Do Your Fridge a Favor

In honor of National Clean Out Your Fridge Day, here are a few tips that will help you to keep your fridges and freezers organized and more efficient, while also preventing cross-contamination and expiration issues to minimize food waste.
- Keep your meats low. To prevent meat drips or spills from contaminating other foods in your refrigerator, place your meats on the lowest shelves.
- Store raw meat, poultry, and seafood separately from prepared and ready-to-eat food. If these items cannot be stored separately, store them below prepared or ready-to-eat food. Raw meat, poultry, and fish should be stored in the following top-to-bottom order in the refrigerator: ready-to-eat foods, raw seafood, raw whole meats, raw ground meats and raw poultry.
- Space it out. Your fridge and freezer need to have room to breathe. The best refrigeration comes when a fridge has about 4 or 5 inches of space between the walls and the food. It’ll prevent uneven cooling and warm spots.