Do you have routines you go through in your home before leaving town? One of the things we do before heading out for longer than a weekend is emptying our refrigerator.  Throughout the week leading up to our travels, we work to use what we have, and clear out the shelves as much as possible.

While the refrigerator will not be completely empty, it’s pretty darn close.  Anything left is most definitely not perishable.  Of course we don’t follow the same regiment for our freezer, you’ll see later in the post that we are intentional with what we store in that space. Wondering why we go through all this trouble?

Why We Empty our Refrigerator Before Travel

• The goal of having an empty refrigerator motivates us to use what we already have! We end up spending less on food before the trip, and thanks to our resourcefulness, we free up extra money to spend during our travels.
• No spoiled (or wasted) food! Who wants to return to a fridge full of moldy cheese, wilted vegetables, and rotten eggs? Not us! Also in the event of a power outage while we are gone, we are not coming home to a load of useless goods.
• Clearing out the shelves of our refrigerator gives us to chance to wash them down.  It’s such a chore to take out all the contents of a full refrigerator, just to get them disinfected.  When there’s barely anything in the way, it’s a quick and easy task.
• Fresh start! Yes, we do have to buy groceries when we return from our vacation, but it feels a lot better to start from scratch with new inventory.

Notes on our Empty Refrigerator

• An empty fridge does not mean an empty freezer.  We still keep our staples (bread, meat, frozen fruit and vegetables, ice cream), and a few convenience meals.  Those convenience meals (frozen pizza, lasagna, chicken nuggets, etc.) help get us through if we aren’t able to get to the grocery store right away.
• Items that don’t spoil after just a week or so can stay! You’ll see in the photos that we still have our condiments, peanut butter, unopened drinks, sealed/packaged cheese, and other items that won’t expire.  Tip: If you want to save an onion, store in an onion keeper.  It will stay fresher longer, and trap those onion odors so they won’t travel throughout your refrigerator.  We also have one for our peppers! 

Do you empty our refrigerator before vacation? In addition to clearing out the fridge, we have 9 other items on our pre-vacation check-list.

You might also be interested in your Pest Proof Pre-Vacation Checklist.  

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