My two least favorite kitchen chores are cleaning out the fridge and taking out the trash. Both tend to be a little gross, involve some amount of bending over, and it’s hard to do the former without also doing the latter. I also tend to ignore both until they become un-ignorable, which makes these tasks grosser, and more involved. But The Kitchn has a great plan for making both chores a little easier, a little less gross, and a bit more streamlined.
In this collection of kitchen-cleaning tips—which has eight good tips you should read—Shifrah Combiths of The Kitchn recommends doing a quick little fridge clean-out every time you take out the trash:
Before tying up that garbage bag and taking out the trash, make it a habit to check the fridge for leftovers that have expired or food that may have gone bad. This simple habit keeps your fridge organized without having to rely on a big, time-consuming clean-out (and reminds you of what still needs to be consumed).
Besides making each chore a bit more manageable and less daunting, doing a mini purge each time you take out the trash gives you a chance to assess the contents of your fridge, and remind your brain of what you actually have in there. (If you are like me, and do not have a strong sense of what they call “object permanence,” this is very helpful.)
Would it be over kill to also do a quick wipe down of the shelves, and maybe wipe off any sticky condiment bottles? Perhaps, but the more you do it, the less it will need to be done. (Also, when is the last time you looked at your condiment bottles? I bet there’s an old crusty mustard that needs to be tossed.)
