M. Suzanne Terry

Ominous-looking, isn’t it? Don’t be scared – show it who’s boss!

Before you can plan, before you can shop, before you can cook – you must take inventory. In the next few days, we will look at your pantry, make lists of all the things you could make without going to the store, and then make your first grocery list based on the things that you just need one or two ingredients to make something awesome (because you can’t wait to eat until the end of this month).

 Today, we are going to talk about the refrigerator.

 My fridge is my least favorite place to clean. No matter how many times I got advice from Mom or how many books/articles I read on the subject, the fridge is the one place that always seemed to get away from me. I’d do pretty well for a while, but soon I had more leftovers and weird odds and ends than I knew what to do with. So I used to do nothing (because I’m very mature and not at all avoidant of unpleasant tasks) and that’s how I ended up with forgotten, unrecognizable goop in a jar in the back of the fridge more often that I’d like to admit.

 Nothing worked until I took inventory and decided – once and for all – what belongs in my fridge and what does not.

 Step one is knowing what is there, right at this moment. You can write everything down if seeing it in list form helps you. For this stage, I prefer taking pictures, because I’m better at organization when I can see it spatially laid out.

 Step two is deciding what goes where. For this step, I did make a list of fridge rules. Until I consistently followed the rules, I put them on the front of my fridge as a reminder. Your rules may not be the same as mine, but here are mine as an example:

 – No half jars of obscure ingredients that you only used once for that one recipe that you didn’t really like and have no plan or desire to use again. I’m looking at you, capers.

– Stay aware of expiration dates. Expired items are a telltale sign that I kept something I never meant to use. There are many helpful lists online, such as this one, that will help you keep track of how long different foods keep in the fridge.

– No items whose size extends beyond the use I intended for them. Did I like that specialty marinade? Sure. Did I like it enough to justify buying the economy size bottle? No. Can I really use two dozen eggs in a week? Probably not, so that coupon that only works if you buy two doesn’t actually work for me. It’s not a bargain if half of it goes to waste.

– Limit space available for drinks (e.g., coconut milk, juice, white wine, etc.) to avoid having a shelf of half-empty cartons and bottles that will go bad before you use them.

If you live alone, this will be easier than if you live with others, particularly if they have varying orange juice pulp needs. In this case, I recommend having a family meeting where each family member gets their own space. That way, everyone gets to be picky about one thing. The rest of the allotted space is for things you share. For this space, everyone gets a say, but not everyone gets their way.

– Fight the urge to buy good-intentions ingredients. This is anything you have no actual plan to eat in the future or anything that requires more effort to prepare than you know you’re willing to spend on it.

 You’ll notice that I only have five rules. I recommend a short list, simply because you are more likely to keep the rules if they are small in number. If I stick to these five guidelines, I keep a much cleaner fridge, which leads to greater meal planning ease.

 We would be remiss if we didn’t also talk about what the rules for the freezer are. Your rules, like mine, might be an extension of the fridge rules. The main difference is that my freezer rules are a bit more relaxed because things last longer (but not forever) in the freezer. The freezer gives me an idea of what next month’s meals could be.

 So today, take your inventory and make your list of rules. Tomorrow, we tackle the pantry!

I’m sharing my Epic Meal Planning strategies for Write 31 Days – click to see the master list.