I am the QUEEN of buying tons of groceries/bringing home all my leftovers and just throwing them in the fridge … and then eventually throwing them out – ask any of my roommates!
Did you know that 40% of the food in the US goes uneaten? Which means that Americans are throwing out the equivalent of $165 BILLION each year! Yeah, I’m not helping the cause but HEY it’s time to change!
Some of you might already know these, but here are some tips I have learned about organizing your refrigerator!
1. Set your refrigerator to 40 degrees or lower – bacteria grows rapidly between 40-140 degrees.
2. Refrigerator door is the warmest – try to only store condiments in this area. Anything dairy (especially milk) or eggs will go bad quickly – the temperature fluctuates too much in the door.
3. Upper shelves are the slightly-warmer section – store foods that don’t have a health safety risk aka leftovers, drinks, ready-to-eat foods. Getting clear containers for leftovers is also helpful because it will help you see what the heck are in those white take out boxes!
4. Bottom shelves = coldest section – store meats, poultry, or any other raw meats. This also prevents drips from contaminating food below. If you take it out of the meat packaging, put it in a bowl.
5. Mason jars for salads – mason jars are the longest-lasting way to keeps salads. Dressing on the bottom, veggies and other salads goodies get piled on top. If you have a lid for your jar, they can last up to 5-7 days!
6. Containers – if you haven’t figured it out by now, I LOVE the Container Store! Here are some great containers to use for wine bottles, soda cans, eggs, etc!
7. Produce keepers – this will help you keep your produce fresh. Waste less and save more!
This is pretty much the same thing – if you want to keep produce in your drawer rather than a separate container, buy this insert!
8. Allow enough space between foods – air needs to circulate around food to keep it cool. A crowded fridge can create warm spots and cool spaces, which can lead to spoilage.
Happy Tuesday everybody!
– KK
#8! I never thought about leaving space-our fridge is always stuffed to the max. This explains a lot. You may have saved me from buying a new fridge unnecessarily ?!