How to Clean a Refrigerator

Maintaining a clean refrigerator has distinct health and sanitary benefits, aside from the convenience and aesthetic appeal of a tidy living room or bedroom. Your biggest target when cleaning your refrigerator should be rotting and expired food, which can breed bacteria, help odors form and at worst, cause sickness when unknowingly consumed. In addition to dumping food past its prime, proper organization and conscientious storage will keep your refrigerator tidy on a more consistent basis.

Carefully Examine Expiration Dates

Chances are you can eliminate half of your refrigerator’s inventory at any given moment by disposing of foods that are beyond their expiration dates. Dairy and produce are the more obvious rotting and expired foods, but it doesn’t stop there. Be sure to note the expiration dates of condiments, sauces and dressings, which often remain inconspicuous on shelves and doors and can sit for months past their expiration dates. While leftovers don’t have an official expiration date stamped on them, they certainly won’t stay good forever. They should be kept for a week at most, but the odor and physical appearance of the food will indicate if it should be dumped sooner. Also, be sure not to store leftovers in an airtight container while still hot, as the enclosed, warm space is a breeding ground for bacteria.

Store Properly and Organize Regularly.

This means both grouping food groups accordingly and looking to the right containers to house your food. Be sure to keep the meat in the meat drawer and the produce in the crisper drawer. Properly separating foods will give you better access to see which foods have already gone bad. This shouldn’t be a one-time occurrence, either. Be conscious to carefully arrange the foods in your refrigerator each time you return from the grocery store. Placing a full container on top of a nearly empty bag of fruit or condiment container can eventually shove the latter to the back corner of the fridge, often allowing it to rot for months or weeks unnoticed. Arrange foods so that you can have access to every item and won’t have to dig to see if something has gone bad.

Additionally, do your best to store foods in airtight containers after you’ve opened them. Bags can usually never reseal properly once they’ve been opened, so look to store dairy and sliced or cooked produce items in containers with lids. Do the same for items you’ve cooked with a fair amount of liquid or sauces, which can lead to pesky spills if not properly sealed.

Target Odor and Spills

Speaking of spills, they’re a source of bacteria and grime in your refrigerator and can often escape unnoticed in certain crevices. Be sure to prevent them before they happen by storing liquid items upright and with their lids tightly on. Clean spills with baking soda and water.  Rearranging your fridge with new grocery additions will also provide the visibility to spot spills and target odor. Keep a box of baking soda in the refrigerator to absorb the odors, and change it every three months.