If you’re not careful, your refrigerator and freezer can become an overcrowded chilly wasteland of spoiled and expired foods sitting in a sea of miscellaneous spills and stains.
However, you can bring cleanliness and order to your fridge when you know a few good tips.
Here are our favorite fridge and freezer hacks that will help you get the most out of your food and help you to save money and time.
Keep Track of Leftovers
Dates on packaging can be easily overlooked. The best way to keep track of your leftovers is to color code them. Choose a color for each day of the week and get a marker for each day. Use masking tape on the outside of the leftovers container, aluminum foil or plastic wrap and place a piece of tape on it that is colored in with the marker that corresponds with the day of the week.
Your leftovers will be marked by day which makes it easy to tell whether or not it’s been in there longer than 6 days. It’s time to toss on the 7th day.
Expiring Box
Place a container box inside of your refrigerator and place all of the items that are the first to expire and expiring soon. This way you know what needs to get eaten or used up first. This will ensure that nothing goes to waste and that nothing spoils in your fridge.
Pull the Fridge Out
It pays to have your fridge pulled out. Having your refrigerator pulled about one inch out, as opposed to having it pushed as far back to the wall as it can go, is best. It can reduce energy consumption by 40 percent.
Egg Carton For Condiments
You can place an egg carton inside your refrigerator and store upside down condiment containers in it. You’ll get the most out of your bottles and the egg carton will prevent a mess.
Magazine Holders as Freezer Shelves
Create order in your freezer by creating compartments for different items with magazine holders. This will create tiered shelving in your freezer to help you get the most out of your space.
Lazy Susan
Lots of us have a lazy susan in our cabinets but why not the fridge? Those items in the back of the refrigerator are often forgotten about, but not with a lazy susan. These circular wonders help us have easy access to all those items in the back of the fridge so they’ll never be forgotten.
Keep Your Freezer Cool
When your freezer isn’t full it uses electricity to kick in and keep everything inside cool. You can use less energy by keeping it full or by freezing a milk or water jug filled with 75 percent tap water. The frozen jug will help lower the temperature in your freezer over time which means using less electricity to keep it cool.
Use Baskets
Use baskets inside your refrigerator drawers to separate items like fruits and vegetables for easy access.
Refrigerator Coils
Be sure to dust underneath and around your refrigerator, especially the coils, at least once a year. When the coils are covered in dirt and dust they have to work harder which means they use more energy. Cleaning them could save you on electricity costs. It will also help your refrigerator last longer.
Snack Space
If you don’t want your children to destroy all the beautiful organizing that you’ve done in your fridge, create a space for them that’s easily accessible where they can grab their snacks and other foods they like to eat. Using bins or baskets works great for this.
Binder Clips
Binder clips are great for closing bags shut so your food stays fresh. You can also hang them in your refrigerator which gives you use of the height in your fridge.
Chalkboard Refrigerator
Paint your refrigerator with a coat of chalkboard paint and use it to keep your grocery list or to list your weekly menu.
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