I just went in the fridge and it seemed a little brighter in there today. I know that is a sign it's getting pretty bare and I will need to go shopping sometime soon. Strangely enough I get a good feeling when the fridge is looking light. I feel like I am successfully using everything we have and wasting less. Every once in a while I will challenge myself to stretch another 4 days or a week before going shopping, so that I use those frozen meats in the back of the freezer and think creatively about dinner. Am I crazy or does anyone else like this feeling too?
Seeing the fridge bare inspired another thought. It seems this would be an ideal time to clean out the fridge- I must put that on my plan for the week. Cleaning the fridge is one of my least favorite chores, I can't stand it and generally avoid it. However when a woman from our local extension office came to speak at MOPS last year, it changed my perspective forever. She told us that it is important to clean everything out at least twice a year, because dangerous and undetected molds/ bacteria can grow on your condiments. There is even a mold that grows on your jelly which is known to cause cancer (reiterated here). Just because it doesn't look or smell bad doesn't mean that it's necessarily good for you. That's enough to make me roll up my sleeves and get my head cold :-)
If your interested in learning more about how to tackle cleaning out the fridge, and the proper way of storing food in it, check out this interesting article from The Denver Post. For step by step directions to cleaning your fridge go here or here. I'd say "have fun", but who am I kidding?
Photo Credit: Vintage 1927 GE Refrigerator by beautifulcataya (no, this isn't my fridge ;-)
1 comment:
Hey Liz! As you know, I am on a student's budget (read: I have no income this quarter) and so I have had to be really precise in my grocery shopping and fridge usage. I also LOVE when I feel like my fridge is getting emptier and emptier, for the same reasons - it just feels like I am being more efficient and cost-conscious.
That being said, I leave for a conference tomorrow and will be gone 6 days and right now my fridge is full of food I should be eating... so I'm going to have to restructure my freezer (which is also pretty full) to fit in a bunch of stuff so that it doesn't all go bad while I'm gone! :( Bummer.
Anyway, good luck with the cleaning. Even though cleaning the refrigerator is kind of one of those tasks not to be looked forward to - once you are doing it, its a task that always makes me feel so productive and released! I love knowing that my fridge (or shower, or kitchen, or floor) is super clean! (even though I hate setting aside time to clean them. :))
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