Organizing Your Refrigerator Can Save You Time and Money(2021): 10 Brilliant Hacks to Keep Your Indian Fridge Clean and Organized

If you constantly tackle something falling off the moment you open your fridge or you can't seem to ever find space to keep something, then it is a sign of bad refrigerator management. An organised refrigerator has a lot of benefits from keeping the track of the items that you have to maintain hygiene and avoiding infections through food. Often times the biggest cause of food wastage is that we store it in the fridge and forget. The food either ends up being expired if it is canned or just not fit for eating if you kept homemade food. There are different tips and tricks that not only help you organise your fridge better but also save you from wasting food.

Before we explain how to organise Indian Fridge, let’s understand a few things that you should do before starting the entire process.

To save our time and efforts, often a time we do not empty the fridge entirely and rather try to clean it. However, that is not the right way of organising a fridge and pretty soon you will realise that the fridge is back to being disorganised and clumsy. Moreover, removing all the items initially also makes sure that you can clean the surface and each shelf of the fridge which is only hygienic and the right way to start with.

Just what we talked about in the previous point, cleaning the surface is especially important before organising the fridge. If you are just removing the products and keeping them back in the fridge without cleaning the surface, the odour will still be there. You can use various kinds of homemade solutions to wipe down every corner of the fridge before putting the food and other stuff back.

It is only obvious that we take out the shelves and other detachable parts of the fridge while wiping the surface. Wash these detachable parts separately and let them dry. Once these parts are completely dry, put them back in the fridge and add a deodorizer. You can buy one ready-made or just use a homemade one like a bowl of baking soda. This step will ensure that the foul smell if any is absorbed by the deodorizer and your refrigerator is all set to be organized with the food and other items. Okay, then we are all set to reveal the quick hacks of keeping your refrigerator organised, hygienic and odour free.

Everyone put the leftover food in the refrigerator only to forget the next day and days after that. This essentially happens because we are too lazy to bend and browse through the fridge to see the items for immediate consumption. Most of us just take and munch on what is kept at the eye level in the refrigerator. Therefore, the food items whether homemade or ready to eat, that you want to consume in a couple of days should be kept on the top shelf. Not only this reduces the wastage of food but also helps in keeping the refrigerator de-cluttered. To make your refrigerator even more organised, you can keep a few boxes with fun labels such as ‘Eat me first’ and put them on the top shelf. This will ensure that nothing is left inside the fridge that is near the expiry date.

Now, it is a no-brainer that once ready to eat foods are settled on the top shelf, next is raw food like meat, eggs and so on. Since these foods are packed nicely and can wait in the cold temperature for a few more days, you can allot the lowest shelf for these foods. Even if you break an egg, literally, storing it on the lowest shelf will ensure that it does not accidentally drip on to the rest of the food. Meat on the other hand should be stored on the lowest shelf to prevent cross-contamination. For the uninitiated, cross-contamination is the transfer of bacteria from one food to the other if they are handled carelessly. More than often this cross-contamination is found in poultry, raw meat and seafood. Making sure that the meat and other such poultry and raw food are kept at the bottom of the fridge will always prevent the chances of cross-contamination between the foods.

A simple logic behind this is that the temperature of the fridge changes every time you open the door. So, the items kept on the door shelves should not be extremely sensitive to the temperature. Any food item that needs a certain temperature should not be put on the door shelves. Moreover, you have kids or a joint family, the refrigerator door will open more than often therefore constantly varying the temperature of the fridge. Place items such as water bottles, jellies, ketchup and jams on the side shelves because these items do not need much cooler temperature. You must be wondering then why the companies place the shelves for eggs and dairy on the door shelves. The simple reason is the optimum utilisation of the space because you cannot adjust veggies or other eatable items on the door shelves. Moreover, the standard assumption is that the dairy items as well as eggs should be consumed the same day without being subjected to much temperature variation.

Free from plastic and one of the best ways to organize your leftover food items, fresh veggies and healthy snacks, glass food storage serves the purpose just perfectly. With the increasing popularity of these glasses, storage sets, brands and upped their game offering different variety. Apart from being a non-toxic material, storing food in glassware ensures that you do not have to open every container to see what you stored. The ease of view and keeping the refrigerator organized is what you achieve with these storage sets. You can also buy the microwave compatible storage boxes to further ease out your job. Just decide on the number of storage containers you want and buy the glass storage containers from the fridge for better organisation.

We can easily rank these drawer dividers as one of the best accessories to have if you want your refrigerator to be organised. These drawer dividers are attached to the shelves of the refrigerator to increase the space and keep your fridge more organised. Available in fun colours and designs these dividers are easy to clip onto the shelve of the refrigerator.

The top of the drawer will be transparent ensuring that the food you store is visible. Now, a few things that you should consider when buying a drawer divider for the refrigerator is the depth. Next thing to look for if you are buying plastic drawers that it should be food-grade plastic and BPA-free. We suggest relying on the known brands in the space to ensure quality and safety from any toxins. Last but not least the drawers should be really smooth to slide in and out without any friction. If the drawers are too tight, you might simply end up spilling whatever is put on the top shelf.

Kids can really mess up the entire refrigerator while looking for what they want to eat. Any item that you get for the kids should be placed in such a way that they can easily find it without scurrying throughout the refrigerator. However, the food items that are healthy for the kids should be placed at the eye level and not the treats. You would want to keep chocolates, candies and other such items hidden from the kids. Keep a place a little on the higher side in the refrigerator to keep it hidden from the kids. This way you will also encourage the kids to eat healthily and more frequently.

One of the biggest reasons for food wastage is the perishable items lurking in the corner hidden from our eyes in the refrigerator. Often times, we keep a food item with an intention to consume it the next day. However, throughout the day folks just keep on the item backward in the fridge and keep other items in the front. The majority of the time, ‘out of sight, out of mind’ happens with these perishable items therefore causing wastage of food. The best way to ensure that no food is wasted is to keep these perishable items at the eye level. If possible, keep it on the middle shelf so that it is easily visible.

A large part of a complete refrigerator organisation is also ensuring that it is clean and odour free. Even if you organise the fridge really well, the odour might just spoil your food making you feel that the task is just half done. But you need not wander from one website to the other in search of good hacks for cleaning the refrigerator. We have covered this aspect for you as well after talking about Indian Fridge Organisation. So let’s get into the quick hacks for keeping your refrigerator shining, odour free and infection-free.

It might sound like a lot of work but actually, it is not as making an all-purpose cleaner is simple and effective. Not only the refrigerator but the cleaner can also be used to clean other surfaces, furniture, appliances and even the floor. Take a gallon of hot water and put 1 cup of clear ammonia, ½ cup of vinegar, and 1/4th baking soda. Now, pouring the solution every time from a big gallon is cumbersome. Therefore, we suggest that you get small spray bottles and fill the solution. If you ask us the best part of this DIY cleaner then it is a no-rinse formula and also a degreaser. Be assured that cleaning your refrigerator with this homemade all-purpose cleaner will keep the mold and mildew away. You can spray the solution on every shelf, sides, and door shelves of the refrigerator and simply wipe it off for that odour free and shining cleanliness. The best time to use these cleansers is after taking out all the stuff from the refrigerator.

If you are not aware of paste wax then know that this wonderful product has been used for centuries to polish and give a gentle finish to the wood. You must be wondering that how putting wax on the top of the refrigerator will keep it clean. Well, other than providing the gloss finish to the surface, the wax also ensures that the dust and debris slip off the surface. Start with cleaning your refrigerator both in and out and then rub down the wax on the surface as well as outside.

Make sure that while putting the car wax the direction in which it has to be applied clear. Different wax brands will have a slightly different ways of putting the wax. Once applied, the refrigerator you need not worry about the stains, spills and even fingerprints because everything is easily removable. We are not promising that the wax will ward off the dust completely but the frequency of cleaning the fridge will be much lower as the dust will not stick to the refrigerator.

Last but not the least, the brown papers that you think are better in the garbage bag after one use can actually be a quick hack for your refrigerator. Crumple a piece of brown paper grocery bag inside the fridge for 48 hours to absorb the unwanted odours inside the fridge.