Thought For Food: How to Organize Your Refrigerator

Things run more smoothly when they are working under a well-organized system. Take, for example, your refrigerator shelves. In most cases, people simply put whatever food they have into their refrigerator, and then just use the food as they need it. This works fairly well for the most part, but every now and then there will be a problem. Something will get tucked into a back corner of the refrigerator and forgotten for weeks, or someone will forget how long the meatloaf has been laying around and end up eating leftovers that went bad days ago.nnThese problems can be solved with a little organization. The first thing to do is to organize the food itself. You can use any system you like to accomplish this, and it does not have to be complex. You might simply make one shelf for foods that need to be used quickly, one for foods that keep longer, and so on. Or you can separate the foods into different groups such as dairy products, meats, vegetables, etc. This will make finding things inside your refrigerator easy, and will keep things from being lost in corners.nnOnce you have the interior organized, make a list of everything that is inside your refrigerator and post it on the door. As you put new things in, and use old things up, you should update the list. This will give you an idea of how long things have been in the refrigerator, so you will know when to throw things out. This will also keep you up to date on what you have and what you need, for when you are planning meals and shopping trips.nnThe refrigerator is one area of your home that can quickly and easily become filled with food that is out of date. When this happens, it can not only be difficult to know how much food you have in the house but it can be unhealthy and will almost certainly begin to smell. The only real way to prevent this from happening is by regularly clearing out the refrigerator. Ideally, you should clear out your refrigerator shelves and organize the contents on a monthly basis. The easiest way to ensure you do this regularly is to set a date and stick to that date every month.nnIf you have one particular day when you have little else to do then always aim for that day. Most people have more time at weekends than during the rest of the week and in these cases a good idea would be to set aside the first Saturday or Sunday of the month to clear out the refrigerator shelves. Always try to make sure it is just before you go shopping so that you can tell what items you need to replace. Doing this also this gives you more room when you have been shopping to place your new food items.nnGetting into a routine in this way is a surefire method of making sure that you continue your efforts. By setting a particular day or date of the month, you can effectively remember when you should be clearing out your refrigerator. By simply trying to remember that you have done it and not using a particular time of the month you will find it increasingly difficult to keep track of when you are next due to clear out.nnThere is no doubt that nearly every aspect of your life can be improved by at least some amount of organization, and clearly, the refrigerator is no exception.