Cleaning out your Fridge

I am not the type of person who has it on my calender to clean out the fridge every 6 weeks, or one who wakes up and says I feel like cleaning out my fridge today.  After the new year, I think many of us get the get organized and de-clutter feeling.  Maybe it is subliminal advertising because next to all the exercise equipment ads in the store weekly ads there is usually a lot of sales on cleaning and organizing products as well.  I guess it also comes with the expression out with the old, in with the new.

This morning I went to grab the milk and saw that the shelf had that white residue that comes from the cartons.  Fortunately I had not done a recent grocery run or this post would not be happening.  The shelves were relatively empty and the members of my household had few things demanding my immediate attention.

I started with just wiping that shelf and now I have a cleaned out fridge and freezer.

I don’t get as much satisfaction from the cleaning of the shelves as purging sauces and things past their expiration.  I often will buy a sauce, usually of the oriental variety, for a recipe and won’t use it again…but it lingers in the fridge.  Or how many different types of mustards do I really need….?   You might be one of those people, I know my mother is, who saves every take out salad dressing and soy sauce packet when they order out.

Here is what I threw away from my fridge and freezer this am…

So today I thought I would share some resources on how to clean out the fridge and decipher those expiration dates and hmm are these leftover still good.  I am sure the correct way is to completely defrost your freezer, but who has time for that.

Cleaning out your fridge–advice from Martha Stewart
Real Simple’s 20 minute version
How to clean your freezer:
What do expiration dates really mean? Business Week article
Guide on how long food stays fresh in your fridge.