Fridge Management

Maybe some day I'll turn my whole fridge into a list like this cute chalkboard one. . .

I hate cleaning out my fridge so much that I do it every week.

No, this isn’t some form of self-inflicted sanctifying punishment. It’s just that I’ve learned this makes it easier in the long run. Face your fears often and you become fearless. Actually, it more had to do with the fact that I got tired of finding half used heads of lettuce, now turned brown, or yogurt that was growing things.

So I made a rule for myself:

Clean out the fridge BEFORE you go grocery shopping. Every time.

Ok, maybe I do it every other time, just to be honest, but it’s amazing how pleasant it is to come home with bags of fresh groceries when you know you have a clean fridge to put them in. And once you are in the swing of it, it will take you 15 minute. max.

So here’s what I like to do.

1)Get a pen and piece of paper for writing your shopping list.

2) Open the fridge and start on the top shelf and work your way down. Take note of what you are out of and put it on your list, open up tupperware to see if leftovers are still good, check expiration dates. Toss whatever is bad and add it to your list if you need more. Put thing that you know you won’t use this week into the freezer. Empty each shelf, one by one , wipe it clean, and put the food back in an organized system.

3) Designate a place for each food type. Drinks, Dairy, Produce, Condiments, etc– just do it in a way that makes sense to you and fits in your fridge.

One other unexpected boon is that this helped me save money by planning my menu around things that should be used up. “Hmmmm, I’ve got some mushrooms  and sour cream that need to be eaten- I’ll  get some meat and egg noodles to make Beef Stroganoff.”

Another couple of nerdy things that I love:

1) A freezer list.

Who wants to get frostbite digging around, wondering if you have any frozen green peas left? Keep a list of everything that’s in there so there’s no guessing. Tape it to the front of your freezer in an inconspicuous place and cross things off as you use them up. Use a pretty piece of stationary and a cute magnet if aesthetics are a must in your kitchen.

2) A pantry list.

This was only necessary once I started shopping at Costco and had to convert a storage closet into a place to keep the army-tank-sized jugs of olive oil and other such things. It was much nicer to glance at a list on my cork-board than to go through the whole closet before a trip to Costco. “Nope, still haven’t run out of the 60 pounds of baking powder…”