It’s a good idea to organize and clean out your refrigerator about once a month. Vlada did just that with a class at Rancho Damacitas for single moms. Rancho Damacitas is a foster home in Temecula, California helping to serve struggling single mothers with young children through the Empowerment Village Program. The class that Vlada held at Rancho Damacitas helped shed light on the importance of not letting food go to waste and making the most of your grocery investment. Vlada believes It’s important to avoid food waste and it’s especially important when you are on a tight budget and want to make your dollars stretch.
By cleaning out your fridge regularly you take an inventory of what you have and organize food by how perishable it is.
Here are some of Vlada’s favorite tips to making the most of your groceries and and organizing your refrigerator:
- Organize and take an inventory of your refrigerator regularly so you know what you have.
- Place highly perishable items together and at eye level so you are sure to use those first.
- Place sweet treats and unopened prepackaged items in the back of the refrigerator. You don’t want to be tempted to use those first since they can sit in the refrigerator longer
- Place Dairy, milk and cheese on their own shelf. Re-wrap opened cheese packages to help them stay fresh longer
- Place meats or foods that have a long shelf life, especially if heavily processed or in unopened packages, on the bottom shelf.
While cleaning out your fridge, this is a great time to plan and cook your dinner from items that are about to expire. When you are done, you’ll not only have a clean refrigerator but you will also have dinner on the table from items in your refrigerator that might have otherwise been tossed in the trash, and that’s money saved.