Let’s look at your fridge. When you visit your fridge is it inviting and organised, OR does it appear to be an over-crowded smelly mess?
The key components in maintaining a healthy fridge are regular cleaning, checking expiry dates, storing of foods and temperature.
The following health checks will assist in maintaining a healthy fresh and organised fridge. Prior to every grocery shop, take some time to visit the fridge and assess its condition. With older fridges it is best to do regular 6 montly checks on the door rubber sealers. If they appear cracked or are not secure they will require replacing.
Lets start with cleaning your fridge.
- Remove all food and shelves.
- Discard any spoiled foods or out of date foods.
- Wipe down all shelves with a mild detergent OR my favorite is using 1 tsp of bicarbonate soap to 500ml of warm water. For a fresh fragrance, drop a little vanilla essence on a cloth and wipe over surfaces of shelves and door. Smells yummy!
Look at each item for its expiry date. Items are labeled for a reason. View them, highlight them with a highlight pen if needed for ease of location and follow with action.
- Place items in fridge by date order placing current to the front and newly purchased supplies behind. This then allows easy access to those foods that require to be consumed first.
Now look at how you want items sorted and organised. Sorting and organising food in your fridge is vital and will avoid contamination and bacteria.
- Raw meats, fish and poultry need to be in the coldest section of the fridge. This is normally the bottom shelf. This will eliminate dripping juices from raw foods contaminating other foods.
- Ready to eat foods need to be stored above raw foods. So place them on the top shelf. If you need to store raw foods near your ready to eats, place them on a plate and cover securely.
- Use baskets for storing all condiments as you are accessing these on a daily basis.
Don’t forget about the temperature. Refer to the Food Safety Information Council for FRIDGE temperature gauging.
In maintaining a healthy fridge it just takes a few little steps and will give peace of mind you and your kitchen remains healthy.




