Ew, I found fuzz in my fridge again.

Let’s deal with this situation once and for all.

The flip side about getting started with your meal prep journey is that you can over meal prep. This means you buy too much fruit and prepare way more meals than you can possibly consume in a week, stuff all of into corners of your fridge and promptly forget about it.

The following weekend, you buy more ingredients and prepare more food without checking what’s already in your fridge because you’re sure you remember what you have.

It’s only a few weeks later when you decide to finally get to the bottom of that weird smell in your fridge that you find fuzzy fruits in one corner, one tiny shrivelled up carrot and mouldy cabbage at the bottom of the vegetable basket, and the last of the chicken curry you meant to carry to work for lunch that now has a suspicious-looking translucent film on the top.

Ew, I know.

I’ve been meal prepping for about five years now and have dealt with fridge fuzz plenty of times. But food waste guilt is real—especially when I’m the one putting in all that money and effort to shop and cook wholesome meals for myself. So in an attempt to bring my food waste habits to a minimum, I tried out a few things.

Let’s talk about the one that made all the difference: Making a list

Not just making a list, making a list and propping it right onto the fridge.

You might wonder how that makes a difference. After all, you can make a list in your journal or on your favourite to-do app, no? You could. But I found that having the list right on the fridge made sure I actually looked at it while I was in the kitchen and ready to cook or looking for a snack.

It gave me an overview of exactly what was in the fridge without having to open it and dig into the corners to check if I had any leftovers I could just reheat for dinner.

Because the truth is, no matter how confident I am that I will remember I put half a cut apple in the yellow Tupperware box, when I’m starving and looking for a snack, I will not remember. I will grab a new apple and cut it in half and promptly put the new half in the green Tupperware box. Sigh.

Now that I’ve (hopefully) convinced you to make a list and prop it on your fridge, let’s see what all you could put on the list.

If you take a look at my list above, you’ll see that I’ve split my board into two: Meal Prep and Leftovers. I begin my list every weekend when I meal prep and make note of all the things I’ve done like: cook a few dishes, soak some lentils, wash and cut my fruits, make the atta for rotis/parathas.

Then as I consume this prepped food through the week, I’ll either tick them off the list or move them to the Leftovers column if I have any remaining. This way, the next time I’m in the kitchen about to cook, I know I have something ready and I will make sure to use it up.

I noticed a dramatic change in the amount of spoiled food I was throwing away once I started using this list effectively. If you don’t meal prep, you could still use this list to keep track of your leftovers, the veggies/fruits you have, or even as a reminder for what you need to buy at your next grocery run.

If you’d like to check out this magnetic white board for your fridge, tap the button below.

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Here’s a bonus recipe for a DIY fridge-cleaning solution that will leave your fridge smelling oh-so-amazing.

The next time you’re cleaning you’re fridge, (ideally do this at least once a month), mix together:

• 1 cup water

• 1/2 cup vinegar

• 2 drops of Vanilla extract

Make this solution in a spray bottle to spray down your shelves and wipe it off. The mild vanilla scent will make you smile every time you open your fridge, at least for a few days.

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