How To Clean Your Refrigerator

This is my refrigerator, cleaned and organized before a grocery shopping trip. Note the chicken and eggs are on the bottom shelf (most hazardous, read on).

Have you managed to clean every closet, garage shelf and other various nook and cranny around your home during these past months while sheltering in place? Maybe it’s my OCD, and maybe it’s my kitchen background, but if my refrigerator isn’t clean and organized to my standards, I may hyperventilate a little. 

In a commercial kitchen we have 2 basic rules: 
1 -FIFO. First In, First Out. If you buy a new a container of something, and you still have an older one in the refrigerator, don’t put the new one in front of the old one. Or better yet, if it’s shelf-stable until opened, keep it in the pantry until the old one is used up. It never fails, the old stuff gets shoved to the back of the fridge, only to die a crusted up, lonely death. Always rotate old items in front of new. Ugh, those shriveled up carrots, whose leaves have turned to liquid, on the bottom of the produce drawer, they have been under those dried up onion skins how long? Disgusting.

2 -Least Hazardous on the top to Most Hazardous on the bottom: This is a health department rule, so it must be followed in all commercial kitchens. But it’s a great policy to adopt at home too. Organize your refrigerator from top to bottom, placing all raw meats, eggs, or any other food items which may contain contaminants on the bottom shelves. This will contain any drips, breaks or other messes that could contaminate other food items. Not difficult. Think about it. Do you want that leaky package from your raw chicken dripping on your cheeses? Or apples? Yuck. If an egg breaks, you probably can imagine the mess it is to clean up, especially after it’s glopped all over your lunch meats. The good news is these days, most residential appliances have glass shelves to prevent this from happening, but it’s still a good habit.

OK, so now that you’re completely appalled, let me tell you how I clean my fridge: 

-Get a good food-safe cleaner. My favorite and most effective is white vinegar and water in a spray bottle, 50:50 ratio. Your preference.
-You’ll need some sponges or cloths that have an abrasive side.
-Remove everything and place on a countertop, table, or in a cooler.
-Have a trash and/or recycling bin nearby, you’ll most likely be unearthing some expired treasures.
-Now that you have an empty appliance, assess the damage. Where are the problem areas? Start by giving any crusted, caked on spills a thorough spray of solution to start the soak. 
-If the glass shelves are removable, take them out of the metal frames, one at a time, and simply spray and wash them in the sink, using the scrubby side of the sponge to dislodge the caked-on pre-treated areas. 
-Wipe down the metal frames before replacing the glass.
-Dry each clean shelf with a lint-free cloth and replace into the metal frames.

-At this point, your refrigerator has probably started making that annoying beeping sound due to leaving the door open for too long. I recommend some loud music to keep you sane and drown out that little creep. I curse the person who thought it was a good idea to install that feature, and yet not give you the option to turn it off in the settings. If anyone knows how to accomplish this, please email me!

-If you’re washing the shelves in the sink, just close the door to keep the unit cool, and to not have to listen to that incessant beep.

-Once the shelves are cleaned and replaced, remove the drawers one at a time. Empty, clean and wipe dry. Throw away any expired or otherwise inedible produce, lunch meats, cheeses which are not intentionally moldy, and that lone hot dog in a ziplock bag, hiding in the very back of the meat drawer. Wipe down the “floor” of the fridge while the drawers are out.

-Now, the fun part! Organize your refrigerator! A little history - one of the first tasks for all new hires in the kitchen was to clean and organize the walk-in coolers. It was admittedly an evil pleasure to assign newbies to this task But it was also a great orientation for them, because once they were finished, they knew where to find things when we sent them to fetch. Try it with your kids.

-So, before you start to put everything back in the fridge, wipe down the jars and bottles you’re keeping. Remove the lids and get the crusty stuff off of the bottle rims and out of the lid threads and off the bottoms.

-Organize items by type, and size. Use the FIFO and Hazardous on the Bottom rules. 

-Clean the outside of the unit with a soft cloth and, if you have a stainless finish, use a good, water-based stainless polish to really give it a nice shine. 

-Finally, remove the vent cover from the bottom front, and get under the unit with a narrow brush or mop. Lots of dust, dog hair and who-knows-what can accumulate under there. It improves the air circulation and efficiency of the unit, too. 

-You can place a box of baking soda in the back corner, on the top shelf, or in a place where you think would not be disturbed. Perhaps where you found that bottle of soy sauce from 2012?