quickly, however, it is best to store it on the top shelf. Fresh berries, for example, decay much faster than apples, so you don't want to store them in the fruit drawer. Keep the box on the middle or top shelf where you can see and grab them before they start to shrivel.
   • Fruit stored in the fruit drawer can be stored loose or in open plastic bags. Do not keep fruit in a tightly sealed plastic bag, as this can cause many fruits to rot more quickly.
2. Keep your vegetables in the vegetable drawer. Most vegetables benefit from a little extra moisture - which is why in the greengrocer's the vegetable is kept moist. Most refrigerators have a vegetable drawer, usually right next to the fruit drawer (if there is one). Keep your whole vegetables in that drawer, loose or in open plastic bags, to keep them fresh.
   • If you keep a salad or chopped vegetables, they will spoil more quickly than whole vegetables. That's why you should keep them on the middle or top shelf so you don't lose sight of them and use them quickly.
   • To keep the vegetables fresh for longer, do not wash them before putting them away in the drawer. Wetting vegetables increases the chance that bacteria can grow and the vegetables will rot. Humidity is good, but the vegetables are not supposed to float in the water. If you need to wash the vegetables, dry them completely before storing.
3. Store meat in the coldest part of the refrigerator. Whether you want to store chicken breast, steak, sausage or turkey, it should be stored in the coldest part of the refrigerator. In most cases this is the bottom shelf or in the back, although some fridges have a special meat drawer.If you store meat on the top shelf, it is more likely to spoil.
   • Make sure your meat is separated from the rest of the food in your fridge. It should be wrapped in plastic and stored as low as possible so that if juices leak, other food cannot be contaminated with it.
   • Clean the area where you keep meat more often than the rest of the refrigerator.
4. Store milk and eggs on the coldest shelf. Many people place milk and eggs in the refrigerator door for easy access. However, the door is the hottest part of the refrigerator, so they are more likely to spoil there. Store your milk and eggs on the bottom shelf, or whatever shelf is coldest in your fridge.
   • Unless you run out of eggs very quickly, it is better to keep them in their original packaging rather than in the egg holders on the inside of the door.
   • Cream, buttermilk, yogurt and similar products should also be kept on the cold shelf.
5. Store cold cuts and cheese in the shallow meat drawer. If you have cold pieces of the deli, cream cheese, and other cheeses, put them in the shallow meat drawer, which usually slides out from the middle or top shelf. This is also a good place to stock up on bacon, hot dogs, and other preserved meats. It is slightly cooler than the rest of the refrigerator, but not as cold as the back of the bottom shelf. Clean this container as regularly as you clean the other meat store.
6. Put spices and drinks in the door. Spices are usually high in salt, vinegar and other preservatives that keep them from spoiling quickly, so it's no problem to keep them in the hottest part of the fridge - the door. Beverages also tend to keep longer than solid foods. Only use the bottom one for the bigger and heavier things, such as orange juice, beer or soft drinks. Place sweet spices such as jam, jelly and syrup on another shelf, and keep the savory spices such as mustard and soy sauce on the last shelf.
   • Although butter is a milk product, you can store it in the butter compartment in the door. Butter does not have to be kept as cold as milk.
   • If you like spices, the place where you keep it quickly becomes messy and full of expired food. Clean up this part regularly and get rid of anything that is out of date or running out.
7. Store leftovers and ready-to-eat food on the top or middle shelf. Cooked food can be stored perfectly on the top or middle shelf. Use those shelves to store food that does not need to be particularly cold: cooked baby food, pizza, dips and sauces, tortillas, etc.
   • The top or middle shelves can also be a good place for a jug of water, medicines that need to be stored refrigerated, and other items that need to be kept cool but don't spoil quickly.

Part 2 of 3: Keeping the refrigerator clean

1. Use refrigerator baskets. Food tidy baskets is a great way to keep everything separate and accessible. You can buy baskets for your shelves and use each basket for a different type of food. Label the baskets so you know what is in it where. For example, if you buy a lot of cheese, you can have a separate basket for just the cheese.
   • Baskets are available that are specially made to fit the door bins. Baskets are useful for keeping spices tidy. If something spills, all you have to do is take the basket out of the fridge and clean it.
2. Use a turntable. This trick is so useful, it's a wonder refrigerators don't come with it as standard. Buy a plastic turntable (a circular rotating shelf) and place it in the center of the top shelf of your refrigerator. Place food on it that you can easily forget, such as leftovers. This avoids the common scenario of occasionally finding leftovers in the back of the fridge that are months old.
   • It's also a good way to be sure to use up salads, sliced ​​vegetables, fruits, and other things that spoil quickly. Consider using a turntable for food that you want to eat right away.
3. If necessary, cover the shelves for easy cleaning. Covering the shelves protects the food from contamination and makes cleaning a lot easier. For example, if you need to store meat on a shelf above fruit and vegetables, you can put plastic wrap underneath to prevent flesh from getting on the fruit or vegetables. Every two weeks you remove the old plastic and put out clean plastic.
4. Clean your refrigerator regularly. Don't leave expired food or moldy leftovers in your refrigerator and clog. Eventually you will have to stuff the fresh stuff somewhere in between, so you don't know what is in your fridge anymore. Every week, go through your refrigerator and throw away anything you won't be using anymore.
5. Do not keep non-perishable goods in the refrigerator. Use your refrigerator to store perishables, and leave things like spring water, soda cans, spices you have in stock, and others in your pantry. This makes more space for things that actually need to be kept refrigerated. Only place your perishables in the refrigerator when you use them.

Part 3 of 3: Arranging the freezer

1. Label everything before saving. If you're one of those busy people making a large casserole or load of soup to freeze in batches for later meals, make sure to label everything with the name and date. That way, your food doesn't end up as a nameless, frozen bag that you don't remember how many months ago you put it there. By keeping your freezer organized with labeled goods, you will actually start using whatever you have stored.
2. Put the food that you are going to keep the longest in the back, make sure you know how long everything is going to be in your freezer, and then place the items that will be kept the longest in the back or at the bottom of the freezer. Items that will be used more quickly should be stored in the front so that you can see and use them immediately.
   • For example, frozen fruit, vegetables and meat, etc., can be stored for months and longer, so put those behind the other items. This will prevent them from defrosting every time you open the freezer.
   • Ice cream, popsicles, ice cubes and other items that you use more often should be placed in the front of the freezer.
3. Use correct storage methods to avoid over-freezing the products. Frozen foods generally don't spoil, but too low a temperature can still ruin the flavor and texture of the products, rendering them inedible. In addition to organizing your freezer so that the food that needs to be kept the longest is in the back, you should also use good freezing practices to protect the food from exposure to air and moisture. Use airtight freezer bags to store all items. Put two sachets around the food that will stay in the freezer for more than a few weeks.
   • Keeping food in thin sandwich bags does not protect it from freezing too deeply. Instead, use thick freezer bags.

Tips

• Put together food that is related to each other: meat, milk, fruit, vegetables.
• Remember that most refrigerator shelves are adjustable and movable. You can move or even delete these shelves if you want to rearrange them.
• Arrange the food in a way that makes the most sense; put the foods you eat most often in the front and those you eat least in the back.

Warnings

• Uncooked food belongs on the bottom shelf so it does not drip on cooked food and cause food poisoning.