How often do you 100% clean out your fridge?

[Ginevra]

Like, literally every last thing removed, all shelves and bins cleaned, mysterious furry objects pitched, three different bottles of ranch dressing consolidated and finally coming to terms with the fact that you aren’t going to use the miso paste? 

I did that today. It’s been a while, though. I think if this happens once a year, that is optimistic. 

My fridge is shiny pretty right now though. 🥰

Also, what is the weirdest thing you have ever found in there? I’m not sure what my answer is to that but it does amaze me that my long, shed strands of hair made it beneath the crisper drawer somehow. Ewww. 

[KungFuPanda]

Not often enough; less than monthly but more than quarterly.  

[DawnM]

Um......never!

I clean out sections of my fridge when necessary, but I haven't ever cleaned the entire thing out at once I don't think.

[klmama]

A 100% empty fridge?  Only when replacing the fridge or moving, LOL!  Typically, I clean and toss as I go. So, while it's never perfect, it's always presentable and reasonably sanitary. 

[mom2samlibby]

Every November before I host Thanksgiving.  So, once a year, but I have to do it today because something smells in there.

[Katy]

I try to do it once a month but realistically it's more like quarterly more often than I care to admit.

I throw out fuzzy stuff when I'm putting away groceries.

[Pawz4me]

Once or twice a year.

And every time I do it and see all the sparkly cleanness I think -- "I really should do that more often."

I do spot clean all the time, though.

[fairfarmhand]

Oh Good Gried @Quill. Why did you have to go post about this? Because I really need to go this and now I will feel compelled to take care of my fuzzies. I was having so much fun wasting time here on the boards.

Edited October 21, 2020 by fairfarmhand

[Pam in CT]

every 2-3 years, cursing mightily, after a multi-day power outage, is there any other answer to this question ?

[sweet2ndchance]

2 - 3 times a year. Not planned that way, just how often it seems that I get around to it.

[Ditto]

I don't have to do a full clean out because I am incredibly anal at keeping up with every single thing in it.  There is never old food or condiments in there.

[Arcadia]

My mom does that monthly but she rarely cook. I have only clean out the vegetable drawers and my freezer whenever I remember. I have never clean out my fridge completely.

[KungFuPanda]

My mom cleans hers weekly so I always have to do it before she visits. 🤣

[Pawz4me]

2 minutes ago, Ditto said:

I don't have to do a full clean out because I am incredibly anal at keeping up with every single thing in it.  There is never old food or condiments in there.

I'm like that for contents. But once or twice a year I do need to take everything out and wash all the shelves and bins. Wiping regularly works okay but doesn't get things quite as clean as a good soaping up in the sink.

[Carrie12345]

Well.... I don’t do the door shelves very often. But I do aim to do all the rest about every other week.  Sometimes that looks more like every 4-6 weeks, lol.  That’s in addition to doing a less intense wipe-around every week.

My kids are gross and my fridge gets gross.

I don’t know about the strangest thing, but I’m glad that we no longer have a million jars of refrigerator pickles taking up half the fridge.

Please don’t ask about my freezer.

[Ditto]

4 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

I'm like that for contents. But once or twice a year I do need to take everything out and wash all the shelves and bins. Wiping regularly works okay but doesn't get things quite as clean as a good soaping up in the sink.

You are right.   Somehow I interpreted the original question as more of a "how often to dig out the contents to see what is rotten and/or not used".   So that is how I answered it.  

[regentrude]

we used to once a year before heading to Europe for a month - we'd unplug the fridge for that.
 

[Pawz4me]

Another thing I've started doing, just in the last year or so, is writing the date on all condiments when I first open them. If there's no easy place to write the date on the bottle or jar then I write it on a piece of freezer tape and stick it on the container somewhere.

[Junie]

Probably 1-3 times per year.  This happens most often because we lost power and everything needs to be tossed.

[LuvToRead]

I try to clean a shelf a week and do a full clean out twice a year.  But, realistically it's been awhile.  You all will be glad to know National Clean Out Your Fridge Day is coming soon!!!   It is November 15th.  https://nationaltoday.com/national-clean-out-your-fridge-day/    Too bad I have plans that day LOL!  (Reading a good book is a plan, right??)

Edited October 21, 2020 by LuvToRead

[hjffkj]

NEVER!  ha,  I remember doing this as a teenager with my mom and I absolutely hated it.  Scrubbing all those little crusted spills that piled up and throwing out all food was the worst.  So, now I just wipe everything down before loading the groceries into it weekly.  Crust does not build up.

[marbel]

I don't have a regular schedule. I generally do a shelf/section at a time, either when I notice it's dirty or there is a spill. I am fairly good at keeping stuff moving. Condiments are a problem, though, because my husband does not believe that certain things can ever go bad.  But he is also the only one who will eat those things, so he's the only one at risk from them. 

 

Edited October 21, 2020 by marbel

[rebcoola]

Never unless we are moving/getting rid of it.  We will take out a shelf, drawer, cubby and clean it thoroughly probably each one gets a real clean 2/3 times a year.

[J-rap]

Probably 3-4 times/year, but never all at once.  It might occur to me to clean the little shelves for the condiments one day, and a month later I might clean the produce drawers.  Most often I'll clean the main shelves -- they tend to look worse than the others more often!

[KungFuPanda]

52 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

Another thing I've started doing, just in the last year or so, is writing the date on all condiments when I first open them. If there's no easy place to write the date on the bottle or jar then I write it on a piece of freezer tape and stick it on the container somewhere.

I write it on the top of the lid with sharpie. I have a silver sharpie for the black lids. 🤣

[Forget-Me-Not]

It’s been an embarrassingly long time. I should do that. 

[alisoncooks]

Well, we moved into this house 14 years ago, so..... I'm pretty sure I've done it at some point since then...🤔🤔

[Ausmumof3]

I do the main section briefly every couple of weeks but pulling out all the door pockets etc - almost never 

[hippiemamato3]

Weekly (night before trash goes out)

Freezer in garage - rarely, but I did it tonight because tomorrow is trash day

Edited October 21, 2020 by hippiemamato3

[Arctic Bunny]

Whenever overnight company is coming. And yes, there’s always one of my long hairs under the crisper drawers. 

[prairiewindmomma]

Monthly. I do a quick tidy weekly when I am making the grocery list, but I do a full scrub down monthly for the fridge. My family members are messy.

[SereneHome]

2 hours ago, Ditto said:

I don't have to do a full clean out because I am incredibly anal at keeping up with every single thing in it.  There is never old food or condiments in there.

See, I need to be more like you!!

I do it when one of the kids spill something or before my big hauls to Wegmans....but not the entire thing. Usually in Sept and April, before big holidays.

However, ever since this stupid virus started, I keep it very very well stocked, so not sure if I could do it right now.....although I probably really should!! I am wondering if I have things in there from before Covid.

Oh and the fridge we have right now is super deep, so while even more reason to do it, it makes it harder.

[katilac]

I never do it all at once. I clean shelf by shelf, when the Motivated Moms app tells me to, or when it noticeably needs it in between because someone spilled something. 

And I'm not sure if you mean 'take everything out and put the good stuff back in' or just take everything out, period. I never throw away everything on a shelf on a schedule, in the fridge or in the cabinets. 

[Guest]

37 minutes ago, katilac said:

I never do it all at once. I clean shelf by shelf, when the Motivated Moms app tells me to, or when it noticeably needs it in between because someone spilled something. 

And I'm not sure if you mean 'take everything out and put the good stuff back in' or just take everything out, period. I never throw away everything on a shelf on a schedule, in the fridge or in the cabinets. 

No, I do put back the stuff that’s still good. There does seem to almost always been duplicates of things with 2 tablespoons left in it. 🤷🏻‍♀️ That really annoys me. 

[Loowit]

I don't think I ever take everything out, but we do go through it once a week before picking up groceries so everything will fit.  It didn't get done this week and is a bit of a mess.

However, I did just pull everything out of my pantry this morning to work on cleaning and organizing.  It was a huge mess and hard to find things in.  My kitchen is now a mess and we are ordering out pizza for dinner while I try to figure out how to organize everything in a neat and tidy easy to access way.  I should do that with my refrigerator too, but my freezers need it more.

[Garga]

Every couple of months when the fridge was new.  Now...more like once every year or so.  Or every 15 months.  The novelty of the new fridge wore off I suppose.  (Poor old fridge!)

Between DH and I, we toss the old stuff out about once a week.  Sometimes he gets to it before I do and vice versa.  Once in a while we both drop the ball and 2 or 3 weeks go by before we realize there are Old Fuzzy Things in plasticware in the back of the fridge.  But usually, it’s weekly.

The complete washing of the fridge, though...every 12 or so months.

Edited October 22, 2020 by Garga

[prairiewindmomma]

Can I confess that I actually labeled where stuff goes in my last fridge? We just got a new one last week and I am waiting to see if I need to do that or if everyone is sufficiently trained. 
 

I labeled where condiments go. I bought plastic bins to hold veg that line the bottom shelf of the fridge. (We buy zucchini 20 at a time, 8 red peppers, a similar number of cucumbers, etc. weekly. They needed support to stay organized.

Having a highly organized fridge made it so much easier to compile a grocery list. My brain can just check quantities with a quick eyeball and move on without having to play Where’s Waldo with the feta cheese.

This hasn’t solved the problem of Youngest leaving a layer of sticky jam and Nutella on everything in the house, including the contents of the fridge.

[Guest]

46 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Can I confess that I actually labeled where stuff goes in my last fridge? We just got a new one last week and I am waiting to see if I need to do that or if everyone is sufficiently trained. 
 

I labeled where condiments go. I bought plastic bins to hold veg that line the bottom shelf of the fridge. (We buy zucchini 20 at a time, 8 red peppers, a similar number of cucumbers, etc. weekly. They needed support to stay organized.

Having a highly organized fridge made it so much easier to compile a grocery list. My brain can just check quantities with a quick eyeball and move on without having to play Where’s Waldo with the feta cheese.

This hasn’t solved the problem of Youngest leaving a layer of sticky jam and Nutella on everything in the house, including the contents of the fridge.

Oh, goodness, this makes my heart go pitter-pat. 

I did this with my spice rack  because it bugged me that The Other People just put them back all willy-nilly. 

[Momto6inIN]

Once a year, if that 😳

Sometimes when my mom comes to visit she does it and I'm always so thankful! The 1st time I think she was worried I'd be offended, and I guess I kinda was embarrassed, but it was so great having a clean fridge and not having to do it myself that I decided I was not offended lol! Now I kinda look forward to her doing it 😆

[Katy]

30 minutes ago, Quill said:

Oh, goodness, this makes my heart go pitter-pat. 

I did this with my spice rack  because it bugged me that The Other People just put them back all willy-nilly. 

In this house I bought one of those slanted wooden spice drawer inserts and filled them with identical glass jars in alphabetical order.  I puffy heart love that drawer.  It might be the only thing in the house that is kept to my ideal standards, mostly because no one else bothers with spices except the grill stuff DH keeps in the basement kitchen (near the patio with the grill on it).

[EKS]

Um, you're kidding, right?

Leftovers get tossed within the week.  Old stuff in jars gets tossed every few months.  I wipe off the shelves...once every few years...maybe?

[Sdel]

 I go through the entire fridge as part of my meal planning/grocery list process.  Everything comes out and gets inspected/tossed/re-organized and shelves/bins wiped down.  

[Arctic Bunny]

3 hours ago, SereneHome said:

See, I need to be more like you!!

I do it when one of the kids spill something or before my big hauls to Wegmans....but not the entire thing. Usually in Sept and April, before big holidays.

However, ever since this stupid virus started, I keep it very very well stocked, so not sure if I could do it right now.....although I probably really should!! I am wondering if I have things in there from before Covid.

Oh and the fridge we have right now is super deep, so while even more reason to do it, it makes it harder.

Funny, I cleaned out the pantry for the first real time since we moved here, and as I went through things I was thinking “Is this pre-Covid?” I almost threw out spaghetti because I thought I hadn’t been to that store in years, then remembered it was the only place I could find spaghetti in May-ish.

[Arctic Bunny]

5 minutes ago, Sdel said:

 I go through the entire fridge as part of my meal planning/grocery list process.  Everything comes out and gets inspected/tossed/re-organized and shelves/bins wiped down.  

Like, every week? 🙇‍♀️

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, EKS said:

Um, you're kidding, right?

Leftovers get tossed within the week.  Old stuff in jars gets tossed every few months.  I wipe off the shelves...once every few years...maybe?

Nope! Not kidding! 🙂 

To be sure, I often just skim out the offending old stuff, but once in a while (a good case could be made that it’s too infrequent), I take every single thing out, clean all shelves and door cubbies, then put it back nicely and chuck the old stuff. And consolidate the multiples of things. 

[Sdel]

1 minute ago, Arctic Bunny said:

Like, every week? 🙇‍♀️

Yes.  It doesn’t take long.  But don’t ask about my pantry.....

[Arctic Bunny]

1 minute ago, Sdel said:

Yes.  It doesn’t take long.  But don’t ask about my pantry.....

Lol!

[Terabith]

I mean, actually 100% cleaning out my refrigerator?  

There was that time there was the derecho and we had no power for 10 days.  I think I cleaned it out then.  Otherwise, when I move?  

I am possibly the world's worst housekeeper.  I had no idea this was a thing I was supposed to be doing, honestly.  

[Terabith]

I cleaned out my pantry before the pandemic hit.  We found so much stuff that had expired ten years ago.  Fun fact:  saltines that are 12 years past sell by date develop a "pantry flavor."  I did not know there was a pantry flavor, but there definitely is.  

[Guest]

39 minutes ago, Terabith said:

I mean, actually 100% cleaning out my refrigerator?  

There was that time there was the derecho and we had no power for 10 days.  I think I cleaned it out then.  Otherwise, when I move?  

I am possibly the world's worst housekeeper.  I had no idea this was a thing I was supposed to be doing, honestly.  

No, no, there’s no “supposed to.” No inspectors coming to check you’ve done it. 🙂

I personally feel so much calmer when the fridge is clean. I am one of those half-empty fridge people; I feel at peace when I can see the items in there. I feel stressed when it’s fridge tetris in there and I can’t actually tell if there’s any sour cream.