AS WE HEAD into the new year, there’s a solid chance that not all of the food and ingredients you stocked your fridge, freezer and pantry with were put to use.

This means that you’re probably due for a clear-out. 

There are few things more gross than reaching into the back of your fridge and pulling out something that’s been there far too long, so this week we’re looking at sensible steps you can take to clean and maintain your fridge and freezer.

Start from scratch

When clearing out your fridge, there’s always the temptation to dance around stuff that looks fresh — the stuff you know doesn’t need to be taken out. However, to achieve a total reset with your fridge, you should take everything out and check the date on it all before deciding what’s to go in the bin and what can wait patiently while you clean your fridge. 

Deodorise

If you are in the unfortunate position that your fridge has started to smell due to ingredients going off, there are solutions (pun intended) you can use when cleaning it to help remove foul odours. An unabrasive mix of warm water and non-bio liquid or white vinegar will be very effective and getting rid of strong smells. 

While it might be too late for this round of cleaning, something to bear in mind is that odours are much easier to deal with when they haven’t been allowed to set. If something spills in your fridge, do the sensible thing and clean it immediately rather than shutting the door and pretending it doesn’t exist. Being proactive will help keep your fridge in much better order.

What’s your order?

Obviously, we’d like everything in our homes to be orderly, but this is especially important when it comes to your fridge. For example, products that have the potential to leak — such as raw meat — should always ideally be as low down as possible. 

One hack is to make sure your perishable items, such as milk and cheese, are kept at eye level. Forgetting to use these things is exactly how so many of us end up with our fridge developing a weird smell all of a sudden. If your fridge is big enough, you could even have a ‘Last Chance Saloon’ shelf where you keep any products that are soon to pass their best-before date, reminding you to use them as soon as possible.

De-ice, ice baby

First things first: do not start attacking the ice with a wooden spoon or, even worse, a knife. This is a good way to damage your freezer. To properly de-ice your freezer, unpack it, switch it off at the wall, and allow it to thaw in its own time. Waiting for the ice to soften before going at it with a relatively soft flat implement, like a plastic spatula, prize the ice free, then chuck it in the sink.

If you need to de-ice a bit more urgently, one trick you can try is to boil the kettle, fill a bowl with steaming hot water, and stick it in the freezer with the door closed for a few minutes so that the steam softens the ice. You can repeat this a few times, depending on how fast you need to clear up space.