Decluttering your fridge

Today’s challenge calls for tackling at least one zone in the fridge. I feel I have a fairly good handle on our fridge, but that was certainly not always the case. And unfortunately, I still end up wasting more food than I’d like. 

Wirecutter recommends dividing the fridge up by zones. “A fridge zone is a dedicated space for you to group items by type, frequency of use, and how long they’ve been in your fridge. Setting one up means taking everything out, throwing away what’s bad, cleaning the newly emptied spot, and putting only the keepers back.”

I think most people have more condiments than actual fresh food in their fridge. Shelves full of jelly jars, mustard, sauces, salad dressings, the tiny pickles you bought for that holiday party because they’re so cute. But condiments do have an expiration date. Make sure you’re checking them. Keeping similar condiments together means you can easily find them and check their expiration dates frequently. In our house, we’ve started writing the date we opened our pasta sauce and salsa on the front of the jar. No more wondering if it was opened 6 months ago or 6 days ago. 

Now that you’ve established and cleaned the condiment zone, you may want to line the shelf with a washable liner. Same goes for the drawers. I like to take everything out, check to make sure it’s still fresh, and hand wash the drawers. I’m always amazed by how much dog hair ends up in the fridge!

Again, from Wirecutter, “A few basics to keep in mind as you designate your new zone: Fridges are typically coldest toward the back and bottom, warmer on the top shelf, and warmest in the door. So, two easy zone rules are to avoid storing milk, or anything else with a short shelf life, in the door. And raw meat should always go at the bottom of the fridge, where it’s coldest and where you can avoid raw juices dripping.” (Eww!)

We’ve all seen pictures of the perfect fridge with bottles of sparkling water neatly lined up and yogurt containers stacked neatly on the sides. I can say with certainty that no matter how much effort I would make to maintain that perfectly arranged medley of sparkling waters, bowls of perfect fruit, and organic yogurts, it wouldn’t remain that way. Why? Because I live with another human. And I’m human. My refrigerator has to work for me. I need to be able to find what I need before it goes bad. That’s my goal - keep things out of the trash and only scraps in the compost. Am I successful? Sometimes. When I plan out our meals for the week - even a loose plan results in less waste. But that’s for another post.

Thanks for reading!