Spring Cleaning Your Fridge

I got ambitious the other day, and tackled the dirty job of cleaning out my refrigerator. I tossed out no-longer-good food, and even cleaned the fridge’s shelves and drawers. Many of us often forget about cleaning up the interior of our fridges – a while ago, the Huffington Post ran a story that featured photos from readers of the often-gross items found in refrigerators. Many Americans don’t clean their fridges often – unless a spill or bad odor forces them to, according to the Wall Street Journal.

If you are feeling up to tackling the depths of your fridge, try these tips:

• Wipe up spills:  It’s good to wipe up any spilled liquids from juice, meats, etc., in your refrigerator daily. You don’t want to give bacteria a place to breed. You can use hot soapy water or a store-bought kitchen cleanser. Be sure to avoid cleansers with toxic properties -- you don’t want any of the cleanser mixing with your food.

• Check for spoiled foods: I chuck food that’s past its prime every Tuesday, the garbage pickup date on my street. I throw out any fruits and veggies that are obviously not good anymore, and I check for old expiration dates on packaged food. It’s amazing how things can get forgotten about when they are tucked in the back of the fridge or in a drawer.

• Clean the fridge’s door: Wash the outside of your fridge with warm soapy water. Or, if you need something stronger (e.g., to get off crayon or children’s grubby handprints) use something stronger that’s safe for kitchen appliances. To sanitize and remove odors, try dissolving a quarter cup of baking soda in a quart of warm water, and cleaning the interior of the fridge with that solution.

• Scrub shelves and drawers: Harmful bacteria can grow inside your fridge if its interior doesn’t get a scrubbing frequently. Clean surfaces, shelves and drawers of the inside of your fridge with hot soapy, water. Remove any shelves and drawers that can be taken out of your fridge (once ridding them of their contents, of course) and scrub them in the sink with warm, soapy water. Some people recommend turning off the fridge and taking everything out from the fridge to clean it, but I prefer working little by little, e.g., cleaning one or two shelves or drawers at a time. That way, I don’t have to turn off the fridge and take all the food out (and worry about food spoiling.) Don’t forget to clean under the drawers, as well, as liquids and other unmentionables can collect there. Be sure to dry all surfaces thoroughly once washed.

• Odorize: To remove odors, place a standard open box of baking soda in the fridge. Or, you could wipe the shelves of your fridge down with some diluted lemon juice.

• Keep it up: Now that your fridge is clean, try to stay on top of its cleaning. If tidied and scrubbed regularly, your fridge won’t be so difficult to clean next time.

Have tips for keeping a refrigerator clean? Share them in the comments.