When the heat arrives, organizing the refrigerator in summer is essential to avoid food waste and bad smells. Few precautions are enough to have everything in order and make fresh foods last longer.
You don’t need to empty everything and start again from scratch: you can start immediately with some simple gesture, perhaps while you arrange your shopping or prepare dinner. Even a single well organized shelf can make a difference. Summer is that moment when you realize that the refrigerator is more crowded than usual. Between fruit, vegetables, ready dishes and frozen water bottles, finding space seems an impossible mission. Yet, with some asset And a basic logic, you can create a system that works, avoiding waste and keeping away those annoying odors that are formed too quickly.
A solution is to start from the simplest things: check the expiration dates, use transparent containers and know which foods should never be put in the fridge, even if in summer the temptation is strong. But it is not enough to “put in order”. You need to understand how the temperature works in the various compartments and take advantage of it at best.
How to arrange food in the fridge in the summer to avoid waste
Each area of the refrigerator has a slightly different temperature and this makes the difference. Often it is thought that “everything is cold”, but it is not so. The lower parts are the coldest, while the door is the most subject to thermal changes. Knowing this helps to arrange foods in an intelligent way. For example, eggs, aged cheeses and yogurt go to the upper shelf, because they are products that do not suffer too much changes in temperature. In the central one it is better to arrange leftovers, already cooked foods, sauces and ready dishes. The lowest shelf is perfect for raw meat and fish, always well sealed, because it is there that it is colder.
In the drawers, fruit and vegetables are preserved, perhaps with breathable bags or perforated containers, useful for limiting humidity. Finally, in the fridge door, where the temperature oscillates more, it is better to keep only drinks, butter and sauces. Attention also not to fill the fridge too much: the cold air must circulate. An overload fridge works badly and consumes more.
Tricks to avoid bad smells
Another typical summer problem? The Unpleasant smells in the refrigerator. The heat accelerates the deterioration processes, especially if something remains open or forgotten at the bottom of a shelf.
To avoid it, some simple precautions is enough:
- Clean regularly With a mixture of water and vinegar, or baking soda. Once a week it is more than enough.
- Use natural absorbedlike a bicarbonate bowl, a slice of lemon or coffee powder.
- Close every container wellavoiding leaving open trays or foods in improvised wraps.
- Check every 2-3 days If something is about to expire, especially cut fruit or dairy products.
Another useful advice? Do not insert hot foods. There is a risk of raising the internal temperature and promoting the formation of condensation, which brings humidity and therefore bad smells.
Some foods should not be put in the refrigerator, not even in the summer
Not everything that seems fresher in the fridge is really better. Some foods, especially in summer, are thought that they should be chilled at all costs, but it is not so. There are Foods that suffer the cold And that in the fridge they lose flavor or mature badly.
For example, i tomatoes: The cold blocks the maturation and makes the pulp flour. The bananaInstead, they blacken more quickly and become soft. The potatoes They tend to become sweet and change consistency, losing that pleasant compactness. Also the pane It worsens in the fridge: it dry out and becomes rubbery. And what about watermelon and melon? When they are whole, it is better to keep them out. Only once they were cut should be chilled, but always well covered.
The important thing is to have an area of fresh and shadow kitchen where to keep these foods. A simple wooden box or a breathable tray can be enough.
In the end, organizing the refrigerator in summer well is not a matter of time or effort. It is more than anything else a matter of daily attention And small repeated gestures. And then, let’s face it, opening the fridge and finding everything in order, fresh and without strange smells is not a small satisfaction.
Maybe even mood improves. Maybe.
Photo © Stock.adobe
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