How to organize and store your fridge

Cooking every day, twice a day and every day, not only do you have to have your hands like little bones from doing the dishes — or your floor with a crust of earth that reappears every afternoon like a ghost — , but it has surely turned the inside of your refrigerator into an overcrowded cave of jars and containers with mysterious contents. Leftover sauces, conchos of drinks, leftover meat, chunks of cheese, and fresh vegetables mixed with ripe vegetables and decomposed vegetables coexist piled up in the cold, without law or order.

Fighting this chaos takes a lot of willpower, both because of the task of organizing and cleaning the fridge and because of the certainty that sooner or later the second law of thermodynamics will kick in and entropy will be reinstalled in your device.

But the myth of Sisyphus, we have forcibly verified it since the pandemic — and those who work remotely continue to live it — is more relevant than ever: every day, like the previous one, you have to carry the rock of telework , the kitchen and order, then, the next day, see it again at the point of origin and start again. It’s like making a bed: you shake and stretch it every day, knowing that tomorrow you’ll have to shake and stretch it again.

“There is no other”, says the chief Nicolas Garat , director and founder of the International Gastronomic Academy Chile and advisor to Oster. “In order not to waste food, to know what you have and not to eat things that are in poor condition, it is necessary to have a well-organized refrigerator.”

Before taking a deep breath and diving into its depths, Gárate recommends understanding and knowing the different parts of the refrigerator, knowing the role they play and what products should be placed in each of them.

“The bottom and the bottom are the coldest”, he explains, “the ones at the top have a little more temperature and the door is the less cold zone”. Therefore, this last part is ideal for placing foods that are consumed quickly, that “go in and out”, or that do not require so much cold, such as drinks, juices or jams.

“In the highest areas”, specifies the chef, “it is appropriate to put products that are less delicate or that will be used soon, such as yogurts, cheeses, cold meats or packaged foods, ready-made fruits or vegetables consume”. , and prepared meals.

And in the lower part, where refrigerators usually have drawers, you have to leave vegetables that you won’t use for several days — like carrots, zucchini, peppers or eggplant — and meats — well closed, hopefully sous vide — which will be cooked that day or the next day.

The key word, according to Nicolás Gárate, is planning. “Having an idea of ​​how long things will last in the fridge will help keep it cleaner and reduce waste.”

But if your fridge is living in anomie and you’re not sure what’s in it, Chef Garate says there’s no choice but to take it all out. “That there is nothing left inside to clean it and disinfect it very well with water and chlorine.” Also to check which things have hibernated there, which can still live and which have no other destination than the dump.

With gleaming and empty trays and shelves, as suggested in this article Wire cutter , it is more convenient to designate areas of the refrigerator for different products, choosing the place depending on how much cold they need. And more space can be created by using small baking sheets – which can be easily removed, without having to dig between jars and Tupperware – or specially designed dividers.

“One of the cardinal rules of any restaurant refrigerator,” they say in the article, “is that new products go down and old ones up, so that they are used first (…) So, instead of opening the lids looking for the jar with the tomato sauce, you will have the food that needs to be used at your fingertips”.

What helps a lot to maintain this order are the transparent containers, where one can easily access and classify the food inside the refrigerator. For example, in each of these containers, you can group sauces — mayonnaise, ketchup or mustard —, yogurts, certain jams, fruit or almost anything that goes in the fridge.

Garate warns against fruits and vegetables. “Some, like apples or bananas, naturally release ethylene, a gas that accelerates the ripening of the rest.” Therefore, if they need to be refrigerated, this should be done in bags, so as not to contaminate others. Carrots, for example, keep better with a little humidity, so if they are stored closed, and without their stems, they can last for several weeks.

Vacuum sealing is an option that increases the durability of foods, especially fresh ones. “By eliminating contact with oxygen”, explains the director of AGI Chile, “the oxidation process is slowed down, and the meats, fruits and vegetables keep longer. I recommend portioning the produce then sealing it, so you only get the amount that is going to be consumed.

And what about the cilantro or parsley bush, which arrives fragrant and fresh from the grocery store, but the next day it already looks like it has a terminal illness? “These herbs, like basil or mint, also need moisture but little oxygen, so it’s best to wrap them in a paper towel, lightly sprinkled with water, then close with plastic wrap. leaving the ends free,” he explains. Garate. “That way they will easily last 5 or 6 days in perfect condition.”

Eggs, unless they are eaten quickly, should not be stored in their traditional space on the refrigerator door. Like Daniel Gurkman, chef and owner of Daniel’s Bakery —café specializing in brunches and breakfasts—, in this place they are exposed to changes in temperature and humidity, which facilitates their decomposition. “You have to leave them downstairs, hopefully upstairs where they’re not that cold either.”

For this, better than using the cardboard tray is to have a special container such as the Interdesign brand, which is transparent and made of resistant plastic, very easy to clean. It has a lid – ideal for avoiding accidents and cross-contamination – and space to place 14 eggs.

With mason jars, you have to be careful. “Once opened, and if you want to refrigerate its contents, yes or yes, you have to empty it into an airtight container”, specifies the chef. “The metal of the jar, as well as the paper around it, can be a source of food-threatening microorganisms.”

If you took advantage of the flight and cooked for more than one meal, check carefully how many servings you have left. “If you’re still going to have leftovers, divide and freeze, because some beans with reins, for example, will die after three days in the fridge.” It is crucial in these cases to wait for the food to cool before putting it in the refrigerator. “When you store something hot, the temperature inside the refrigerator will increase and with it that of the rest of the food, altering its preservation.”

But if you’re stubborn and kept all the beans in the fridge and the next day, after reheating them, you still had a portion left, be careful. “This sudden change in temperature is harmful to food, it adds a lot of bacterial load and also loses its nutritional properties,” says Gárate.

Where to store things: in plastic or glass containers? “The difference doesn’t matter much,” says the chef. “The main thing is that they are airtight and made of a strong and durable material. Inexpensive plastic containers are often thin and if they crack or break they will no longer do their job of protecting the contents.

“As for frozen meats, they should be thawed in the refrigerator and not outside,” says Gárate. “It’s common for people to take out a piece of chicken, beef or fish the night before that they want to cook the next day and leave it in the dishwasher or on a container. During these twelve hours or more, they will surely release liquids which, remaining in contact with the meat, will be a Lollapalooza for the microorganisms. The good thing is to go from the freezer to the refrigerator, always in an airtight container, then at room temperature.

*Prices for products in this item are updated as of May 24, 2022. Values ​​and availability may change.