The Great Fridge Clean-Up!

If there is one thing that I really need, it’s help with my “organization” skills in the kitchen (or lack thereof).  My refrigerator is overflowing without any particular order or arrangement, almost guaranteeing that half of the food will end up lost and then thrown away. My freezer is covered in half empty boxes and cartons, random bags of veggies, and meat from…well, sometime this year. We could move on and discuss my cabinets, too, but everyone needs to start somewhere! I’m going to start with our perishable goods to see if I can start organizing that section of my life.

Here are a couple steps I’m starting to take, and you can take with me.

-First absolute necessity is to take an inventory of your fridge and freezer. Pull everything out, pill up what can stay and get rid of what has long needed to go! We might as well start with a fresh start, so more emptier equals more better.

-Now that we have a sleek, empty refrigerator (which is now hopefully clean as well); take this opportunity to move your shelves around to fit your foods best. If you've noticed that you can’t quite fit what you need on the top shelf, or never use your second shelf because it’s just too small to be functional, more them around. Move each shelf down or up a couple notches until you have a more desirable layout.

-Now it’s time to get your foods organized, this is especially important for your freezer. Create sections just for vegetable, for meat, and/or frozen pre-made foods. When you’re reaching for tonight’s protein, you don’t want to come up with random, left-over mixed veggies. A place for everything and everything in its place. Back in the refrigerator you may even want to organize by size. This will make everything visible, and stop the waste from smaller items getting lost from falling behind.

-Now you just need to make a pact with yourself to keep your fridge and freezer looking this good. I've read elsewhere that they recommend a “once a month” clean up, but you know what? If you don’t work on it in the meantime, you could be back where you started in a months’ time! Be sure to keep your organize system up every time you go grocery shopping. At the end of each week take an extra peek to see if anything is expiring or still around that isn't good anymore. Working on it pieces at a time will be quicker and turn it into habit.