The ten-minute Friday reset
Before the weekly shop, not after, do this: take everything off one shelf at a time, wipe with hot soapy water, and sort into three piles — keep, use now, bin. Move the use-now pile to the eat-me-first zone and write a two-word dinner plan on a scrap of paper. Half a cabbage and some eggs is a meal. Tired cheese and a lonely onion is a tart.
Date your leftovers with a strip of masking tape and a marker kept in a kitchen drawer. It sounds fussy for about a week, and then it becomes the thing that stops the Tupperware standoff entirely.
How often should I actually clean inside the fridge?
A quick wipe of the shelf you are already emptying, once a week, keeps you from ever needing a big clean. Twice a year, pull everything out, remove the shelves and drawers, wash them in warm soapy water, dry them properly and check the door seal for crumbs and stickiness — a dirty seal lets warm air creep in, which makes the whole appliance work harder.
What should I do with leftovers nobody wants to eat?
Give them a second identity rather than reheating them in their original form. Yesterday's roast vegetables become a frittata filling or a blitzed soup; cooked rice becomes fried rice with an egg on top; stray cheese ends go into a toastie. If you genuinely won't get to it within a couple of days, freeze it flat in a labelled bag — flat freezes faster, stacks better and defrosts in minutes.
