I. Placement
- Meat in the bottom shelf: your bottom shelf is the coldest, as such, place all your meats in the lower shelf of your fridge (preferably the back of the shelf). If your fridge is tight on space, remove the meat from its original packaging and place it in a tight ziplock bag. Label the day your purchasing day and the expiration date. Make sure not to let any other food touch the raw meat!
- Store your milk, eggs, and any items that might expire in the lowest shelf as well: for some reason we’ve been under the impression that eggs and milk need to be stored in the racks placed at the fridge door. The fridge door has the most variable temperatures, hence easily perishable items like milk and eggs should not be stored there, they need to be stored in a cold and steady shelf, the lower one.
- Place condiments and items containing preservatives in the fridge door: Since temperatures fluctuate at the fridge door due to the constant opening and closing of the fridge. Hence, you can store long lasting condiments and non-perishable food items there.
- Fruits and Veggies: while different fruits and veggies have different storing guidelines, we’ve included some basic tips. First, make sure you store the fruits and vegetables in your fridge drawers, the drawers control the moisture levels, making sure your food doesn’t spoil. In addition to that, store your fruits and veggies in separate drawers. Some fruits tend to produce gases that accelerate the ripening process of fruits and vegetables in their vicinity, hence in order to make sure they don’t spoil quickly, store them separately. Finally, most guidelines suggest to only wash your fruits and vegetables right before you eat them. However, you can also wash your veggies and place them in the fridge with a paper towel to soak up the moisture.
- Store ready to eat food and snacks in the upper part of the fridge: If your food is ready to eat, it doesn’t need to be stored in the lowest coldest level of the fridge, as such you can store them in the upper part. In that way, you’ll also be able to see what you have ready to snack on or eat, and make sure things don’t expire without consuming them.
- Vinegar and baking soda: these 2 are probably all you need to maintain a clean fridge. Use vinegar to clean your fridge (and food for that matter), and place a small tray of baking soda in the fridge to soak up any smells. They both work like a charm!
II. Organization
Now that you know where everything goes, you can follow these simple tips to keep things easy to grab and find.
- Every time you refill your fridge, take the time to throw out things that have expired or perished and to do a quick clean.
- Have 1 dedicated container for food scraps that should be used as soon as possible (ie: half a tomato or cilantro that is about to go bad) and get into the habit of using the items in that container before they go bad.
- Get the same type of tupperware to keep things looking tidy. We recommend glass tupperware for the fridge. You can use plastic ones for take outs as they are more portable.