If you read this post on our house hunting adventures, you know that the house we are renting is on the market and our lease ends in June. We thought we had everything figured out. We thought we wanted to buy a house. We thought we had a good plan. Plans are funny things, though, and it turns out our feet are feeling a bit chilly and we aren’t ready to commit to a house or neighborhood just yet.
Instead of buying, we’ll be renting again. Finding a decent rental house is tough in this market. Turns out we aren’t the only ones feeling gun shy when it comes to buying a house. We did find a good place, though, and are making the move in May. Fun, fun!
So when I got an email from a reader asking me to do a post featuring what I keep in my refrigerator, I knew it would be a perfect opportunity to clean it out and take inventory of just what’s lurking in there before we move.
I have to warn you. While I tend to keep my pantry neat and organized, my fridge is a different story. Somehow it ends up with leftovers forgotten in the back for weeks, random splatters that don’t get cleaned right away, and just plain disarray.
Please don’t judge me based on my before pictures.
BEFORE cleaning
What a mess, right? I started with the items in the side doors. I pulled everything out so I could clean the shelves and took a good look at all the random things that have no business being in my fridge. As much as I am anti-wasting food, some things just had to go. Here are the items that got the axe:
Let me tell you that most of these items were not purchased by me. When my parents and in-laws come to visit, some less-than-choice food items end up in my house. Eventually, they get tossed. Here’s a look at what I threw away and why:
Crisco: Duh. I don’t use this crap. Full of hydrogenated oils and the bad preservative TBHQ.
Hot Dog Relish: After an ingredient scan, I spotted high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS).
Pinehouse Steak Sauce: HFCS
TJ’s Free Range Chicken Broth: Oops. I didn’t use this fast enough.
Jack’s Grill Steak and Chop Sauce: HFCS
Apple Bourbon BBQ Sauce: HFCS
Worcestershire Sauce: Shame on me. This is one of the two items in this group that I actually bought. I had no idea it had HFCS in it. I’ll have to look for a more natural brand, not that I use it all that often anyway.
Cran-Apple Juice: My father-in-law’s favorite way to start the day. I’m working on converting him to a healthier option that isn’t full of sugar. (Hi, Jack :-))
Okay, now here’s a look at the condiments that got to stay.
Here’s the run down:
roasted red peppers
tahini (should always be refrigerated once opened)
4 different kinds of mustard
organic ketchup
pure maple syrup (should always be refrigerated once opened)
whole wheat flour
white wine (I buy small bottles for cooking)
rice vinegar
Meijer gold brand taco sauce
Organic Valley cultured butter
blackstrap molasses (keeps best when refrigerated after opening)
sun-dried tomatoes
minced garlic
horseradish sauce
blueberry preserves
organic raspberry preserves
homemade cranberry sauce
mellow white miso
vegetable base
capers
Trader Joe’s peanut satay sauce
organic reduced sodium tamari (I use this instead of soy sauce)
pickles
a bottle of balsamic vinegar dressing (I always keep one bottle of store bought dressing on hand)
quinoa
I have three drawers in my fridge. Here’s what I keep in each one.
The top drawer: 
This is where I keep the cheese and meat (if I happen to have meat). As you can see, there’s no meat in there right now. I’ve got:
Organic Valley grated Parmesan
Organic Valley sliced Provolone
Horizon shredded Mild Cheddar (I usually use Organic Valley and like it much better)
alouette crumbled goat cheese
a block of Parmesan
a block of Organic Valley raw mild cheddar
a block of Organic Valley raw sharp cheddar
My middle drawer is where I keep most of my produce, although it often overflows to the main shelves. Here’s what I happen to have in there today:
baby lettuce
endive
spinach
arugula
cilantro
2 heads of cabbage
carrots
green pepper
2 zucchinis
1/2 tomato
1/2 onion
1/2 lime
1/2 lemon
asparagus
Sadly, the only way to fit all this produce is to use plastic bags. I wish I had room to stack a bunch of glass containers, but it just wouldn’t work.
My bottom drawer is devoted to some grains, beans, legumes, and flours. These are all items that are kept fresh longer by being kept in the refrigerator.
After I took everything out of this drawer, it was clear that it’d been waaaaay too long since I’d cleaned it.
Yikes! Here are the items I have stuffed in the bottom drawer (many of which I forgot I had!):
garbanzo+fava bean flour
bulgur wheat
wheat germ
ground flaxseed meal
brown rice flour
spelt flour
zanthan gum
split peas
all purpose gluten-free flour
sweet white gorghum flour
long grain brown rice
pearled barley
brown jasmine rice
steel cut oats
oat flour
millet
coconut flour
dried chickpeas
Here is the refrigerator AFTER I went through everything and cleaned it:
AFTER cleaning
The other items on the main shelves and not previously mentioned:
a Britta water filter
a single Coor’s lite
So Delicious coconut milk
Almond Breeze unsweetened almond milk
Stonyfield plain organic yogurt
farm fresh eggs
an avocado
arrowroot powder
organic silken tofu
organic vegetable stock
Wild Harvest Organics raspberry applesauce
Wild Harvest Organics unsweetened applesauce
And lots o’ leftovers:
Today is eat-up-all-the-leftovers day!
Are you still with me? Here’s a quick run down of what I keep in the freezer:
green peas
shelled edamame
green beans
sweet corn
chopped spinach
frozen leftovers
whole flax seeds
white whole wheat flour
whole wheat pastry flour
a random collection of frozen leftovers
I mainly keep the flax seeds and flour in the freezer because the fridge is already stuffed with flours and such. I didn’t do an after shot of the freezer, but it wasn’t super dramatic anyway. You get the idea.
I hope more than just the one reader who requested this post will find it interesting. If nothing else, I have a thorough list of food items that I need to remember to use!
Questions: What is your food-storing profile: Do you often forget about certain items in your fridge or freezer? Or is yours super neat and organized?
Gosh…I don’t refrigerate my tahini! And for some reason I only have my flaxseed and whole wheat flours in the fridge, but not the others! I’ll have to check out my rice vinegar. Fridge looks good!
The health food store here has all their flours in a refrigerated room, so I figured I should refrigerate them all, too.
Awesome post! I love peeking in on this kind of stuff. I wish I had the will to clean my fridge lol. I have a ton of sauces with hfcs that need to go! I hate throwing food away though 🙁
So glad you posted this! I love peaking at what others love to buy. I like to think that my fridge is pretty organized….but my freezer….another story. I really need to start labeling when I purchase things because I don’t always remember how long everything has been in there. Oops!
I will take the blame for this post 🙂 But I’m so glad you did it!!! Thanks so much! I have some of those items in my pantry and I guess I need to get them into the fridge. I wasn’t sure what lasts longer where so thank you so much! 🙂 You are wonderful for doing that.
You are welcome! 🙂 I’m glad you found it helpful.
Sometimes I forget about the leftovers. But other than that, our fridge is pretty neat. I always clean up any spills when they occur, so that helps.
http://faithfulsolutions.blogspot.com/
I need to work on that. 🙂 I think I’m always in too big of a hurry.
I didn’t know about storing molasses in the fridge–so thank you! Also, I’ve always kept rice vinegar in the cupboard, but that should be refrigerated too?
The brand of rice vinegar I use says “refrigerate after opening”, so that’s why I do.
I so need to do an inventory and clean up job in several areas of my house. Spring break is coming so spring cleaning will soon be under way 🙂
I hate STARTING the chore of cleaning out the fridge…but I always LOVE the result. I love opening it up and seeing things clean and organized!
Love the look into your fridge 😀 I go through phases of keeping my fridge super organized(for a couple days at least, haha) but a lot of the time I let it go till it’s too messy and I have to go through it and clean it every once in a while. I didn’t know blackstrap molasses had to be kept in the fridge! I’m going to move mine 😀 Thanks for the tip.
Hope everything about your move goes smoothly. We bought our first house almost 3 years ago and it was terrifying! I don’t blame you at all for being nervous about it. I’m glad you’ve found a decent place to rent, that is so hard no matter where you live I think.
Nothing in my house is neat and organized, fridge included. I am going to make a list of all the veggies that I have so I end up eating them. I have a problem with my produce going to waste.
Good luck with the move prep and what seems to be a little life uncertainty (or maybe I’m just reading between the lines too much). We went through a tumultuous couple of years that involved way too many major life changes at once and lived in a couple of rental homes during that period, as we weren’t sure what we wanted to do next, nor did we know where we were supposed to be.
My fridge is usually pretty full, but I tend to rotate things through pretty quickly. My mom has many wonderful qualities, but keeping an organized fridge and pantry is not one of them. I take the opposite approach and keep mine really organized. Some bizarre form of rebellion I suppose. 🙂
Thanks, Michelle. You’re not reading between the lines too much; there’s definitely some uncertainty. We’ll figure it out though. I have the love and support of my family and friends, so I can’t really complain. 🙂
So funny that you posted this because I just cleaned out my fridge yesterday 🙂 Ugh – i wish mine was super organized. But I tend to bake a lot and so many of the goodies get stored in plastic containers. I also buy loads of produce and yogurts which take up space. And my husband always asks me why we need 15 kinds of milk 🙂 Most days, we have to take out the Brita pitcher so the milks can fit. Oops. So, my husband would LOVE our fridge to look like yours. 🙂
I love seeing what is in people’s fridge, so great post!
I wouldn’t say mine is super organized but my boyfriend and I have a very large refrigerator so no matter what it always looks so empty! I love it though because I always have extra room for stuff. I am definitely not good at keeping it clean though. I sometimes spot pieces of produce that have fallen off in the produce drawer and I always seem to ignore them…shame on me!
Good job on cleaning your fridge!
I need to make more space for my legumes and random flours in my fridge. I love the idea of grocery shopping only once a week, but for all five of us…it just never fits! I love looking into other people’s fridges! We have a lot of the same products. I did a HFCS raid in January and shocked myself what’s slipped in. 🙂
We were going to buy last fall and got cold feet as well. Turns out to have been a HUGE blessing. Good luck with the move! Hope you found some LIGHT. 🙂
I need to whip out my camera and do an inventory like you did! I haven’t in a whiiiile and i’m sure there are forgetten goods hiding! =) I recently found a product we use with HFCS and I was super bummed about it! esp b/c the husband wont let me toss it! haha whoops?
I’m renting too! and moving! haha we’re going through similar stuff though I’m begging to rent again and the husband wants to buy. I’m scared to start the house hunt! and excited =)
xoxo
Good luck with your housing adventures. It is fun to look for a new place, whether it’s buying or renting. So have fun with it! 🙂
Thank you for posting this! Iam always interested in what is behind people’s fridge doors. Now maybe I can get inspired to clean out my fridge!