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Does anybody really know what every area of your refrigerator is for? I didn’t for a long time. I would just cram as many things into it as I possibly could. No organization. No rhyme or reason. I just figured, “These things need to be cold so I’ll put them in the refrigerator” and that was that. I had sliced cheese towering over bags of romaine lettuce next to piles of deli meat and boxes of cake. I had Tupperware full of leftovers all of the place – those really created the building blocks of my masterpiece since they did, in their own way, create new shelves with their flat, durable surfaces. But then I’d pull food out and it would have gotten soggy, or mushy. Some of it had somehow frozen. Some really smelled too much like the other food, and that turned me off to it. Refrigerators today aren’t like the “ice boxes” our grandparents used decades ago. Those really were just open-format cold boxes to put things in, any way you wanted. But today, refrigerators have smart designs and various climates and environments within them, specifically made for different types of items. I know it can be a pain to learn how one more appliance in your kitchen works, but doing so now can save you the heartache of throwing away food that turned bad in the fridge for an unexplained reason. And it will help you have a much better-organized refrigerator. Here are ways you’re probably using your fridge incorrectly.
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Not refrigerating these oils
While some oils are very shelf-stable like coconut oil, olive oil, and canola oil, each of which do fine in a dark cabinet, some other oils should be refrigerated after opening in order to extend their shelf life. Safflower, sunflower, avocado, and grapeseed oil all turn rancid quickly if exposed to heat or light. Even though they get a bit dense when refrigerated, you’ll actually find they liquefy within 20 minutes or so of coming back out.
