Yesterday was my refrigerator cleaning day. By the term ‘refrigerator cleaning day’, I mean, the deep cleaning of the refrigerator, which I do once a month. Regular cleaning can’t remove deep-settled gunk or odor or both. For that, you need to go for a monthly deep cleaning process. In this blog, I will share how to clean refrigerator so that your food stays in better condition. If you follow it step by step, within a few sessions of a monthly cleaning regime, you will be able to obtain a habit of attaining an ever-clean fridge. The deep cleaning process will not be a task-some process then.
Let’s see how you too can clean the refrigerator.
The preparation:
Empty the fridge:
You need to start from this step if you are wondering how to clean refrigerator. Take out all the prepared foods, the condiments, the veggies, the fish and meat (if you are cleaning the freezer compartment), and every single thing that you keep in the fridge.
Remove the shelves and the drawers:
Bring out all the removable parts, the drawers, the shelves, and anything that you may re-fix. If necessary, read the manual.
The cleaning:
Clean the shelves and drawers:
Sometimes a regular cleaning works. If your fixtures are not that gunky, alone soapy water may work well. For stubborn stains sprinkle some baking soda on a damp sponge or cloth and scrub it off. Don’t miss the last step, which is, cleaning these with fresh water. Rinse everything you applied soap or baking soda or both. And then dry it with a clean towel. The result will amaze you and leave you in awe that you were thinking too much on how to clean refrigerator. It’s not that tough at all.
Clean the interior:
Mix 2 tablespoons of baking soda in 250 ml of warm water. Soak a sponge or cloth piece (preferably a sponge) and wipe the interior walls and shelves and the interior doors. If you have sticky spills, clean them with a vinegar-water (1:1) solution.
Clean the exterior:
Add mild detergent to warm water and gently clean the surface. If your refrigerator is a stainless steel model, go for a stainless steel cleaner. Soapy water may force catching rust.
To clean the door gasket use soapy water. Reach out to the folds to dig out any debris left behind.
Clean the condenser coils:
Locate the coils first. Usually, you will get it at the back or beneath the refrigerator.
Use a vacuum cleaner with a brush attachment to remove the dust particles and debris. This will prevent your fridge from overheating.
Organize:
Fix the shelves and drawers back to their original places.
Check whether your foods are properly sealed or not, then put them back in an organized manner.
Check the temperature settings:
Check whether your fridge is showing the correct temperature or not. If not then set it manually. 370 F or 30 C for the fridge and 00 F or -180 C for the freezer is presumed as a preferable temperature setting.
Extra tips:
Clean Often: Keep a sponge to wipe the shelves and doors whenever needed. Don’t let the spills or stains settle for too long to disturb the spick-and-span look.
Deodorize: To minimize the odor, place an open box containing baking soda at a corner deep down to the fridge. You may cut a lemon into four parts and keep them in the shelves.
Cover: Place fridge mats to keep the shelves spill-free.
Conclusion:
Refrigerator cleaning may be tiring, but the result forces you to stick to the process. I hope this blog has answered all your queries about how to clean refrigerator. If you have any other query that I didn’t cover, feel free to ask me in the comment section.
Have a happy kitchen.
Read other Kitchen Hacks here.