Nothing is worse than opening the refrigerator and having your appetite knocked out of you by an awful stench. Tons of people view refrigerator and freezer odor as just a fact of life. “If I keep food in there, it’ll eventually start smelling bad.” Thanks the general consensus. But this isn’t true, and Guinco is here to offer up some home remedies for an awful smelling refrigerator.
Clean out the refrigerator. Hit the reset button.
The first step to any reasonable odor removal is to completely empty out your refrigerator. It seems like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised at how often people try to just clean around their food, and stuff an air freshener in there. Just put all of your perishables in a cooler with ice, then really scrub the refrigerator until it’s spotless. Old food spills & stains are a very common source of refrigerator odor.
When you clean, use natural cleaners.
It’s fairly frowned-upon to use chemicals around foodstuffs, and even though you’ve removed all the food, some chemicals will always linger if that’s the route you head down. Using baking soda or vinegar with water is a great natural solution you can use to clean out the fridge. While not as bad as old-food refrigerator odor, it can still be pretty shocking to open the door and be hit by an odor of bleach where food smells should be.
Be mindful of what containers you’re using.
As you’re returning your food to the newly cleaned refrigerator, making sure that any leftovers or exposed raw food are being kept in sealed containers. It’ll keep the food fresh for a much longer time, and prevent spoiling. Even if the food isn’t spoiled, using an unsealed container will result in flavor mixing, which usually doesn’t yield very appetizing results.
Consciously place food in the refrigerator.
Let’s be honest with each other, most of the time when food spoils, it’s because it was forgotten about. This can be wholly avoided by making sure all of your fresh produce and perishables are the most visible food items in your refrigerator. Even if you have to deal with the inconvenience of moving more things than normal to reach something less perishable, it’ll pay off. You’ll waste less money on food that gets forgotten about, and you’ll enjoy a great smelling refrigerator with great tasting food.
Make sure you’ve always got refrigerator odor removers present.
There are plenty of natural, home remedies to create effective odor absorbers for your fridge. The most well known, of course, being a simple open box of baking soda. Most of us grew up with a parent who always kept an open box of Arm & Hammer in the refrigerator door. Well, that’s because it works. There are other options as well, for instance a small bowl of coffee beans can do the trick. The coffee smell doesn’t last very long, and it’ll eliminate any other unwanted smells. This is why you see the small bowls of coffee beans in the cologne section of your favorite store. White vinegar is also an option, but personally we don’t think it smells as good as the coffee beans.
We sincerely hope this helped with any nasty refrigerator odor you may be experiencing! For any other refrigerator needs, feel free to contact us at Guinco Service by calling 844.3.GUINCO, or finding us online at Guinco.com. As always, thank you for letting our family help yours!
