In This ArticleView AllIn This ArticleGive Your Fridge a Deep CleanHow to Maintain FreshnessBottom Line
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In This Article
Give Your Fridge a Deep Clean
How to Maintain Freshness
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Nothing is worse than opening the fridge and being smacked in the face with a pungent whiff of old food. Or pulling out ingredients from your fridge to make chocolate chip cookies or Saturday morning pancakes only to realize your butter has soaked up the dreaded “fridge smell.” No one wants to eat pancakes that taste like garlic and leftovers!
Fridge smell is noticeable the second you open the door and, in some cases, can be strong enough to crush your appetite. Even worse, the smell can also translate into an unpleasant taste that seeps into your food. Higher-fat foods like butter or cheese are especially susceptible to absorbing weird fridge flavors and smells.
Related:Your Kitchen Spring-Cleaning Checklist
Fridge smell can come from a combination of sources, but thankfully, there are a few ways to combat those unpleasant odors. Here’s how to identify the malodor—and what you can do about it, with tips from cleaning pros.
If you open your fridge and notice a stench that doesn’t smell like any one particular ingredient, the likely culprit is bacteria. When food starts to spoil, bacteria begin to break down the food, releasing some seriously unpleasant smells. Old leftovers, slimy plastic containers of spinach, rubbery carrots and past-its-prime meat can all stink up a fridge in a flash. Try to do a deep clean every month. Here’s how:
Related:12 Things in Your Fridge You Should Throw Away
Prevent Future Foul Odors
Practice FIFO
Throw away any old or spoiled food before going grocery shopping. That way, there’s room for your new groceries, and that half a tomato from two weeks ago doesn’t get pushed to the back and forgotten while this week’s tomato is in the front. In restaurants, this is referred to as FIFO, an acronym for “first in, first out.” This means putting older items upfront to use first (if still good!) and routing fresher things to the back.
Store Pungent Foods Correctly
Another likely source of fridge smell is pungent foods like onions, garlic, blue cheese and fermented foods. These smells aren’t indicative of spoilage but can be strong or unpleasant all the same. For foods in the onion family that get stored in the fridge, opt for airtight containers in order to contain their aromas. And wrap up pungent cheeses in parchment paper and place them in an airtight plastic storage container.
Items like pickled or fermented foods should ideally be stored in glass containers with lids. Always make sure the lids are tight: I once knocked over a jar of homemade sauerkraut in my fridge, and the liquid spilled everywhere, causing my whole fridge to stink for days.
Related:How to Store Cheese
Make Sure You’re Up on Proper Fridge Maintenance
Fridge care can often be overlooked, but it helps for a stink-free fridge. “Remember to check drip pans and change water filters regularly,” saysDillon.
Fridge smell happens for a variety of reasons, from old food to particularly pungent ingredients. Start with a good old-fashioned deep clean, then make sure you’re cleaning out food from your fridge regularly and giving it a wipe-down monthly. And store particularly aromatic foods in airtight containers to keep their aromas from spreading throughout your fridge. Your chocolate chip cookies will thank you!
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