Kitchen Cure Confession: Reverse Cure for the Fridge

So, how did your weekend Cure activities go? Is your fridge gleaming? Are your cupboards decluttered and neat? I wish mine were! I have been meaning to show you my own fridge, in the spirit of honesty and fairness, and here it is. But I'm afraid there isn't anything inspiring about it — I've got a reverse Cure going on! Here's why.

I try to keep my fridge fairly clean; I wipe up spills quickly and I don't like sticky shelves. But it does get pretty cluttered in there. I wish I could have cleaned it out completely; I love a fridge with empty space in it! Neat rows, clear sightlines to the back of the fridge — so nice! But alas, that is not to be right now (probably not at all, for a while). I am in the middle of developing a cookbook, and this week I'm testing two whole chapters' worth of recipes.

So on Sunday it was Reverse Cure for me: I neatened up the fridge a bit and cleaned out old leftovers, but then I crammed in seven dozen eggs, a couple gallons of milk, pounds of cheese, and vegetables, fruit, and other miscellaneous groceries.

The good thing about this sort of wholesale cooking and grocery shopping, though, is that it does force you to stay very organized. I have zones in my fridge: butter and cheese go here; all jars go on the door; there's an entire drawer devoted to citrus.

Do you have zones in your fridge? When you pack it full, do you have an organizational strategy?

Great job, too, everyone on all your hard work in the Cure. Hopefully you're ready for assignment #2; look for it around lunchtime today!

And PS: All those tested recipes? The cooked food is getting dispersed to various college student friends and siblings who live close by. THEIR fridges tend to be quite empty, and it's fun to help fill them up!

Related: How To: Organize Your Fridge

(Image: Faith Durand)

Comments (11)

Please, think of the environment with your fridge too! Your fridge (and freezer) are MUCH more efficient when they're full. If I'm cleaning out the fridge in preparation for a trip or something, I fill up old jugs with water and stick 'em in there. Having the space full uses far less electricity!

@sillyputty, I'm so glad someone else said it! I cram mine full of soda and really only use the top shelf for food. It's just me so I don't need tons of space and if the food is hidden somewhere (crisper drawers are the enemy!) I forget about it. Also, my power goes out fairly frequently courtesy of my upstairs neighbors overloading the breaker and having a lot of liquid in the fridge helps keep the temp even.

Lol! Everyone always talks about filling up empty space - I can't imagine having any! I'm always having to arrange and rearrange to get everything in there. I like to have things on hand, plus with a man and a teenager in the house...

My Cure is coming along, but I'm a little behind. I got my pantry done, but it took me all day and I didn't get to the fridge / freezer. So I'll be doing that this week in addition to our next assignment. I plan to do a couple of shelves each night after work, that way it's not too major of a task (my fridge is overdue for a good cleaning).

digigirl, i can relate! i never have free space in my fridge! I can neaten it, but I don’t think it will ever look empty!

I’m a little behind on my cure too. I got my fridge and spice cabinet completely done and I did pick through the other “pantry” cabinets, throwing away what was old, but I never made it to my baking cabinet, which is probably the largest task of them all! I may or may not attempt it during the cure – depends on how taxing the other assignments are. I’m dreading the “clean out your junk drawer” assignment!

I thought freezers are more efficient when they are full, but refrigerators should have some space for circulation.

I'm pretty excited about how my Cure is going - I made some great progress this weekend. I got through the Freezer and Spices on Saturday (freezer hadn't been truly cleaned out in AGES), then the Fridge yesterday. It looks great. Even bought new boxes of Baking Soda for both. Looking forward to cleaning out my Pantry tonight - that I have done pretty recently so it shouldn't be too bad. Wish I had a camera to document the progress, but I broke mine a few months ago and still haven't replaced it.

I made some progress on my cure but not as much as I would have liked. For my fridge/freezer and pantry, I hate to throw away food so I have planned my meals this week around those items I have had in there fare too long. I had no duplicates of items to consolidate as I apply the accounting principle of FIFO to what gets used first in my kitchen. But, a good scrub down never hurt anyone so that is what I did. It's nice having everything clean-if only temporarily. ;-)

Hi, Faith!

I totally agree (you should see my freezer!) - I often buy two or three gallons of milk at once, several blocks of cheese or butter, meats and breads all at bargain prices, then I freeze or refrige them until I'm ready to cook them.

And when THAT happens, I do either bulk cooking, or I brown it up and toss it into the fridge, or I separate it into weekly-sized portions (milk, mostly, but bread, too! I only go through MAYBE a quarter-loaf a week and MAYBE a half-gal a week).

It's always great to have a full fridge, but here's a tip! Hang your receipt by a special magnet on the fridge when you're done shopping, and cross the items off, one by one, as you use them up. No need to make an "inventory" list or keep an uber-detailed reconciliation of how much and where.

Are you from Pittsburgh? I can recognize Giant Eagle butter from a mile away.

Are those tomatoes I see in the fridge?

Tomatoes should ideally be kept in a cool place, but outside the fridge, as fridge temperature destroys their flavour and texture. Potatoes and cucumbers should also be kept cool but outside the fridge.

If you have no alternative to keeping them in the fridge (like a basement), the top shelf is usually less cold, and is therefore a better option than the vegetable drawer.

@Katti, no - they are actually red bell peppers. And yes - tomatoes in fridge = mush.

@flurie, no - I'm in Columbus.