A clean fridge is about much more than a neat and tidy kitchen—it’s also about food safety and your health. Bacteria can still multiply in cold temperatures, so if a regular fridge cleaning isn’t already part of your housekeeping program, now is the time to add it to the list.
How to clean your fridge
Empty the fridge: Make sure you’ve got available counter or tabletop space and take everything out of the fridge. Yes, everything. You want to be able to get into all the nooks and crannies and doing so is a lot easier when the whole fridge is empty. This also gives you an opportunity to check the expiry dates on food items and toss, recycle or compost as necessary.- Remove the shelves and drawers: Before you actually remove anything from your fridge, fill your sink with some warm, soapy water. Then remove all shelves and produce drawers and leave them to soak if the size of your sink allows. If not, soak them in your bathtub.
- Wipe the inside: Using the same warm, soapy water, or a multi-purpose cleaner, wipe the inside of your fridge, including the walls, shelf seams, inside of the door, and door seams. If you’re faced with a stubborn or stick stain, use a little baking soda mixed with a bit of water to scrub it out.
- Wash the shelves and drawers: Now that the inside of your fridge is spic and span, wash the shelves and drawers in warm, soapy water with a sponge or soft cloth, and wipe with a soft dish towel.
- Replace shelves and drawers: Put your sparkling clean shelves and drawers back in your sparkling clean fridge.
- Wipe down jars and bottles: Before you put all your condiments, sauces and jellies back in your fridge, wipe them down with a damp cloth so they don’t muck up all your hard work.
- Wipe the outside: Finally, wipe down the outside of your fridge with–you guessed it–a damp cloth soaked in warm, soapy water. If you have a stainless steel fridge, wipe the exterior with a special stainless steel cleaner.
How often you should clean your fridge
At a bare minimum, you should do a thorough cleaning of your fridge once every three months. That said, you should wipe up spills as they happen, and give the shelves and walls a wipe once a week. I do this before I go grocery shopping so when I come home I know I’m putting my food into a clean and tidy fridge. It’s also a great way to know what I’ve already go in there so I don’t double up on items I don’t need.
One thing to note is that if your fridge has gone neglected for some time and needs a serious deep clean, unplug it before you dive in so you don’t waste energy (and you stay warm) while you give it a scrub.
Voila! That’s all there is to it. Happy cleaning!
If you’re in the market for a new refrigerator, check out the great selection at Best Buy.
Main image courtesy of today.com.
