When it comes to refrigerator organization, you need to keep food safety in mind. Professional kitchens organize their food based on what temperature the food is cooked at. While this may not directly apply to you, it is still something to keep in mind.
Refrigerators are all about accessibility and keeping your food safe. If you want to know how to organize your food properly, then you need to know a little bit about how the air in a fridge works.
Cold air sinks, whereas hot air rises. This means that the bottom of the fridge is the coldest part.
While the top isn’t necessarily hot, it is considerably warmer than the bottom. Always keep this in mind anytime you put something in the fridge.
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Moreover, to avoid so much food waste, follow these 6 best refrigerator organization ideas.
1) Save the Bottom of the Fridge for Food served Hot
The bottom of the fridge should be reserved for foods that require a high cooking temperature. Raw meat always needs to go in the bottom portion of the fridge or the freezer.
Along with raw meat, milk should also be kept at the bottom of the fridge. Since the bottom is the coolest part of the refrigerator, items that need to be preserved longer should stay there.
This can help avoid issues dealing with cross-contamination. If the food that needs to be cooked at a high temperature is placed higher in the fridge, then it could drip down and contaminate food lower than it.
2) Use the Upper Shelves for Ready-To-Eat Foods
Drinks, leftovers, and small snacks should go on the upper shelves. Additionally, food like cheese, deli meat, and yogurt/pudding should also go on the upper shelves. Most of the time, these types of foods are eaten rather quickly. This means that they don’t need to be preserved for as long.
3) Lower Shelves are for Raw Ingredients
Third refrigerator organization tip. Any raw ingredients you use for cooking need to go on the lower shelves. This doesn’t necessarily mean putting them on the bottom, but they do need to be towards the bottom.
These ingredients are usually only used when you are cooking full meals. If you aren’t constantly cooking dishes, then these raw ingredients can end up staying in your fridge for a prolonged amount of time.
Keeping them preserved for as long as possible is very important.
4) Keep Fruits and Vegetables in the Drawers
Refrigerator drawers are designed to hold produce at a specific humidity. Although, we do risk contaminating our fresh vegetables by putting them in the drawers.
Since fridge drawers are usually located at the bottom of the fridge, any meat above the drawer can contaminate the vegetables within.
If you have two drawers in your fridge then it is an easy fix. Designate one for fruits and vegetables and the other for meat.
Keeping them separated is just as important as keeping them cold, so make sure that each drawer is exclusive to the food type residing in it.
5) Use the Door for Condiments
The door is the warmest part of the fridge. This being said, only condiments should go there. Keeping milk or eggs here is a big mistake. They need to be kept in a colder part of the fridge.
Basically, anything that needs to be refrigerated after opening should go in the door. These items are meant to be cool but don’t need to be preserved like meats.
6) Making Use out of the Top of the Fridge
Even though the top of your fridge isn’t cold at all, you can still use it to store food. Food that doesn’t need to be refrigerated, but doesn’t fit right in the cupboard can go on top of the fridge.
For example, a sack of potatoes can be hard to fit into your cupboard. It doesn’t have a definite shape, so it will slouch all over the other food. Putting it on top of the fridge is seemingly the perfect place for it. It is out of the way and doesn’t take up any of your space.
However, don’t put a lot of food on top of your fridge. A little bit never hurt anyone, but too much at that height can be disastrous.
Every time you open the fridge door, everything shifts. Anything on top of the fridge can fall down right on your head when you open the door. So, use the top of your fridge sparingly.
Additionally, your fridge needs a certain amount of space on each side of it including the top. Putting too much on the top of your fridge can affect how well it operates.
Heed any warning stickers on your fridge and don’t do anything that could endanger you.
If you have more refrigerator organization tips and ideas, leave a comment below.
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Morenike says
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