As a Nigerian, your fridge/freezer is one of the most important kitchen appliances you can have. It provides you with cold water for the constantly hot weather and stores everything edible from the half bottle of zobo you’ve had for months to the loaded pack of Jollof that Eden Life just delivered to your doorstep. A clean fridge is highly essential to your well-being.
It should be cleaned more thoroughly and probably more often than you already do. Unlike visible appliances like cookers and grills, fridges do not show dirt immediately. Except in the case of an obvious spill, it has to accumulate before it becomes noticeable.
Read: DIY Home Cleaning – How To Clean Your Microwave
How Often Should I Clean My Fridge?
There’s a standard cleaning schedule you can follow to make sure your fridge is always clean and smells great at all times.
Immediately
There are certain scenarios that demand that you clean your fridge immediately after they happen. They include:
When Food Gets Spoilt
There are a couple of reasons that can make food get spoilt in your fridge. From long hours of power blackout to the general shelf life of the food items. For example, fruits and vegetables will get spoiled easily and faster than a pot of stew.
Open items like fruits and vegetables develop moulds when they spoil and since they’re in direct contact with the fridge floor, these moulds also touch the surfaces. Once you dispose of the spoilt food, you should clean the area with hot, soapy water to stop the spread of bacteria and germs.
Spills and Leakages
The food stored in the fridge can spill or leak if not properly stored. Liquids stored kept in glass containers such as bottles can also freeze and burst, spilling their content all over the fridge. If not attended to immediately, these leaks can cause your fridge to develop terrible odours, and promote the spread of germs. You should clean all affected areas during a spillage and if possible, the entire fridge.
Prolonged Blackout
When your fridge has been devoid of power for a while, it develops a funny smell. You should watch out for this. When it happens, you should empty the fridge and air it out by leaving it open for an extended period of time (an entire day or two). Once the electricity returns, you can clean the fridge with liquid soap to get rid of the scent or stash baking soda in a corner to absorb the unwanted odour.
Once A Week
You should run a routine check on your fridge once a week. Check for foods that are on the verge of rotting and are almost expired. Take them out and consume or discard them before they start smelling and contaminate the entire fridge.
For your weekly cleanse, you should also make it a habit to rinse and wipe glass items like jam jars, drink bottles, ketchup bottles, and any other item that can get grimy on the outside. This keeps your fridge fresh and clean. It also prevents you and your guests from any irritation when they’re to get something from the fridge.
Every 2 Months
Most of your fridge cleaning is done to combat odour and foul smells. You can introduce a box of baking soda or a bulb of onion into your fridge every two months. This helps to absorb unwanted smells and leave your fridge smelling great. Keep the items in an unseen corner of the fridge and do well to change them every two months because they lose potency after a while. With this, you don’t need to deep clean the fridge as frequently.
Every 3-4 months
This is when you need to deep clean your fridge. You can make it more frequent depending on your preference, but for the average person, it usually happens four times a year.
Steps To Deep Clean Your Fridge
- Turn the fridge off and let it cool down a bit.
- Empty it of all its contents and discard anything that you don’t want to return.
- Take out the attachments; drawers and side bowls.
- Wipe down the shelves and interior walls with a sponge dipped in warm soapy water or a mixture of soap and vinegar.
- Wash the drawers in the sink or a large bucket with warm water and dish soap.
- Wipe everything down with a clean, damp rag to remove residual soap suds.
- Dry all the surfaces with a clean cloth and refill the fridge.
- Add a box of baking soda to one of the shelves to keep the horrible smells away.
- Close the door, and wipe down the outside of the refrigerator with a soapy cloth.
N.B: If you store a lot of fresh foods like milk, meat and fruits in your fridge, then you definitely need to clean it more than four times a year.
Every 6 Months
Twice a year, you need to clean out the back of your fridge. Use a brush or vacuum cleaner to rid the back of dust, from the grille to where the fan and condenser are present at the bottom. This improves airflow to the condenser and boosts the fridge’s capability by up to 5%. If the fan of your refrigerator is in an encasement, do not attempt to open it, either get a professional to help or just leave it as is.
Read: Cleaning Your Home – 5 Surprising Health Benefits
Your fridge deserves to be cleaned and constantly taken care of. With an Eden Life cleaning plan, you get all of this and more. Our expert housekeepers are trained in the art of cleaning and can get any space from dirty to clean in no time.
You can easily schedule a cleaning service whenever you want and get a housekeeper to come to your house/office on a frequent basis. Try out an Eden Life cleaning plan today.