leek wrote:I am also convinced, though I have no evidence, that the toxic stuff it can sometimes get in it grows more slowly in the fridge.

Tell that to Chuck Missler.

Wall Street Journal: Most Americans Tidy Their Refrigerators Only Once or Twice a Year

I clean the produce and meat bins regularly, everything else in the refrigerator is dealt with on an as-need basis. Emptying and reloading a refrigerator is a lot of work for only an occasional deep clean.

Regards,

I keep my dark spices in the fridge: chili powder, cloves, allspice and a couple of others.

Hi,

Recently I read a comment that hit home: "Is your refrigerator full of food or condiments?"

Outside of the fruit, vegetable and meat bins, my refrigerator is overpopulated with condiments. Top shelf on the door has maybe 15 different BBQ sauces. I don't use much BBQ sauce. These were largely sampled, rejected and left there to cool their heels.

I made sloppy joes last week using Speed Queen BBQ sauce, which was so hot I diluted it with ketchup and Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce. I didn't finish any container, though I made some headway.

This evening I made a tuna salad that allowed me to finish a jar of capers and olives. I minced some dried tomatoes in olive oil. I discovered I had a Costco-sized jar with very little at the bottom and a smaller jar that was almost empty. I combined them into the smaller jar and netted a few inches of space.

Last night, I found an inherited jar of aioli, which I used for potato salad and tossed the jar.

I do have a jar of pollen, a gift from a friend who moved or she didn't know what to do with it, either.

I cannot be the only one out there with this problem. Confess!

Regards,

Yes Cathy I am guilty. I have a collection of mustards, olives, salad dressings, bbq sauce, and other what nots. Jams too. Indian pickle and hot peppers and gardinara for those in the family that like it hot. Light and regular mayo. Every once and a while I do a sweep and get rid of things. I will toss out some more things tomorrow. Like you I tend to clean the fridge in parts as cleaning the whole thing at once is overwhelming. I keep catsup in the fridge and whole wheat flour in a container in the freezer so it does not get rancid. I do not buy large bottles of olive oil so that is not in the fridge and neither do I keep soy sauce in there. I also keep brown rice in the fridge because whole grains tend to get rancid if you do not use them quickly. I have put plastic boxes in my fridge and turntables to make it easier to get at things.

lulutattoo wrote:Actually, I've been wondering about the egg-refrigeration issue myself a lot recently.
Why is it that you can keep eggs at room temp in Europe, but not in America?
Is it that they are fresher (but eventually you'd have to refrigerate)?
Or is it because they are somehow treated (irradiation?).
If I don't need to keep American eggs in the fridge, I would start keeping them in the pantry. In my opinion, the only way to keep fried eggs from sticking to the pan is to have them at room temp, and not having to warm the eggs up to room temp before cooking would allow me to eat my breakfast that much sooner!

I am only 5 years late to this conversation - oh well. I spent a year on a boat without refrigeration. We coated our very fresh eggs in vasoline so that they didn't dry out, but those eggs were fine 6 months later.

Cathy--you are psychic--i just had a conversation with SO tonight to inform him that I'm buying a small refrigerator to stash all of my condiments and jars and pickled things--his response--you mean the stuff that takes up our whole fridge that ISN'T FOOD. Nice!

Apparently I am also 5 years late to this conversation.
I brought some coworkers pie yesterday and they asked if they should refrigerate them. I honestly didn't know. One of the pies was Cathy2's Concord Grape, which is cooked grapes, cornstarch, sugar and lemon juice. I figured those things are not perishable, so that one could be left out, just like any plain apple or cherry pie. (My portion of the pie, approximately 2/3, remains in the fridge so it doesn't go bad before I can finish it all). The other pie I made was a fudge tart (that I believe I overbaked, making it more like a brownie in a crust) was loaded with eggs and butter. It was baked for 40 minutes (another 20 for the blind-baking of the crust), so it should have been left out...but what if it was the more custardy texture that it should have been? Pudding pies, with filling made on the stove and cooked to a boil, need to be refrigerated. What is the rule for refrigerating baked goods? I'd also like to hear people's takes on cakes with buttercream/cream cheese frostings, pastries with cream fillings, etc.

Thanks!!

If a pie was going to last overnight, we would always put it covered with saran wrap and then in the refrigerator. We would then get up the next morning and have cold apple pie for breakfast. Delicious.