How To Clean A Refrigerator

Everybody who eats has to clean a refrigerator at some time or another. No matter how careful we are about wrapping food and using plastic containers to store individual food items, little bits of stuff will escape or get spilled. These will turn mouldy if left and make the fridge and unhealthy place to store food. To prevent this happening, you will need to clean the fridge out on a regular basis or as part of your weekly house cleaning.

First of all, it's best to unplug the refrigerator. You will need to keep the door open for quite a long time, and if the fridge is left working, then you will consume huge amounts of power as it tries to keep itself at the right temperature. You will also need to remove all the food from out of the refrigerator so you can attack all the surfaces easily. While you won't have to do this every time you clean the fridge, the racks or trays inside the fridge will need to be taken out for cleaning.

What is best to use for cleaning inside a fridge? Some people like using proprietary spray-and-wipe products with a high level of disinfectant or anti-bacterial chemicals. This writer's preference is not for one of these cleaners, as I find that the vapours given off by these products are very strong smelling. A refrigerator is not ventilated, and you will breathe in a lot of these vapours. What is more, the vapours will remain once you have finished, and may possibly taint your food. Dilute chlorine bleach is slightly better - the gas residue left behind does not put quite such a strong smell into the fridge. When dilute, the smells and gases given off are not much worse than anything that you'd experience at the local swimming pool.

Better still, though, is good old fashioned baking soda or, if mould is an issue, white vinegar. These are non-toxic - you probably eat these every day in some form or other - kill mould and bacteria, and don't scratch the surfaces inside the fridge. These products are best used separately, as they react when mixed. You can use one after the other - the resulting fizz is safe and amusing. Baking soda should be made into a paste by adding a little water. Use a cloth to spread it over the area you are working on.

Start from the top of the inside and work downwards. This way any drips or spills fall onto dirty areas rather than one you've already cleaned. Start with the main part of the inside and work to the bottom, rubbing over the surface with a soft cloth. You will need to rinse the cloth periodically, so have a bowl of warm water handy for this. If you come across any stubborn bits of grime, use a soft bristle brush to gently scrub it off - an old toothbrush is ideal. After you have finished the main compartment, repeat for the inside of the door. If you have a butter warming compartment, do this separately with a new cloth, hot water and detergent, as this area can get very greasy.

Give the inside and the door a final rinse-off with clean water (or, better still, vinegar), then dry thoroughly. Leave the fridge door open and deal with the trays. These are best washed in the sink in the same way as your dishes, although a vegetable drawer/compartment may need to be washed in the bath or outside. Rinse and dry thoroughly, then replace in the fridge. This is a good time to play around with different heights and positions of the trays, if you like.

Then you need to put the food back in again. Use common sense here - if something is obviously past its use-by date or has been sitting around for weeks and doesn't look likely to be touched, then throw it into the compost (or rubbish, if you must).

Lastly, clean the outside of the fridge. Start from the top and work down. Most of the grime on the outside of the fridge is greasy (apart from the top, which gets dusty), so a grease-busting product works best here. However, plain soap and water, or baking soda works perfectly well. Baking soda is the better of the two, as it does not leave a streaky residue like soap does. If your fridge door is used as a message centre, this is a good moment to make sure that all messages are up-to-date and this area is not cluttered by old notes. Finish by drying the outside off thoroughly.