Holiday Prep 101: Free Up Fridge Space For Holiday Food & Fun

LongIsland.com

Saturday, November 15th, is Clean Your Refrigerator Day and just in time for the holidays!

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Thanksgiving is right around the corner and so is Clean Your Refrigerator Day! Clean Your Refrigerator Day is a great reminder that to keep kitchen appliances working and functioning properly, they have to be clean and taken care of them! Refrigerators keep food from spoiling and by association keep us safe. Too often when it comes to refrigerator hygiene, we only notice something is wrong when we open the door and are greeted with a foul stench emanating from somewhere in the fridge. With all of this in mind, and with Clean Your Refrigerator Day and Thanksgiving coming up, take some time to clean out your fridge and make room for all of the delicious, and plentiful, Thanksgiving leftovers you are going to be having within the next few weeks!

Here are some suggestions for cleaning out your refrigerator, and keeping it that way!

  • Start off by taking everything out of the fridge and throwing out any food that is spoiled or passed its expiration date.
  • Look at what you have left now and throw out any open foods that you know you’re not going to be eating or using in the near future. This will help lessen unnecessary fridge clutter.
  • Disinfect the fridge walls, shelves, racks, drawers, door seal, etc.
  • Get the duster out and clean off the top of the fridge.
  • Clean under the fridge too! Using something like a Swiffer may be the ideal way to get in that hard to reach space.
  • Jars of sauce and dressing bottles often get messy right by the opening so be sure to wash the outside of any jars that will be going back into the fridge.
  • Before you begin pilling your food back into the refrigerator it’s a good idea to check your fridge temperature. Refrigerators should be safely kept set at, or below, 40 degrees and freezers should be set at 0 degrees.
  • Speaking of freezer temperatures, don’t skip cleaning the freezer! Freezers should be cleaned out often also – plus you’ll need the extra space once Thanksgiving comes!
  • As you start filling back up your fridge, separate your food into groups that will be convenient for you to remember where they are and grab on the go when you need it.
  • Start labeling things! Too often we have leftovers and takeout that we forget about. Start using Post-its to indicate the date you purchased the food so you know to throw it out with the next 3-4 days if you still haven’t eaten it.

It may seem tedious, and like a lot of work to do, but once the holidays hit - especially Thanksgiving, future you will be very happy that you did!

[Source: FDA]

Photo by Tim & Annette via Free Images