goods, baking supplies, grains, canned goods, spices, and
what I call wet pantry items.
Refrigerated Goods
Like cell phones and clean underwear, a refrigerator is one
of those things that you never really consider the importance
of until it stops doing its job (like mine did last week)††.
Organizing your fridge for maximum efficiency—in terms
of food shelf life, food safety, and easy access to the things
you reach for most—should be a top priority. It’ll make all
of your cooking projects go faster and more easily, and
having more fun in the kitchen inevitably leads to more
cooking. That’s a good thing in my book.
A fridge is basically just a big cold box with a few shelves
in it, right? Well, that’s true, but where you store food in the
fridge can have quite an impact on its shelf life. Most
refrigerators have cold and hot spots, with temperatures that
range from 33° to 38°F or so. In general, the back of the
bottom shelf, where cooler, heavier air falls to, and the back
of the top shelf, closest to the fan and condenser, are the
coldest spots, while the middle of the door is the warmest.
How you organize your food in the fridge should be based
on how cold it needs to be kept.
First, some basic tips on getting the most out of your
fridge space on a daily basis:
- Get a fridge thermometer. There are a number of things
that can cause your fridge to break down or lose power:
electrical shorts or surges, clogged ventilation, etc. So it’s