Spring Cleaning Your Fridge

Spring Cleaning Tips: Spring Cleaning Your Fridge

There are some places in everyone’s home that tend to get neglected. The fridge is often one of those places. Although keeping your fridge clean is important to keep your food safe, it seems it is easy to forget about in our busy lives, so during Spring cleaning, take some time to give it a little TLC.

 

Spring Cleaning Your Fridge

To start, take everything out of your fridge. This will be a good time to sort through any condiments and toss out old ones, throw out any leftovers and get rid of food that is expired. Place it on your counter in categories such as dairy, produce etc. Take a cloth with warm water and soap and clean off bottles.

Take out any shelves, drawers and panels that come off easily. Fill your sink with hot soapy water and allow them to soak. If something doesn’t fit, fill it with warm soapy water and set aside.

Remove any glass shelves and allow them to warm up to room temperature before you wash them with hot water. If you add a sudden temperature change by immediately immersing cold glass in hot water, you could risk breakage or cracking.

With all the shelves and inner parts removed, start cleaning top to bottom with a disinfectant. You can use store bought spray cleaners or simply use white distilled vinegar. If you have stubborn spots with dried on food, mix together 1 part dish soap and 2 parts vinegar. Spray it on these areas and allow to soak for a few minutes. You can also use a bit of baking soda as a mild abrasive as well.

Don’t forget to clean your shelves and cubbies on the door. Get in all the areas of the storage spots that get a lot of use.

Clean the stripping and the outside of your fridge. Don’t forget the doors and the outside. Make sure to clean the top as well. This area often gets neglected and can easily get a large grease and dust buildup if you don’t clean it very often.

Vacuum out your vents.

Before putting any shelves back in after washing them well, make sure to dry them thoroughly as they can take days to dry in a could environment.

Start placing any food that is still good in separate sections. Meat should always go on the bottom and produce and cheeses in their proper drawers. Milk should go in the center of the fridge so it stays colder as the doors do not get as cold as the rest of the fridge space.

To keep your fridge smelling and looking clean try placing an open box of baking soda on a shelf or on the door. Also, promptly clean up any spills before they have a chance to dry.

 

Do you plan on cleaning out your fridge this Spring? I would love to hear your thoughts on how you clean your fridge!