These tips will make you more excited to open the door, which means you’ll end up wasting less of the food inside
Your fruits and veggies make terrible drawer mates.
If you have a newer fridge, you likely have two drawers, one for vegetables and one for fruits. It may be tempting to slide some greens from an overflowing veggie drawer to the fruit side on farmer’s market days, but try to resist the urge. Why? The veggie drawer is calibrated for high-humidity produce (greens wilt slower when there’s moisture) and the fruit drawer is set for low humidity (fruits rot slower in low humidity). Another reason to keep greens and fruits separated: the ethylene from fruits can result in vegetables spoiling prematurely.
Meats should be stored on the lowest shelf.
There are only two places to store your meat: in the freezer compartment or on the lowest shelf of the refrigerator, where it can’t drip onto any foods. We’ll go a step further: Place a tray under the meat on that lowest shelf; it helps to contain any possible leaks and makes it super-easy to clean in case of spillage.
Trays, bins, and baskets have a place in the fridge
You’ve heard us advocate the use of trays, bins, and baskets throughout your home—and that extends to your refrigerator. Just as it’s visually pleasing to see pantry shelves compartmentalized with the help of bins and lazy Susans, a refrigerator that takes advantage of these organizational tools is a joy to behold and use. In my own fridge, I use a tray to hold meats on the bottom shelf, a bin to hold condiments that don’t fit into the door, and a colander to hold oranges (citrus doesn’t mix well with ethylene-producing fruits).
An empty fridge is bad, an overfilled one even worse.
If you worry about something falling out every time you open the refrigerator door, you need to declutter—and not just because you may be a food hoarder. Filling every inch of your fridge can lead to forgotten foods, blocked air vents, impeded air flow, and reduced energy efficiency. That said, if your fridge is nearly empty, consider stocking it with a few bottles of water, which when chilled, helps the appliance maintain cool temperatures. Best practice is to aim for a fridge that’s two-thirds full.
Pre-cut fruits and vegetables at your own risk
We know a lot of people recommend washing and cutting fruits and vegetables before storing in the refrigerator to encourage healthy snacking. Thing is, chopped-up produce will deteriorate faster since more surface area is exposed. Best practice is to wash and cut when you’re ready to consume it.
Condiments and sauces
Keep regularly used condiments and sauces on the doors where they’re easily accessible. Stash items that are used only every so often together toward the back of the fridge. Visit them occasionally to remind or inspire yourself to use them up. Know which items don’t need to be refrigerated so they don’t take up precious space. Keep hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce, tomatoes, potatoes and onions outside of the fridge.
Place items that need to be used up, like tomato sauce, toward the front of the fridge
You’re doing it wrong if you store milk in the door
The warmest spots in your refrigerator are inside the door and the top shelf. Since milk is liable to spoil, it should go in the middle shelf, which enjoys consistent temperatures. Same goes for eggs (don’t put them in the egg compartment of your door if you have one). Store condiments, which are usually high in vinegar and salt, in the door. And if your fridge has dedicated spots for dairy and sandwich meats, make sure to take advantage of them. The top shelf is ideal for snacks and leftovers.
The exception? Strawberries.
How many times have you been excited to open a new basket of strawberries only to find them mushy or moldy? You can extend their freshness by storing them in the vegetable crisper instead of the fruit drawer. Like vegetables, strawberries enjoy humidity (though not too much, so don’t wash them before you store them) and don’t tolerate ethylene.
There’s an easy hack for keeping it clean
It’s taken me two decades to finally try this, and now that I’ve done it, I’m agog that I ever thought it was silly. I’m talking about lining your refrigerator shelves and drawers. I always found it to be unnecessary and fussy, as the insides of refrigerators can be totally scrubbed down if needed. Thing is, if you line the shelves and drawers with paper towels or kitchen linens, you 1) don’t need to deep-clean your fridge very often and 2) when you do, it’s as easy as a quick wipe-down. I’m now a convert for life.
souce: organized-home – foodnetwork
