Due to the ever increasing work hours and stressful lifestyles, many people have to compromise on the standard of cleanliness they want to maintain at their homes. In such a situation, the most neglected part of the home is a refrigerator. We can develop a lot of health problems if refrigerator maintenance and cleaning is not a part of our daily lives. In this article, I have summarized the ways by which one can keep the refrigerator clean without devoting too much time to it.
Storing fruits and vegetables
Usually the refrigerators have vegetable boxes. It is a good idea to store the vegetables in those boxes. The fruit can be stored anywhere in the refrigerator. It is also a good idea to store like fruits and vegetables together instead of keeping a fruit or vegetable bowl. However, do not make the mistake of storing fruit or vegetable in zip lock bags. Instead, use cotton bags. This way you can not only categorize the fruits and vegetables but can also keep them fresh for longer time periods.
Quick tip on storing fruits and vegetables: Put the cotton bags in the freezer, when not in use, to minimize the possibility of living bacteria. Do not forget to wash them though, every 15 days.
Storing leftovers
The leftovers should essentially be stored in the airtight containers, aluminum foils or zip lock bags. If the leftovers are not stored in airtight containers, the bacteria can spread in the whole refrigerator that can lead to food poisoning and other health risks.
Quick tip on storing leftovers: To save time, store the leftovers in aluminum foil or microwavable zip lock bags. Eat from them directly. In the long run, it would save you thousands of minutes of de-cluttering and dish washing. If anything goes stale, it can be thrown directly instead of having a yucky container to clean.
Eliminating or Minimizing Odors
Using air tight containers and zip lock bags will make sure that the refrigerator is odor free.
Quick tip on eliminating odors: Put some baking powder in a bowl (three to four table spoons will do) and let it sit in your refrigerator uncovered. The baking powder is a natural deodorizer. It will keep your refrigerator absolutely odor free. Change it after every 15 days. Click here to know three other non-obvious uses of the baking powder.
Organization
Keep the vegetable box for vegetables. The rack above it should store fruits. The rack above that can carry beverages, jam, jellies etc. The rack, which is the easiest to access, will carry the leftovers. The door can store eggs, cheese, candies, and other lightweight items.
Quick tip on organization: Do not put anything anywhere other than its allocated place. If you run out of space in a rack, it means you need to de-clutter it. Do it right there and then. It will hardly take two to three minutes.
Sources:
My Granny, Personal experience.
Click here to read more articles by the same author.
