Discovering New Life Forms
The bathroom isn’t the only place in the house that can generate life. A forgotten bowl of whatever that was can quickly turn your fridge into a biology lab.
I have five people in my house, and our fridge can get out of control rather quickly. I realized it was reaching critical mass over the weekend, and now you lucky folks get to clean it with me!
There are two ways to clean a fridge: the quick maintenance clean and the full-bore cleaning, where every shelf and drawer is removed and everything is thoroughly washed before putting it all back. This is going to be a quick clean. Ideally, you do this before heading to the grocery store 1) make room and 2) know that you need to buy new lettuce because your last vegetable sacrifice has turned into a slimy mess.
You don’t need much in the way of cleaners. A couple of rags and dish soap or a multi-purpose cleaner is fine. Some use vinegar in a spray bottle. As always, the scent is strong at first but dissipates. I prefer to spray the cleaner on a damp rag rather than spraying anything inside. One of my friends moved into a new apartment and sprayed the inside of the fridge liberally with Pine-Sol. Was it clean? Yes. Did it reek of cleaner for four years? Also yes.
Take It From the Top
A general rule for cleaning just about anything is to start at the top and work your way down. In terms of the fridge, this will prevent ruining your hard work on a shelf below when you remove a drippy takeout carton from the one above it.
The first step is removing everything from the top shelf. I have a little carousel for my kids’ hot pepper collection. If I were doing a deep cleaning, I’d take it out and get under it, but today was not that day. You see that little box on the left? That’s baking soda. Grab a box the next time you hit the grocery store and stash it in a back corner. Baking soda is great for absorbing odors.
Once the shelf is empty, wipe it down with your rag and cleaner of choice, then dry it. Before you put everything back, take a minute to weed out the stuff that’s expired and/or moldy.
Lather, rinse, and repeat for the rest of the shelves. I’m a dork who likes to group things together, like coffee stuff on one door shelf, hot sauce on another, and all the cheese in a drawer. But it’s your fridge, and if you want the coffee creamer to live with the mustard, go nuts.
Fridge Drawers and Door Shelves
I had a little extra time, so instead of just removing questionable vegetables from the crisper drawers, I took the drawers out entirely and gave them a good wash. I did the same with the door shelves because they can get grungy fast. To save time, you can put something on the shelf bottom, like tin foil, waxed paper, or even paper towel, to make cleanup easier.
You may discover that at least one of your shelves doesn’t just pop or slide out. Mine is the one where the eggs and milk live. I had to Google how to get that stupid shelf out because the manual was useless. You may need to do that too. (I have to remove the drawers, press on two tabs at the top of the center divider, then pop two tabs once it’s out to release the glass, if you were wondering.)
And that’s it. Now you have a clean fridge and fewer science experiments. Well done!
