The Refrigerator isn’t just an old football player. It’s the hardest working appliance in your kitchen. This article got started while watching TV and a commercial for the refrigerator that will send you a picture of the inside so you know you are out of milk. Wow Fancy! Anyway you know I keep a running grocery list but when it comes to dairy and fresh veggies the running grocery list does not work for our small family. So actually that fancy feature is a great idea. Before you go to the grocery store snap a picture of the inside of your fridge.
Lets talk about your fridge. Do you have containers in there that are growing mold or are fuzzy? Lets get rid of that. Leftovers should be cleared out on a weekly basis. In our house we have garbage pick-up one time per week so Wednesday night is clean out the fridge night.
For a long time we did not put anything in
containers. We used reclosable zip top bags. If you are not good at eating leftovers and you find that you have lots of science projects growing in your fridge you might try zip top bags too. At least you don’t have to open them to trash them. No more smelly mystery unidentifiable leftovers.
Another thing is do you have 10 different types of salad dressing and other condiments in your fridge? Why? Organize your fridge by zone. You have a crisper, a deli drawer, and a butter shelf, so why not a dressing space. If you keep your condiments together you will not have to search and hopefully not have multiple opened bottles cluttering up your fridge.
We have a deep freeze. It is a chest type which can become the place where good veggies to the freezer burn and die. But you can control that by adding some organizing. I suggest you have some crates or dividers to sort your food and keep like items together. For example we have a space we keep our ground beef, a crate for veggies, a tray that sits on top of the crate for fruits. I know that we frequently use chicken so having a designated stop means I don’t have to dig to see what is there.
We also have system that every 6 months where we don’t buy any freezer foods until we eat everything that is in there. If forces us to use what we have on hand. No more 1 corndog and 3 pizza rolls abandoned at the bottom of the freezer. I plan this for just before Thanksgiving. I am then sure I can fit an extra turkey in the freeze so when Christmas comes around and ham is on sale but not turkey I am ahead of the game.
Y’all know I love hearing from you. What are your tips to keep your refrigerator and freezer organized? Feel free to share this if you like what I have to say.
Thanks ~ Pamela
#organized, #disorganization, #food #groceries #family #momlife
I love the idea of the freezer clean right before Thanksgiving – particularly this year, as I am hosting it for my family!
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Thanks. How fun that you are hosting this year.
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I’m excited! I have hosted Easter before, but never Thanksgiving. And there were far fewer nieces and nephews involved when I hosted Easter (and no husband), so it’s a much larger crew now!
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I’m excited for you. We have hosted only a partial crew too. We used to have all the summer events LOL. You will do an amazing job. I am sure Schooner and Choppy will be a big help. LOL At least husband will.
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I’m already looking for good ideas and ways to make it special. I’m looking forward to it, which is probably a good thing – I shouldn’t be dreading it this far out!
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Pinterest will be your friend.
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I’m not allowed on Pinterest. I know what would happen, and ‘work’ and ‘the rest of my life’ would not be among the things that would happen.
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I understand that. It is addicting and it sucks you in. ….
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My mom discovered it a week or two ago. I’m pretty sure it has taken up most of her waking hours since! I’d be exactly the same.
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I understand. When my sister and I were planning a party for our parents we were obsessed. It was consuming. Thank goodness I am blogging. LOL.
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I am terrible at putting things in the freezer but not daring to eat them in case I need them another day!
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Just do it. 🙂
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Brilliant ideas! I freeze things and then forget to label them, so weeks later I am left with U.F.S….Unidentifiable Frozen Stuff…!
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Love it. UFS! Thanks.
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This is great!! I am writing a post on avoiding food waste and this has totally inspired me to think more about organising the fridge. Not the coolest Saturday night subject, but we hate food waste so much!!
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Understand. Sometime inspiration hits at the strangest times. We take it when we can get it.
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OH Pamela, I want to hug you – I love your organizing idea, and advice. Love they way you put into a blog post. I would say our refridgerator is in good shape, but it always so good to read more on this stuff, food hygiene is so important there fridge hygiene is also important
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Thank you so much! I appreciate your feedback.
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This is a great post. I’ve been working on labeling things before I put them in the freezer. How can something change so much when it freezes? Sheesh! I love the pre-Thanksgiving clean out. You are an organizing goddess! Mind if I repost?
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I would be so honored for you to repost. Thanks. I know I spent some serious time trying to determine a mystery bag. It turned out to be a banana. Another think thing you can do is write on the top of your freezer with a grease pencil listing what you have in there. I don’t do that.
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The grease pencil would have been a good one when I had kids at home. I probably won’t do that now, but then I totally would have!
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Agreed.
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Reblogged this on Retirizing and commented:
I want to share this great organization tip with my group because, well because it’s a great organizational tip! I love the Thanksgiving Cleanout and I think a lot of us can use that one. Also, retiring and downsizing means I need to get myself more organized and Pamela is a great one to help with that! Check out more of her tips on her blog beeorganizedwithpamela.com
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Thank you so much!
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Ditto the appreciative comments above. Here are my tips:
On the top shelf of my fridge I have a turntable – for bottles of jams, olives, pickles, etc. Next to it I have a clear plastic shoe box for left-overs (including spaghetti sauce & tomato products, etc. that were “left-over” after the entire container was not needed for a recipe).
All other meal-remainders go in front of “the box,” usually in glass jars, whenever possible. Until I had a “use soon” zone, I was simply growing science experiments. I drink very little milk so I use the shelf-stable kind that needs to be kept in the ‘fridge once opened. That lives on the “use soon” shelf so I don’t open several – along with sour cream, cottage cheese etc.
Twice a month I make “garbage soup” for dinner – an “always different” mostly vegetable soup using broth and anything that WOULD be garbage if I didn’t find a way to use it soonest. It’s amazing what you can actually include and still have a soup that is delish. (My friends kid me that I don’t even waste ICE – lol.)
Great article – chuckled my way through your useful tips. Thanks!
xx,
mgh
(Madelyn Griffith-Haynie – ADDandSoMuchMORE dot com)
ADD/EFD Coach Training Field founder; ADD Coaching co-founder
“It takes a village to educate a world!”
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Wow that’s awesome! Thanks for sharing your thoughts and tips.🐝
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You’re welcome.
xx, mgh
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