Between summer BBQs, holidays abroad and kids coming and going for more post-play snacks, your fridge can become a bit of a mess by the time autumn rolls around.
With kids heading back to school and school lunches to be prepped again, now is the perfect time to give your fridge a declutter and a deep clean.
Irish Examiner columnist, Caitrionna Redmond, joined Brendan O'Connor on RTÉ Radio 1 to share her tips on fridge hygiene, avoiding waste and preserving food.
Keeping your fridge organised is about more than just aesthetics - it's an important part of maintaining food safety.
"The alerts that have come from the Food Safety Authority over the last couple of weeks really makes us think about how we're storing our food and how we're cooking our food to make sure that we're all protected and nobody gets sick", Redmond said.
Storing your food properly helps it last for longer, she adds, saving money in the long term.
So where should everything go?
First of all, fresh meat is stored on the bottom shelf, Redmond said, "preferrably on a plate" to catch any stray drips. She recommended putting meat in supermarket cartons on a plate too for extra protection against cross contamination.
Dairy and cheese should be at the top, while fruit and veg is in put in the crisper drawer.
And if you've wondered why fridges have these drawers, Redmond explained that they are double insulated to prevent temperature fluctuations, leaving your fresh produce nice and crisp.
If dairy is at the top, Brendan asked, where does the milk go?
Unlike most of us, Redmond doesn't suggest putting your milk in the fridge door.
"Think about it now, because you're going to be opening the door and closing the door and if you have teenagers they'll be opening and closing it 20 times an hour telling you there's nothing in the house to eat! That's the area that's most sensitive to temperature fluctuations."
When it comes to sharing a fridge with others in a house, whether it's your family home or a rented house share, Redmond has some rules she recommends following.
"You definitely need boundaries", she said. "One of my top tips is to have a permanent marker and then label up your own stuff, bag clips to clip off items that you don't want people rummaging in".
Putting empty milk cartons back in the fridge is a major no-no for Redmond, as well as packaging in the fridge: cluttering up the space with cardboard yogurt packaging and whatnot can disguise when your fridge is in need of a top up - or a deep clean.
Speaking of a deep clean, Redmond herself cleans the fridge once a week before she does the weekly shop. "It's a great way of checking what you've got in the fridge, you pull it all out, you clean it and then you put it all back in so then you've really framed in your head what you've got before you go to the supermarket", she said.
For more tips, listen back to the interview above.
