Thanks to the folks at LG for sponsoring this post and $100 gift card giveaway!
I don’t know about you, but between school drop-offs, practices, cleaning, laundry, and grocery shopping, my mommy to-do list is always packed full. Sure, I can hide the laundry that has (sort of) been folded in the corner of a room, and throw all those bills-to-be-paid/permission-slips-to-be-signed in a basket in the pantry, but when it comes to the family fridge, what you see is what you get. Or is it?
There is apparently an art form to organizing your refrigerator, something lost on those of us who just cram things in wherever there’s an open spot (uh, yeah, that is my ketchup bottle lying across the top of the egg carton). Here, some neat-fridge tips I found scouring the web just for you! I swear I may try them some day…
- Minimize cross contamination (boo!) by organizing your foods top to bottom based on cooking times and temperature, that way any cross contamination due to drippings will be cooked away (yay!). The highest shelf should be for prepared foods, leftovers, and other items that can be served cold or reheated; whole meat cuts or fish next, followed by ground meat; and then chicken and poultry at the bottom. I may need to come up with a pneumonic to remember this one.
- Although I’ve been known to mix my veggies and fruit together in an incestuous food drawer orgy, those in-the-know say it’s best to choose a side and stick to it. And never, ever introduce raw meat… that needs its own drawer, preferably the lowest one and one that you don’t mind cleaning. A lot.
- If you can’t separate your raw meats, make sure you store their packages on a rimmed tray or plate that’ll catch any spillage. This one I knew already as I’m not interested in cleaning blood out of the fridge (who is?!).
- Speaking of trays, I’m lovin’ the suggestion of using clear bins to keep things not only organized, but handy. I like being able to just grab a bin and seeing, for instance, what type of Easter candy may still be good to binge on at midnight, or tell the kids to “grab the fruit bin and have at it” (they’ll love that one!).
- Despite my ketchup’s love affair with the egg carton, the place for condiments is always (always!) on the door. No one ever complained about sour mustard thanks to Junior’s constant door gazing. With all the refrigerator opening and closing going on in a typical family kitchen, no one wants milk on their door going bad after three days.
Or…. take a look at LG Electronics’ new Door-in-Door feature on their Super-Capacity 3 Door French Door Refrigerator. I kid you not… this is one of the coolest (pun intended!) appliances around. It has an easy-access compartment that eliminates the need for anyone to stand before the open fridge doors mulling over their choices. And just think – with all that get-what-you-need-and-go extra space, there will be less milling around inside the actual fridge… more of a chance to keep the cool air inside where it matters most and to keep your newfound refrigerator Nazi tactics intact.
For more fridge fun (the LG Door-in-Door Food Fight videos are hilarious!) and a chance to enter the LG sweepstakes to win your own Door-in-Door Refrigerator beginning on July 16th, head to LG Electronics USA’s Facebook page.
And now I’m hungry. To the fridge I go…
Comment here on which of your favorite go-to foods you would put in the Door-in-Door feature for easy access for a chance to win a $100 gift card! Click here for official rules.
