Wondering whether people keep a lot of smelly, unwrapped stuff in there, cleaning schedules, etc.
Mine’s not smelly. Like others have said, I use glass containers for leftovers etc, and I also wash and store like lettuce and veggies in ziplock plastic bags. I probably deep clean mine a couple times per year… definitely spot clean if there are spills etc.
If you have any odors you could try putting a box of baking soda in your fridge to absorb them. They actually sell fridge boxes of them with side panels that are mesh and easy to use.
Not really asking because I am affected. I just used to go out with someone who had a very smelly fridge full of meats and cheeses. I wanted to know if this is something a lot of people do.
Normally, my own fridge doesn’t smell though. The last time I had any kind of smell, there were a few rotting limes somewhere in the back, and that produced a weird chemical odor which started clinging to dairy products. Finding and eradicating that took a while.
That person must’ve spilled something and not cleaned it up. Normally, as you’ve seen, if you use containers and bags to store stuff it shouldn’t be a problem.
No, they were just really big on specialty meats/cheeses in open containers, left in the fridge for weeks.
Open containers are a no-no for me.
Closed containers are easier to store, if something goes off it doesn’t affect the other stuff next to it. Imagine having mold spores going from one cheese to another to different kinds of deli meats just because you didn’t keep them in closed containers or ziploc bags.
Second. If something is naturally smelly it will usually impart smell on other things nearby.
Imagine having a really smelly cheese right next to a gouda. The gouda will take on the smelly cheese and everything in the fridge will now smell like smelly cheese.
Plastics also takes on smells really fast. So even if you remove all those cheeses and meats that smell or put them in locked containers then the fridge will still smell.
I keep tons of meat and cheese in the fridge, and the only time it smelled was when the MIL spilled milk in it and neither cleaned it up nor told someone about it so the more able bodied could take care of it.
Best tipp i ever got in this regard was putting a cup of crushed charcoal in the fridge. Absorbs odors for years.
Interesting! Never heard of that but it makes sense.
Activated charcoal or BBQ charcoal? Does either work?
BBQ
Um… if it smells, you’re doing something wrong.
Well a tornado hit our area and we’ve been without power for 3 days now. So I’m sure my fridge smells like shit.
I hope you’re safe! I guess you may have bigger issues than a smelly fridge.
It doesn’t smell because I am not a degenerate.
It gets a quick wipe down every few weeks and a deeper clean every couple of months.
Not at all. Full cleaning once a week. If you do it that often, it only takes half an hour.
Also, keep everything wrapped and don’t let leftovers and condiments accumulate.
But what if I NEED yellow mustard, brown mustard, English mustard, honey mustard, and dijon?
Those are fine. I mean the short-term stuff, like the sauces that come with takeout, or garnishes you made for a specific dish and you finished the dish but there’s still more of the garnish.
Personally I use those to test for the presence of mold. Great success so far!
But yeah, I get what you mean. I’ve had to be the Bad Guy who throws out the 14,000+ cups of tartar sauce and soy sauce that take up as much space as the rest of the takeout that has long since been eaten.
Good point about condiments, those really tend to accumulate in fridges for years. Sometimes I just don’t shop for a few weeks and try to use up all the food at home.
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With us, anything that is/would be smelly goes in some kind of container.
Cleaning - I would say once every 3-4 months or so in normal circumstances. Quite possibly longer.
glances uneasily at his fridge
It’s ok, you can just eat the vegetables if you want
Not once you open my fridge.
We don’t clean ours as often as we probably should, but our fridge is also weird to begin with. It has this fun habit where it gets so cold that the top shelf will literally form ice, and that’s if we have it on the medium setting. On the high setting, it turns into a vertical freezer lol.
It looks sick in the dark sometimes, because you can literally see the cold air coming out.
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That sounds like a very interesting fridge to say the least.
The only things that are unwrapped are vegetables. I have not noticed any smelling.
Cleaning… When it’s time to move! Really, it can be like that, if you spot clean along the way.
Not really. I clean it if/when necessary. We have some plastic containers and more recently the glass and stainless steel ones from IKEA. And no one here eats smelly cheese or something like that.
Really bad because I don’t clean it and there’s off food in there.
I keep everything in containers, even for vegetables. Smelly stuff would go into glass containers. I clean a small section every two weeks (wipe around, wash trays) since the fridge will never be empty. What is smell?
It smells a bit like rubber, but all fridges smell like that.
