One thing no one prepares you for in college is the dreaded mini fridge. Mini fridges are the only place to store your non-dining-hall-or-swipe-food, or what I like to call, “real food.” Mini fridges can be pretty helpful as long as you can figure out the tetras matrix of where to fit all of your things and actually get the door to shut. Since nobody really prepares you for being the owner of a mini fridge, I thought I would share my wisdom of storing my food in a mini fridge for the past two years. Here are my tips and tricks to utilize your mini fridge to the best of its ability!
1. Utilize Your Crisper
Some mini fridges come with a fruit crisper, AKA the drawers that everyone puts their fruits and veggies in. If you did not know, crispers can help to preserve the life of fruits and veggies and keep them fresher longer. If your mini fridge does not have a crisper, you can buy one to put into your mini fridge. If you plan on storing lots of fruits and veggies, then this may be a smart investment to keep your produce from going bad. I recommend storing lots of fruits and veggies in your mini fridge and storing them in a crisper to preserve their lifespan.
2. Leftovers Are a No-Go
Bulky take-out boxes tend to cramp up a mini fridge’s valuable space. Try not to keep take-out boxes in your fridge, or try to eat your leftovers as quickly as possible to open up space for other valuable goods. If you tend to like to bring home take-out boxes, try storing the leftovers in food storage boxes to save space.
3. Keep All of Your Food in One Place
I like to keep a basket on top of my mini fridge to keep all of my food in one place. Keeping your dry food on top of your mini fridge is a great way to store all of your food. Not to mention, it also cracks down on crumbs.
4. Clean! Clean! Clean!
Remembering to throw away your leftover food can sometimes be a struggle. Try to clean out your mini fridge every month or whenever you are going to be gone for a prolonged period of time – like over winter and spring break. Take a trash bag and throw out all the food that has gone bad or is going to go bad in the time you will be gone. If your shelves are not permanent, take them out and clean them to get rid of any spills or dust that may be on them.
5. Stock Smartly
Try to stock your mini fridge with items that go together instead of random items. Bagels and cream cheese are a great option for a quick meal. I like to always keep my fridge stocked with fresh fruit and veggies. For fruit, I like to keep yogurt to mix together and for veggies humus. Mixing and matching foods is a great way to make sure you actually are eating the food you buy.
If you are looking into what to keep in your mini fridge, I hope these tips and tricks helped you in saving as much valuable space as possible.