National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day

11/15/2019 (Permalink)

November 15^th is National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day.  Maintaining your refrigerator will not only keep it looking and smelling good, but it will help keep you healthy as well.  Many experts recommend cleaning your refrigerator at least twice a month to keep mold and bacteria at bay.     

As we’ve discussed in previous blog posts, mold can spread.  Once mold starts to grow on your produce or leftovers, it can spread to other items sitting beside or underneath it, or even surfaces of the refrigerator.  It’s important to get rid of moldy items quickly.      

It’s also important to watch expiration dates and dispose of any expired items.  Pay close attention to whether the dates are “sell by” dates or “use by” dates.  For foods without an expiration date, the following website is helpful in determining how long food is good for.    http://www.eatbydate.com/

If you have a manual defrost freezer, you should defrost it once a year or when frost build up covers a large area and exceeds ¼ of an inch. 

Linda Cobb, author of “Talking Dirty with the Queen of Clean”, has excellent tips for cleaning your refrigerator and freezer.

"When you wipe out the refrigerator, always use a cloth or sponge moistened with white vinegar.  It leaves a clean, fresh scent and helps prevent mildew.

A dab of vanilla, lemon or orange extract on a small pad of cotton will keep the refrigerator fresh-smelling without a perfume odor.

Many common refrigerator odors may be removed by placing a small tub filled with charcoal in the middle rack in the refrigerator.  I use the charcoal made for fish tanks.

If you are shutting off a refrigerator, be sure to prop the door open a crack for air circulation and put a container of fresh coffee grounds inside to ward off unpleasant odors.. For strong odor removal, a container or nylon stocking with coffee grounds in it works wonders.

For cleaning ease, wipe the inside of the refrigerator, including shelves, with a cloth dipped in glycerin, available in the hand cream section at the drugstore. This light coating will keep spills from sticking.  Even milk or sticky substances will wipe right out.

Try using the glycerin in freezers, too.  That way spills, even though frozen, wipe right out.

Wash out the freezer with a solution of 1 gallon warm water and 1/4 cup borax to clean and deodorize.  Rinse and dry."