Prep for Mother's Day Phase Two

The one thing I usually forget to clean before a party is the fridge. This causes a few problems, for me at least. 1. People always bring things and need to put them in the fridge. Embarrassed,I have to open it and quickly shuffle things around so they can fit in their addition to the party. 2. I cook 6 nights a week typically, thus, my fridge gets pretty messy after awhile. So tonight, I remembered this as something I neeeeded to get done! I clean my fridge out once a week of old leftovers or food that has gone bad since it's trash night, but this week, I gave it a really good scrub. Now, I've got plenty of room for my goodies I'll buy this week and even a little room to spare if anyone else brings something.

I like to organize my fridge by type. Sauces, condiments, butter and alcoholic beverages go in the door. Extra sauces and jellies go on the top shelf. Dairy on the second. Tall items and leftovers on the third. My meat and cheeses go in the top drawer, veggies in the next drawer and pop in the bottom. It works for us....most of the time.

Cleaning wise, I just start emptying from the top and clean one shelf at a time. I wait until the end to put all the food back and organize it as best as possible.

BEFORE (and this was AFTER I took out the top shelf...I forgot about the pic):




And AFTER! Check out that completely empty shelf! Just waiting for my few salads to marinate on Saturday!



Are you scared to open your fridge now? :)