Spring Cleaning

I woke up this morning with a burst of energy brought on by chaos. My refrigerate has long been needing cleaning and organizing, and today was the day. It had gotten to a point where opening the door meant you had to be ready to catch something jumping out. Yogurts, applesauce cups, and string cheese were the primary escapees, but I've had leftovers jump out and spill, too. Enough was enough.

Everything came out and all drawers, walls, and shelves got cleaned. There were some mystery drips in the bottom that were stubborn and sticky, but no science experiments! Found one bad apple, and a little jar of chopped garlic that could be pitched. I consolidated jars of pickle relish and mustard, reducing 4 bottles down to 2. I found 3 partially-used onions, and consolidated those into one bag.

I went to the dollar store adn bought 3 plastic rectangle containers to hold small items and keep them organized where they couldn't make runs for freedom. They have holes in the sides to facilitate aire flow. I also rearranged how my shelves when I put them back in, and wouund up getting another shelf out of the deal. I had originally placed my shallow "deli" drawer on top of the produce drawer. Insteaed, I raised the deli drawer up some and now have a perfect shelf for leftovers! When the shelf is full, we eat leftovers that night!

Now I walk by my fridge and have to open the door to admire it! It's clean and organized, and I can find what I'm looking for. What a simple joy.

Next victim: the freezer side of the fridge. I had a pint of blueberries bust open, so any time I pull out a drawer or some frozen items, I have blueberries pelt me in the feet. If I don't get them up while frozen, they make a mess when stepped on. Or, if the dog licks one around and around adn I miss it, when it thaws, it's a land mine waiting to explode. While that is the only spilled item in there, I do need to go through and make sure any partial or opened items are still worth keeping.

I'm now in the "eat out of the freezer" mode. I have to do that a 2-3 times a year to make sure it doesn't get so jammed up that I don't even know what I have in there anymore. I only go to the store for milk, bread, and fresh produce. For example, last night we had fish, broccoli, spinach pies, and yeast rolls, all out of the freezer. I'd also like to defrost my deep freezer soon, but that takes planning. So I need to eat out of it now so I don't lose any food while it's defrosting in the driveway!