ResearchIt’s Time to Clean the Fridge
We are probably all guilty of having a messy, and even down right dirty refrigerator from time to time. You know how it is, you store leftovers, they don’t get eaten, and then you put off throwing them away. The longer you wait the more disgusting things get, and so the chore goes undone. Unfortunately, the only way to keep your foods safe for eating is to keep your refrigerator clean. If you leave foods for too long or there are messes, you can actually breed bacteria that will make you and your family sick. So, it’s time to clean the fridge before it gets even more out of had. A good time to do your refrigerator cleaning each week is the day before garbage pickup, so the spoiled contents of your refrigerator don’t have time to sit in the heat and get even more disgusting!
Relax! It’s Easy!
Despite the fact that we all put this chore off time and time again, this is actually a really simply task. All you probably need is 10 to 30 minutes to get the job done right. You should start by turning the temperature control inside of the refrigerator to the off position. This is a good time to remove the drip pan underneath, if your model has one, to clean it. This can usually be done with soap and warm water. If the drip pan is hard to maneuver in the sink, many people find that it’s easier to clean the pan well in the bathtub where you’ll have plenty of room to scrub every inch of it.
After you’ve scrubbed the drip pan, you can put it back in place. Now it is time to remove all of the contents that you have been avoiding. You should simply throw away food that is moldy, past its date of freshness, or the food that you won’t use. If you are really intimidated by something that is in a plastic bowl that you can do without, just toss it out! It seems wasteful, and it is, but if that is the only way you can deal with a particularly nasty dish, it’s better to get it out of the fridge! If the cleaning of the actual refrigerator will take awhile you can store the contents of the fridge that you will be keeping in a cooler, especially items like milk and other items that can warm up and spoil quickly.
Once you’ve removed all of the food from the fridge, it’s time to take out all of the removable parts so that they can be washed. These are the areas where bacteria, sticky substances, and the smells like to linger, so it’s important that you do not skip this step. Any wire racks, shelves, and drawers that can come out should be taken out and scrubbed down. All you need to do is full the sink or the tub, as mentioned above, with warm soapy water. If there are sticky substances such as maple syrup and other unknowns, you can let the shelves soak for a few minutes to loosen up to gunk. While the removable parts soak you can wipe food particles and such out of the fridge since everything is removed and it will be quite easy to do so.
Once the shelves have soaked for a few minutes and you’ve wiped out the inside of the refrigerator, you should then scrub the shelves by hand and then rinse them in warm water. A scrub brush should take off any remaining debris quite easily. Once you’ve rinsed the items you should allow them to drain in the sink, tub, or even on newspaper. While the items dry you should double check the fridge to be sure that there are not any remaining odors. If there are you can rid the refrigerator of odors by washing with two tablespoons of baking soda mixed with water. Once you’ve done this you can replace all of the shelves and drawers and wipe down the rubber door seal with warm soapy water.
Once you’ve completed all of these things you can turn the temperature control back to the desired temperature and replace the food. You’ll find that if you do this cleaning twice a month, or even better, once a week that your refrigerator does not get nearly as disgusting as it might otherwise.