On Saturday evening we were down to one avocado, half a pack of bacon and three boiled eggs.
Photo evidence of the empty state of our refrigerator is above.
Dinner, a curry I had made and frozen two weeks prior, was warming on the stove. The grocery delivery was expected at any moment.
I felt victorious at the lack of fresh food in our home. An empty fridge is a win for my house.
Bare shelves mean that I have planned meals well, have had little to no food waste and that, should I be inclined, I can easily and quickly clean our refrigerator.
That last one was previously a terrible task in my books. Empty everything out? Half full carton of milk, leftovers, crusty curry sauce bottles and past due grapes on the counter. Gah. Too much time and inconvenience. And scary if you’re one to let things linger beyond their expiry date.
But since I’ve worked on simplifying, and owning less, I have realized how helpful meal planning is. And I’ve fine tuned my grocery shopping so we use all of our perishables up by the time our weekly grocery delivery arrives (exceptions: longer life perishables like butter and condiments).
This small effort means less stress at meal times and less waste. Win, win, win.
Now, I am feeling a bit guilty extolling the virtues of the empty fridge when it is a terrible reality for a lot of people.
So, for every comment on this post I will donate $1 to Feeding America up to a maximum donation of $500. Sending some love to my American readers on this one.
Did I mention we put money aside for giving every month? Part of our budget. Yes, we are great people to hit up if you are in a charity walk-athon.
So tell me, and help us put up to 4000 meals on the table for those that are hungry, do you let your refrigerator go to empty? Why or why not?
Our fridge was only empty the day we bought it! My new mission is to clean it out and clean it up! Thanks for the inspiration…
I am trying to be better organized but I am an epic fail at a clean fridge. I never know what others in the house will want to take for lunch at work or school and I like the flexibility of changing my mind last minute. Good luck on the feeding America goal.
Our fridge stays so full, and we do throw away some, but we are trying harder to use up what we have before buying more. It’s just the 2 of us now, so we are trying to be more aware of what we have before buying more.
I love this idea and have been thinking lately about all the condiment jars that we seem to buy and they end up lingering way in the back of the fridge forgotten. Not only those items, but also food does get forgotten, I’m ashamed to say. So, I will take this post to heart and tell the hubby it’s time to pare down. Thank you for putting it so simply into terms that make so much sense (and cents!).
I love an empty fridge but because I prefer to shop in bulk I tend to only see empty crisper bins at the end of the week! I ABSOLUTELY hate throwing out food that has gone bad so I try really hard to shop my fridge while meal planning (when I remember to do that 🙂 )
Our fridge gets empty, but only because we run out of food, so the money to Feeding America will actually benefit my family somewhere along the way! Thank you so much for what you are doing! And when we have extra we always donate it back to our local food bank.
Thanks so much for your post. I wish my fridge could get as empty as yours 🙂 Laura from I’m an Organizing Junkie mentioned your post in her weekly menu plan. I am happy to help you get to your 500 comments donation!
I just wanted say that you are an inspiration. I have been trying to do more meal planning and I love they way it makes my week run smoothly. I also think it is great you are donating to feeding America
I love emptying out the fridge too. When I was growing up, I always thought it was so weird that my mom would get so excited whenever we got down to an almost empty fridge. Now I’m the same. I love to know exactly what’s in the fridge, use up leftovers before they go bad, and plan meals around what I already have in my kitchen.
My husband and I have gotten so much better about this since we no longer live with his cousin. His cousin was an awesome cook and we were always appreciative when he cooked extra for us, but he also tended to overbuy vegetables and we would often find bags full of rotting mush in the crisper. Ick! We’re far from perfect and still occasionally let half a cucumber or a Tupperware of leftovers go bad, but we waste so much less than we used to. We’ve also been trying to do our shopping once a week, and I often find that our fridge is pretty easy to clean out before the next Sunday shopping trip. It definitely helps to make sure everything is visible, and we avoid pushing things to the back because that stuff always gets forgotten!
As a native Floridian and soon-to-be South Carolinian, I love that you are donating to Feeding America! Thanks for another great post!
I don’t think my fridge will ever be THAT empty.
This is awesome! I’ll be mentioning it on Menu Plan Monday tomorrow. Thanks!!
Awesome! Tomorrow we’ll be cleaning out our fridge. I made a point this past week to get rid of a good amount and things that were soon to expire. The kiddos love helping with scrubbing the shelves. :0)
Love the fridge! We have so much we don’t use. On drinks, do you drink just tap water? No milk or juice? We usually have at least OJ, Milk, Half-n-Half, Some Light Juice/Water drink, maybe Sparkling Water also.
We just drink tap water. The beverages we regularly keep in the fridge are coconut milk and cow’s milk. My husband and I have kicked our Diet Coke addiction in the last year or two. Saves a lot of money, fridge space and recycling!
I am admittedly awful at meal planning, but figure that practice is the best way to get better, so I keep at it. I never thought of an empty fridge in this light before, and it’s definitely an eye-opening take on things. Thank you!
Since going on maternity leave early in my pregnancy due to illness, I have had time on my back (to read up on minimalism) and on my hands to get stuck into decluttering our house as being surrounded by clutter was doing my head in.
I am currently working through the stockpile of non-perishables in the pantry and using meal plans alongside meat and fresh produce purchased in small quantities weekly to enable me to do this, as well as baking once a week to use up flour, sugar etc that has been there a while.
The goal is definitely to free up space and reduce the amount of food that we have in the house at any one time – especially since it is currently only my husband and I – as well as broadening my meal repertoire. I am a way off achieving this but have made strides by ensuring that everything that now goes into the shopping basket has a purpose and will not languish in the fridge or cupboards to get chucked out when they go rotten or expire. Also, nothing is thrown out simply because I don’t know what to do with it: there are recipes out there just waiting to be found!
I would also like to add that I currently have no aspirations to live with 100 items – instead my goal is to buy quality and not quantity , and feel good about giving away what is no longer required. It is a long road – considering that I am definitely a consumer and spender – but having the time to stop and reflect on my behaviour has opened my eyes to the fact that having more means more money spent (not saved) , more space taken up and more time spent maintaining stuff: keep up the good work advocating a minimalist lifestyle – there are more of us out there that need to be educated.
Great idea
Great post, and thanks for supporting Feeding America!
What a timely post! I have just decided that whatever fruit & vegetables are left over at the end of the week will be juiced (rather than left to wither at the back of the fridge) What a great idea to donate to Feeding America 🙂
Wow, what an eye opener! So many of us who are priveledged enough to fill our fridges and waste food often forget about all those empty fridges in homes where parents are struggling to feed there children.
Oy. I’m scared to even know what is lurking in the depths of my fridge…..
Jody, Anything tastes good in a smoothie. Even wrinkled grapes!
I would love it if my fridge would go bare. It seems like I’m always trying to play catch up because I’ve once again bought too much food.
Great post! I try to keep my fridge clean as well, but I always seem to collect condiments from friends and family who want to come over. I’ve tried experimenting with them in dishes, but they always seem to collect.
Honestly, it’s never even occurred to me to let my fridge go bare on purpose (I’m clearly new to minimalism in the kitchen). My husband is an active athlete and eats what seems like pounds of vegetables a day so if I open my fridge door and it doesn’t look like a garden is exploding, I tend to go to the market. I will say, we throw out something spoiled maybe once or twice a month at the most but I might try a different approach just for kicks.
Great post. I usually have mixed emotions about seeing an almost-empty fridge.
On one hand, it does give me clarity and nudges me into being creative and resourceful about what to make at a given mealtime, and reminds me that we can almost always make do with less than we think we can.
On the other hand, I always get sort of a panicky “what if people stop by? what will I feed them?” feeling.
And then there’s the fact that when the fridge is almost empty, it’s painfully obvious when it needs a good clean! Actually, I think I should do that this afternoon. Thanks for the reminder 🙂
Your donation idea is a great one – thanks for giving on your readers’ behalf! Glad to see so many have commented!
I, too, like a relatively empty fridge at the end of the week. This week has been a bit of a failure on that count, but most of the time, we have a few spare pieces of fruit and bottles of condiments left over before grocery day.
I do fairly big shop each week with lots of fruit and veg as we make most meals at home. I feel very satisfied when I am making the list for shopping and most of what I bought before is all cooked and eaten and i know we have eaten well that week. I am quite good at judging what we need from week to week but occasionally get caught out and food spoils if plans change unexpectedly.
I do exactly the same thing! Looking into an empty refrigerator and yet knowing, because of proper planning, what you are eating and when is so peaceful.
We like to have an empty fridge by choice. I have some things we buy in bulk that we store in our office closet, but we try to go grocery shopping every 3-4 days for the others to be fresh. If we lived some where with grocery delivery I would be in heaven.
I’m making great strides on my minimalist journey, but I certainly haven’t gotten quite there in the refrigerator area. This is great inspiration, and I really relate to the satisfaction an empty fridge must bring. We’re preparing to move our family of four to a new (smaller!) house, and as we’re using up our food and I’m not replacing it, I find the becoming-bare pantry and fridge wonderful. Thanks for choosing to donate to help those who are hungry.
What a great post and a great cause. I find your examples and writing really inspirational. We are also setting aside money to donate and hopefully will also donate many items when we move back to the West (managed to donate/sell for charity quite a few when we moved recently so that was a good incentive. I would love to think that meal planning will help us similarly. thanks again
I try really hard to use up all of our fresh food before it goes bad. I hate to see things go to waste. I also like to take a break from grocery shopping a few times a month and use up/get creative with what’s in the pantry and fridge. I do believe in having a food and water storage supply- it’s in our basement. I want to be prepared for unemployment, natural disaster, etc…
Great post and LOVE the cause for comments! 🙂
What an incredibly generous offer!
I have been working towards using more of our food, too. I have gotten much better about using my freezer to save leftovers, etc before they need to be thrown out. My main problem is remembering what’s in there and actually using it before freezer burn sets in! I think what I really need is better organization!
Thanks for your post and generocity. Some questions I have though, …I believe in having some food storage for emergencies (national disasters, possible loss of job or other financial hardships etc)…how can I have food storage in a practical but somewhat minimalistic way? Does your family have something as back up when it comes to food?
We have some canned items and water but not anything that would last months or even more than a few days.
It’s a very personal decision but I’m not one to make a lot of effort for extreme natural disaster planning. I have read about people saving up 6 months of dry goods for what would be an apocalyptic type disaster. I’m okay with not being ready for something like that. I don’t really want to live through the zombie apocalypse or live out a Cormac McCarthy novel. But should the ferries stop running here or we face some kind of loss of power and water for a short time, we have enough.
As for job loss, our emergency fund is very healthy and is enough to move us back to Canada and live for 6 months. I don’t want to store food for that kind of disaster.
I like to sit down at the beginning of the week and plan out the next six or seven dinners. I compile a list of all the ingredients, then go shopping. This method helps me in the grocery store, so I don’t have to think on my feet, and possibly overspend.
That being said, I do appreciate a less full pantry, but an adequately stocked fridge. Those two things assure that I can give my kids strawberries for snacks, instead of only crackers.
Late to the party here, but so impressed that you’re using the comments for a good cause! I, too, LOVE the sight of a nearly empty fridge, but it’s tough to accomplish, for sure, when you have kids, hate to shop, have a garden that’s constantly ready to harvest, and a chef-hubby who constantly brings things home for us to try…sounds like an embarrassment of riches, I know. Because so many comments mentioned meal-planning fatigue, I have to, if I may, PUT IN A PLUG for my LIFESAVER, the meal plan thefresh20.com!! Before using it I prided myself on limiting waste, but this plan has taken it to a whole new level…and even my picky family loves almost ALL of the recipes we’ve tried in the last 7 months. I know there are other similar plans out there– for people who are just plain tired of meal-planning, try one!! This has brought so much joy back to my life– and the recipes I use (there are vegetarian, healthy classic, etc. –3 choices) are healthy/balanced and yummy! Thanks for “listening,” folks (I do NOT work for the company:)) — and wishing love and balance to all you awesome women out there trying to make a difference. Love the MM, Rachel!!
Great post! Inspiration for me to try harder!
Great post! One of my goals for 2013 is to cut down on wasted food. And letting the fridge empty out is a good step in reaching that goal. This week, my fridge is pretty bare, the most it’s been all year. And for once, I’m okay with that. Normally I would be worried–a stocked fridge makes me feel more secure. But that’s something I’m working on. 🙂
I wish my fridge was cleaner. I menu plan and eat leftovers, but somehow things multiply in there.
love your giving idea!
We meal plan, every friday fridge is quite empty. I hate food waste… I try to keep it minimal, but sometimes something goes bad and it feels sad.
Great blog!
Rachel, thanks for your blog, I love it! I’m not a mom but hope to be one someday. I also like having just enough food. I think it’s great that you are donating! One of my goals of simplifying is to free up resources to be more generous as well!!
Like to let it empty out before I shop again.
I love having a Mother Hubbard cupboard at the end of the week 🙂
I too feel a great sense of accomplishment when I gaze upon an empty fridge…success 🙂
I hate wasting food!! I can’t help but think that if there were a grocery delivery service here, I may waste less. I really dislike grocery shopping and tend to stock up so I can cut down on my trips,
I just loved this post. I love also to have fairly empty fridge, I´m still workin on that… I just love yout blog… Greetings from Finland…
What a great idea! We also budget for charity donations. My husband and I love to sit together and decide which deserving cause we will donate to this month. It’s all the fun of shopping around without the extra clutter, and with a bonus good feeling of helping out others!
🙂 I completely agree.
Wow . . . WOW.
What a paradigm shift.
I am going to read this again. Hit me like a ton of bricks. What a lovely system. I thought I had a fridge system all figured out. Yours blew mine away.
Very, very nice. Wow. Have to digest this . . .
I don’t think I’ve let my fridge get as empty as yours, but it does feel good to see food being eaten and not thrown away. I do make sure to always have milk on hand, though, even if we are out of pretty much everything else.
I don’t love to meal plan but i do love the results of it! I sit down once a week, decide what we will eat the following week and make our shopping list. We don’t have waste and we always have lots of fresh fruits and veggies (which for me is a must, i want my kids and my husband eating healthy!) by the end of the week our fridge is almost empity (except for a few staples).
I loved this post. I’m awful at meal planning. it’s something I really should work on.
We just recently embarked on this same journey. We have some tweaking to do but, so far, it is a relief on so many levels. My grocery bill is about the same as I’ve chosen to spend the “extra” money on higher quality food rather than on wasted food. The kids are thrilled and are much easier to feed… unexpected bonus.
I couldn’t agree with you more!
Wonderful post! I greatly admire your minimalist fridge – I am trying to improve in this area, but also trying to spend less, incorporate more healthful choices, and appease all palates in our family. If only! Thanks for donating and helping to shift our perspective!
We do occasionally, but more because I’m lazy with grocery shopping than because of good planning. I’d like to get better at it though.
It’s great that you’re donating money for this!
WOW! My fridge never looks like that…it’s my goal though.
This past weekend, my husband suggested I start meal planning. I love the idea of not over-buying or wasting. What a great idea to raise more for a worthy cause.
Great idea! Inspiring, too. I usually let things sit in the fridge, get too old, and then I toss the out a week later.
I am the same way! When I was growing up our refrigerator was always jampacked with stuff, including leftovers that nobody ever ate. It was off-putting, especially when it came time for my mom to empty it all out. I feel triumphant when our refrigerator is almost bare. We have a budget, and I meal plan. I don’t buy any food items (especially not the perishable kind) that I don’t have a plan for.
Thank you so much for donating to the hunger organization. I, too hate to waste food, but I also hate to waste time. When I go to the grocery store, I buy two of everything that we use regularly. That way I save time shopping. Items like organic milk seem to keep a long time, so there’s always a couple of those in our fridge, also a bin of apples. Also, condiments add a lot of flavor without a lot of calories, so we have quite a few of those. I believe it takes less energy to run a fuller fridge than an empty fridge, so if your fridge is going to have a lot of empty space, one might want to consider storing some emergency bottled water in it.
Great post!
I, too, love an empty fridge! As you said, it means we’ve planned meals well. I’ve designated Saturday as a leftover day, and we get creative with our leftovers. So glad I’m not alone on the empty fridge love, and THANK YOU for helping feed families here in the states!
I also feel a great sense of victory when our fridge is nearly empty at the end of the week–for the same reasons you articulate here. Meal planning is awesome. We don’t do it as well or as consistently as I’d like, but we’re works in progress. (Always!)
Love this idea for generating donations, too.
Wow – that is a true feat in meal-planning. I do like to use things up and we rarely have to throw things outdue to spoilage, butive never come close to an empty fridge. Bless you for your heart to donate toward hungry people.
I keep thinking that I need to pull everything out of the pantry and inventory it so I know what we have… then try to make dinners for a week out of just what’s in there!
Excellent post, great timing, and how thoughtful of you to donate money!
I had just been thinking about how I need to clean out my refrigerator tonight and see what I really have that’s usable before I attempt to meal plan and then grocery shop. When my refrigerator is too full, I get overwhelmed, and end up getting takeout too often.
For me, my fridge never gets “empty” due to the amount of homemade staples that we always have in supply, but we definitely rarely have food waste now, and I’ve improved on the cluttered, stacked fridge of my parents, haha! I work near a grocery store with organic produce three times a week, so I like to nip in and buy enough from the day-old or bruised rack for that day and the next. Its often fresher than had I bought the new stuff at the beginning of the week and had it around our home for that amount of time, and it encourages creativity on my part to utilize what’s available that day. When its newly bought, I remember that we have it and it gets used.
Thank you for this post! My refrigerator is often empty as we near a trip to get groceries and I don’t keep a lot in the pantry since we make lots of meals/snacks from scratch. Then I feel slightly insecure when I see others’ fridges and pantries that are stuffed to the gills. I realize now we are just being good stewards of all the foodstuff we buy and making sure it all gets eaten. Thank you for your donation, wonderful idea!
We’re tapping the back of our fridge now, and I love it. I have to get so much more creative with meals, and no matter how much I think, “I gotta get to the store” there’s always enough to make just one more balanced meal. We live in a frivolous society where the pantry is stocked but “there’s nothing to eat”.
D I feel an empty fridge challenge coming on? Yes, yes I do.
Some weeks are better than others. I love it when we plan for and use the fresh food in the fridge and manage to use up the leftovers (my lunches at work, “leftover” dinners where everyone gets what they want) instead of tossing bits that weren’t enough for another full meal for the family on the night before trash pickup. I’m hoping to start whittling away at our pantry supplies. The things that were impulse purchases at the supermarket that never made it into a meal plan. That’s my next goal!
A full fridge for me is too overwhelming. Food gets buried and forgotten. Still need to work on simplifying in this area.
Our fridge rarely gets ‘that’ empty, but it does get pretty cleaned out before our next trip to do groceries… same goes for our freezer. It’s wonderful! Though a tad difficult with 2 picky preschoolers and a toddler. 😛
🙂
I adore the idea of an empty (or emptier) fridge, but that is totally not the reality for me. Our fridge is always packed to the gills, to the point where we things get lost in the back and it’s gotta be suboptimal for airflow and cooling efficiency. It’s a problem.
Part of it is our tendency to cook in big batches, my affinity for fresh veg, our habit lately of picking up local milk and eggs for friends (three extra gallons of milk takes up a lot of space…), feeding our critters fresh diets (meat for the carnivores and veg for the herbivores), and a Costco membership.
But even despite all those factors, I’m sure that we could be doing better. I know my husband’s fridge wasn’t nearly the travesty we have here before we were married, so I suspect it’s me. It’s definitely something to work on to both reduce food waste/expense and to increase that lovely anti-clutter feeling of order.
I love it when my fridge gets empty! I am a huge fan of using see-through containers for anything refrigerated, as it seems to get used up much better than opaque containers. My husband and I eat leftovers/packed lunches from home Mon-Thurs, and on Friday, we get to eat out as a reward for using up leftovers and not wasting anything!
The freezer on the other hand…not empty by any means, but we do a pretty good job of making sure things are used up and not wasted.
I love an empty fridge for the same reasons you talked about (although I don’t often take the opportunity to clean it, which I should lol) – lately I have tried to put off grocery shopping for an extra day or two to empty the fridge out as much as possible and use up odds and ends from our cupboards as well.
Ours never looks as empty as yours at the end of the week (we seem to keep a lot of condiments in ours) but like you most of the fresh stuff is gone and if it hasn’t there is a plan to eat it fairly soon into the next week (we plan our meals on a weekly basis). We have saved so much money planning meals and throw out so much less than we used too although occasionally things slip through unnoticed.
I always have a lot of condiments and random stuff in my fridge. I’m experimenting with different canning recipes so right now there are 4 different jars of jam in the fridge and 2 jars of violet water waiting for me to make jam out of it. I also buy certain things in bulk (like large bags of carrots) that keep well in my fridge so it seems like there is always something in there. I think I’d panic if my fridge were that empty (even though i live right next to a grocery store) – I’d be thinking “what if there was an emergency”.
I have a different perspective. For many years I lived in Minnesota where an empty fridge meant you were not prepared to survive blizzards or thunderstorms. Now I spend my winters in the south in an RV. RVers are very conscious of energy use and an empty fridge uses more power than a full one so many of us put water bottles in the fridge to fill the space as we remove food. When the fridge is nearly full of water bottles it is time to wash the interior and go grocery shopping. But empty is not good in my world.
With two hungry, growing boys and a high-metabolism husband, an empty fridge would be a disaster at my house. On especially active days, my boys will sometimes eat an extra meal as a “snack.” So I always have fixins for quesadillas, grilled sandwiches, etc., plus lots of fruit and veggies.
Stockpiling doesn’t always equate to waste.
I like a fridge where I can see everything. It’s rarely all the way empty, but I hate and overstuffed fridge. I do struggle with my door, which holds the milk and condiments. trying to use up condiments is a struggle because my husband likes to make his own sauces, so I have 3 kinds of barbecue sauce, multiple varieties of mustard, ketchup and pickles, plus some ingredients that don’t go bad, but take a long the to use up (I’m looking at you giant bottle of fish sauce.)
I can only let my fridge get empty-ish, otherwise my husband and teen start complaining that “there’s nothing to eaattt…..!” And then my husband will go out for a bite. 🙁 But I do try to minimize food waste by eating leftovers and storing food in glass so we can see what’s in there.
While our fridge rarely is so bare that it’s nearly empty, it’s not stuffed to the gills. I do my best to prevent food waste and keeping the fridge organized and not crammed full helps me to see exactly what we have and what we need to eat. Before we had children (and didn’t need as much food in our home), it was very sparse, to the point that my parents and in-laws almost seemed bothered by the lack of food in our fridge!
We rarely get to empty, but one trick that I use is making something to eat on Friday nights that I can throw in all of the leftover veggies. I find that tacos work well for this. I’m working on creating a two-week menu, but it’s been slow going.
(Yay for saving money for giving!)
I did this only last week, by the time shopping day came around our fridge was practically empty, it made it so easy to wipe the shelves clean!
I really think it’s great that you’re donating money to that cause this way. That’s one thing I really hope to do when we have paid off all our debt – have more money for helping others. Anyway, love your blog.
While I love the sight of an empty fridge, for my mother it induces a kind of panic. “What if we don’t eat?”, as though our fridge being empty means the whole world is empty. I used to feel this kind of anxiety but don’t anymore, since it is so peaceful to have less. My mother is living with us for the next few years and our different methods have clashed a few times, but mostly we’ve managed to meet in the middle. I felt so happy the other day when she said, “It’s nice to waste less food. It’s less stressful.” I love being able to share the peace! It’s not a matter of her way or my way, because I am just happy when others are less stressed by all the STUFF around us.
I am working on this… Since quitting my job, I am budgeting less for food so all of my food purchases have to count. Food wasted is money lost. Of course not having a job allows me to cook more too as I have MUCH more free time!
My fridge was empty before because we ate out a lot. Then I decided to eat better & healthier so my fridge is stocked with veggies and meats. Low carb items. I cook meals on the weekend & by Thursday or Friday my fridge starts looking empty. It’s satisfying & I have lost weight by eating better and planning my meals.
I keep trying to talk my wife into getting a deep freezer but she will have none of it. The lure of saving money by buying in bulk seems so enticing but we are getting along just fine without it.
Nice chops on the donating. Some day when I grow up I want to be just like you.
Love ya.
I also love how meal planning has helped me have more time on my hands. My husband and I go through a cookbook and then pick our menu items. It’s fun, and I am making new things all the time as well.
It’s nice to know there are so many fellow empty fridge lovers out there. 🙂 I don’t really care if my fridge actually becomes “empty” at any one point, but I do like to feel that everything is being used as it’s purchased, and that I don’t have more than I can keep track of.
I’m not a long range meal planner because my family’s schedule has too many last minute changes, but I shop every couple of days for fresh produce and work my meals around that, defrosting meat a day or so in advance, enough for one dinner and a little left over for lunches.
As for cleaning the fridge, I rarely take everything out all at once. I typically clean as I go. Besides wiping areas from time to time, occasionally I’ll pull out a shelf or a drawer to wash when it’s somewhat empty. It only takes a few minutes. I find it easier to maintain a clean fridge than letting it get dirty and having to do a complete overhaul.
Love the idea of your donation, so I’m leaving a comment here.
No, currently, our fridge doesn’t reach that empty stage. Too much food waste & not enough planning. It’s a skill I’m trying to improve on….
Different family members (none of whom live with us) have commented on how little my husband and I keep in the refrigerator. When there are just two adults in the household, it’s even more important not to buy more food than you can consume within a short period of time. Last summer we lived in a sublet apartment, and the tiny refrigerator was no problem for us. When a storm knocked the power out for several days during a heat wave, we were glad not to lose large amounts of food.
Unfortunately, the only times our fridge is empty is if we make a concerted effort to throw things out. 🙁 I would love to see a “naturally” neat fridge and I know it’s something to work on.
I feel the same way about an empty fridge – although I haven’t gotten that close in a while! I’m currently working hard to clear out our condiment shelf since we have so many things that have lingered there for two long. This week I made some hot pepper jelly glazed tempeh – it was yummy and I made a dent in our pepper jelly!
wow! i am impressed! while my fridge does get much more empty than it used to it is nothing compared to that. But I love how getting down to the end of things forces me to use up/make things I wouldn’t normally. Very good practice.
Wait… you have groceries delivered?!? I’m sorta guessing that maybe things are different over there on the Isle of Mann, because from my perspective this sounds very Thurston Howell III! Besides that, I don’t think I would like it… I enjoy pawing over the produce to get the very best one and picking over the sale items etc.
Anyhow, I’ve always been a bit of a food hoarder, but I’m trying to reform. I’m doing a long term food stamp challenge (trying to keep my food spending to the level of a food stamp recipient) and it’s certainly opening my eyes to my idiosyncrasies in this department. I actually think that stocking up when things are on sale makes sense, but I also have discovered that I have some sort of strange compulsion to buy food and then hang onto it because it would somehow be gluttonous or greedy to eat it right away. Hmmm…
Anyhow, I think meal planning would make me crazy. Plans very quickly turn into prisons in my experience so I’m much better just going with the flow. This little grocery challenge also has me buying whatever is on sale and making up recipes from there… which I’m finding to be a very refreshing change. It’s gotten me out of my food ruts, and encouraging me to try new things I otherwise might not have tried making.
Of course, I don’t cook every day… I batch cook and then freeze/portion the leftovers. If I had to make a different dinner every night I think I’d be tempted to stick an ice pick in my temples in very short order!
Anyhow Kudos to you for donating to the hunger relief charity. It just makes me so sad that such charities are even necessary in a country as rich as this one.
Grocery Delivery: it’s relatively inexpensive. Costs us about $14/month (great deal if you don’t own a car!). And the grocery store that does it is the ‘value’ store so the groceries are fairly priced. I love it and will miss this service when/if we move back to Canada.
Wow… that is quite reasonably priced – I think it costs more like $25 per delivery here. I guess I’m really spoiled having 6 different grocery stores within easy walking/biking distance… plus no kids to drag to the store with me!
increasingly, I am proud to say that we are using everything we buy and that we have no excess. However, I understand the psychological need to have the refrigerator appear full, as well as the usefulness of being able to produce quick snacks. Rachel, thank you for inspiring us with your perspective and your generosity.
Hey MM, I love it when another post of your shows up in my inbox. This one is especially apt for me today: I spent breakfast and lunch (and probably will for dinner too) eating leftovers and I’ve almost got clean space in our fridge! I love it when the fridge is empty and clean and ready for a new set of groceries, but for some reason it’s so hard for me to do. We run out of fresh produce and meat much faster than we do everything else, so I find myself going to the store every week (always for something different) and never actually hitting empty. How do you do it?
I am newly married this year, and I’ve just about gotten used to our combined appetite and tastes, and so I’ve started some tentative meal planning, but it’s hard. We both work, and most nights I don’t feel like cooking at all, but I’m fueled by guilt since I grew up with a mom that cooked a healthy meal every night of the week and because health is a big concern for my husband. How do you plan quick but healthy meals?
Shopping schedule: we do one large shop a month that stocks up our non-perishables (canned tomatoes, toilet paper, spices, etc). Once a week we get a delivery that is mostly fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry and eggs. It lasts about 5 days and I do a small shop in town -usually for fish and fruit – to tide us over until the weekly delivery.
Meal making/planning: we have been trying to eat whole foods and grain free for about two years. The last year we have been pretty on track with it. One thing that helps with all that cooking is that we cook and chop fruit and vegetables for 3 hours or so on Sunday. I make at least two double batches of a meal and have my vegetables ready to make quick stir fries with ground meats or fish. We are lucky that I don’t work out of the home. That said, I try not to get stuck cooking at 5pm on a weekday – it’s when my kids are most cranky. I prefer to cook meals ahead of time and reheat so I can take the kids outside before dinner.
It’s always a work in progress. My advice is to keep working on your plan and make changes as life changes. For a while after the new baby I bought precut frozen and fresh vegetables to save some time.
Good luck!! 🙂
I am have minimalizing for a year now trying to get down to the bare necessities. ..I am not gonna lie I has been a lot of work be rewarding as I continue to fight the clutter. ..have not made it to the fridge but in time….thanks for your inspiring post to keep me going at it (with 2 kids and a husband as well)
Could not agree more! We are always trying to refine our shopping so that we have an empty fridge at the end of the week, and it always feels like victory when we do it! Great post, and great cause. Thank you!
I don’t plan meals because I get joy from creating delicious meals out of whatever happens to be lying around. This usually comes from non-perishables, things picked up at farmer’s markets, or pantry goods.
I do my best to use things that are close to expiration, but with roommates it’s hard to always know what’s going on in the fridge.
I test myself to see how well I can eat even when it feels like the cupboards are bare and it’s time to make a grocery run. I think, however, that I would be able to benefit from meal planning. Maybe I will give it a try.
Love your blog, love your post.
A main issue for me is condiments and sauces. I have the entire refrigerator door full of them.
Food is definitely a way I’m not minimalist. We’re moving overseas soon– we’ll see if I’m better after a fresh start 🙂
Thanks for your generosity!
I’m jealous of your fridge. I’ve thought about just buying a smaller fridge to control how much we have in it, but alas, we have four kids, my husband is a chef and we love dinner parties so we use the space we have quite often. For now we are minimizing in other areas, but when the kids are older this is one thing I’d love to tackle.
Wasting food is a horrible weakness of mine that I’m terribly embarrassed about. I love to cook and end up buying all sorts of exotic condiments to make 1 or 2 dishes, but then they end up spoiling before I can use them again. I like to have a full pantry in case of emergencies (like power outages, making last minute meals to give to someone who just had a baby, etc.) but a full fridge is less justifiable. I am definitely guilty of “losing” leftovers in the back. This is something I will start working on after reading this post. And I applaud your mindfulness of how an empty fridge must feel to people who don’t choose to have one.
I love an empty fridge too! Though ours is never that empty. I always plan to have a few staples last through the next delivery/shopping trip. For example, milk is delivered at different times, but always on Tuesdays. I order enough to get us through to the following Tuesday evening so there’s always at least half a gallon of milk in the fridge. Same for fresh fruits and veg, especially the longer lasting ones like oranges, carrots, cabbage, etc. Hate wasting food. We eat almost exclusively dinner leftovers for lunch. We also regularly have “leftover” dinner where I place everything on the counter for each person to make up his plate. It’s a happy event when it ends with many empty storage containers. 🙂
Having an empty fridge sounds amazing, I definately envy you! It is my dream to not have to throw out expired food because it always makes me feel like I am being wasteful. Keep up the good work!
I cleaned my fridge out last month and it’s stayed emptyish since then, food comes in and goes out without getting mushy and thrown out – I like it that way! We bought a smaller fridge a couple of years ago and haven’t missed the extra space either.
I have definitely found that we spend less money and eat better with less food in the fridge too because it’s always fresh and I tend to experiment more and plan with what’s in the fridge, I think purely because it’s not as overwhelming. My mum’s fridge is always stuffed full, and it’s really hard to tell how long something has been in there – her pantry is the same, so I’m kind of reluctant to eat some of it.
I could only wish mine would get that empty. We are doing better with meal planning and waste. But certainly not that good. Great job! 🙂
I love an empty fridge also! I like trying to think up some kind of meal from the last few things before a grocery run 🙂
I’m working on planning more. It helps to not feel the need to have random stuff in your fridge.
I love your blog and always look forward to your posts!! I myself need to get better with meal planning. I have a preschool/childcare outside of my home and provide all the meals for the children as well as providing meals for my own family–I struggle with the planning. Thanks for your great posts!!
I typically like my fridge somewhere in the middle. I like having food in there but I don’t like it overcrowded because then it feels like things are getting lost and food isn’t getting eaten. I see the virtue in your method though and am going to give it some consideration. I am all about anything I can do to cut down waste.
Love this post! I am still working on perfecting my food waste but I am getting better and looking forward to my fridge looking like this much more often.
My fridge is getting close to this level this week. My kids and I decided to go for at least two weeks without buying any food, except for milk/bread/eggs. (We tried a month at a time, but I would cave in every time!) The idea is to use what we already have in the house. The fridge is about empty, but we’ve got a while to go on the cabinets. I have to say I’m not one for meal planning, and I’ve noticed that I do find a good deal of food wasted. It’s definitely something to work on. And what a great idea for donations! Thank you for helping those less fortunate.
Just doing my part to get you up to the 500 mark! But I do so very much agree and am part of the “empty fridge” club myself….
Never had thought of an empty refrigerator in a positive light before! I generally take comfort in a well-stocked refrigerator. And, yes, sometimes that means produce shriveling in the bottom drawer. Ugh.
I will give this more thought.
This is something i’ve been working towards also. I have often surprised at how much we spend on groceries and wanted to get things under control. Taking a better look at what we actually eat in a week and only shopping weekly has helped. I am still trying to trim the budget, so the amount of food i keep in the pantry is getting less every week. I think that i have justified this spending as something we need and will eventually use. It is where i allow myself that shopping high. But it is being well proven that we don’t need to keep such a huge stockpile around to eat well.
Fantastic donation action…love it. I meal plan but inconsistently. We also emptied our fridge….tell me, how do you stay consistent…say you WANT to eat something other than what is planned… I move our menu around according to my selfish little whims & my hubby commented. I just do not know how to make myself follow rules…even when I set them….UGH. Going to go purge a closet.
Great planning — and great that you’re supporting Feeding America for hunger relief…
great initiative – thanks for what you are doing.
I hate food waste! I also love the feeling of an empty fridge right before a trip to the grocery store.
You inspire me!
I just finished cleaning out my fridge. Who needs 4 different kinds of salad dressing when only 2 people in our house will eat salad?? This sounds like a really good idea.
Like many of the commenters here I also love a minimal fridge but my husband is always coming home with things to load it up. In all ways I am the minimalist and he is the hoarder. We have a small energy efficient fridge (he hates that, too) with no freezer as we have a chest freezer in the basement. We live in the country and I grow a garden and freeze a lot of the produce.
I am always amused by people who keep things like mustard and ketchup in the fridge . . . we never did when I was a kid and I still don’t. These condiments are a form of pickling and do not really require refrigeration – unless you plan to keep them for a century or so. Probably not even then.
it s the right way to go ! i do the same and think about hungry people everyday , its a sad reality …
Well, that deserves a comment for sure! My fridge may not get quite that empty, but I do love the feeling o nothing going to waste. I always try to be very aware of the fresh foods in our house so that they don’t spoil!
same. tried weekly/ monthly shops, either we are not organised enough or it’s just not our thing. switched to daily shops instead. hence living practically next to the supermarket 🙂 empty fridge most of the time 🙂 one day i hope to have high enough income to be able to afford food delivered to me, like diet chef or alike, that way i won’t need to cook at all and will lose some weight. i am lazy 🙂 thanks for your blog, interesting read!
I only shop every two weeks, so right after shopping my fridge is pretty full, and by the end of two weeks we’re using up the last of our carrots, cabbage, and other longer-lasting perishables. I meal plan so I’ve never had a problem with this (unless my husband accidentally eats something I needed for a meal!).
Bless you for your generosity & thought-provoking ideas.
I would have written a comment anyway, but thank you for donating! 🙂
I thought I was the only one who considered an empty fridge to be a victory. It bothers me when we buy too much food and it goes to waste.
Hello from Cyprus! We are renting at the moment and using our landlord’s fridge which is way smaller than what we’ve been used to. As we are a family of 6, we’ve had to learn to be very intentional about what we store in our fridge so that we have room for the essentials and so far so good, though summer is coming which means less on the counter and more in the fridge! We do menu planning and try not to waste food. I do enjoy the challenge of using any leftover veg and fruit in stirfries, soups, sauces and smoothies etc before the next market visit. Thank you for your inspiration and generosity.
Hi Rachel, how nice of you to do this! I use a mealplan to, so the day before we go grocery shopping our fridge looks like yours! Love it too, we almost never have to throw anything away.
Yes! Less waste!
It’s possible I have a fridge fetish. It’s been known for me to just open the door and look inside – enamored by everything having a purpose and place . It’s the one thing I insist on being completely organised and clean. Every Friday it gets photographed, I’m wondering whether that is very slightly weird? An empty Friday fridge gives me an enormous sense of ‘all is right with the world’. To have no waste is a fantastic feeling, and to be able to clean the fridge so easily each week is lovely – no nasty odour to encounter as the door opens. In fact it had an extra clean this week, as did the cupboards! (shame about the rest of the house! oops!)
Your donation is really generous! Hope all is good with you Guys?
Oh, I know about your fetish, Jo. I’m subscribed to your blog so get a look at your fridge every week.
I do enjoy the reverse photo too: stocked with fresh fruit and vegetable, eggs and meat. When we go through many kilos of vegetables in a week I know we are doing our bodies good.
Owe you an email. Want to hear how you are doing – in baby land here so not much new but we are great. Talk soon, Rachel
So pleased all going well! I’ll drop you a line…
It’s a seasonal thing for me. In warmer months, I shop more frequently in order to have the freshest of fruits and veg. This ends up being less efficient and the fridge keeps full. In colder months, I tend to stock up on things and shop less. Thus, the fridge empties between the less-frequent shopping trips.
Seriously. When I recently started as a minimalist, I didn’t even consider the fridge as a part of my clutter obsession. I loved the idea of a clean fridge, but it was one more thing I was never on top of. As a single mom, an underwhelming fridge has been one more HUGE benefit of changing my lifestyle. Great post idea!
I try to use up everything in the fridge. Some weeks do better than others.
Sorry, can you change my name to ShellieC in the previous comment? Thanks!!
Very impressive 🙂
I need to start doing this! Thanks for the inspiration!
I agree – an empty fridge means no wasted food! We plan our meals weekly and shop from a list. No impulse buys and no “wishful thinking” purchases allowed.
I love an empty fridge, because it means we did a good job of using up all the food in our meals throughout the week. Usually veggies are the last thing left over, so when the fridge is empty it usually means we’ve eaten more veggies that week too. I do my best to throw out condiments that are expired too.
What a great post! In the last year or so my family has converted to more of a paleo diet since reading about it on your blog. I too love to see an empty fridge but I equally love to see it full of fresh produce after a trip to the grocery store. It makes me happy to know that all of those lovely fruits and veggies will get eaten and very little will go to waste.
Thank you for this post (and donation), it’s a good reminder! I grew up in a family of 7 & once I started my own family I still seemed to shop for that many & to throw out a lot of food on a regular basis. I also lived in a very small town in Alberta for a couple of years & had to stock up since regular shopping was not convenient, and that is a hard habit to break. Now that I live close to shops again I have to get in the habit of shopping for just what we can eat in a week (except for some non perishable food that is cheaper in bulk & fits in our apartment). I’d rather take my 3 young children to the grocery store (or farmers market) once a week & have the pleasure of eating relatively fresh produce than throw out a bunch of food. I am doing Jules’ ‘master your meal plan’ class at stonesoupvirtualcookeryschool.com and knowing her awesome classes it should help me save a lot of money & gain more confidence in the kitchen, using the ingredients I have on hand to make yummy food. Thanks again for your blog, you have been a huge inspiration to me on my journey to simplicity & I love reading your site!!
I always felt like an empty fridge made me a ‘failure’ of a Mom. I must not have the variety of food my family needs. All of my friends seem to have fridges jam packed with stuff. But I have come to realize, that just like you, I only buy what we need and we finish it. I rarely throw food away and am always shocked at the stats on the amount of money wasted on thrown away food. Thanks for your blog! It is very motivational in my quest to live more simply.
Moderately empty. I do try to eat all of the fruit and veggies in the bin by week’s end, but I do have a few sauces on the door of the fridge that seem to stick around forever.
My fridge is usually pretty full. I’m big on stocking up! No waste though…
I love an empty fridge too!! My kids and husband freak over it. Honestly, I just forwarded your post to my husband so he doesn’t think I am a crazy person when it comes to empty fridges. Your blog is just wonderful. If you lived near me, I would so want to be your friend.
Thanks for the donation ! You are so kind. Keep doing what you are doing !
🙂 Jill
Does anyone else have my wonderful “challenge”? I have a generous mother in law who loves to cook and bake and bring leftovers to us! Some of it is greatly appreciated and eaten, but much of it ends up getting thrown away, which I feel bad about. I sometimes politely say no thank you, but my husband feels the need to take absolutely everything offered, and then I am stuck finding a place to put the food, remembering it is there, trying to get someone to eat it, and finding my other groceries around it!
YES ! We have this wonderful challenge with BOTH sides of the family. We eat healthy and are vegetarians and they are not. It’s horrible but we throw everything away. We try to be polite. Gosh, they just don’t get it. The food is just so rich and greasy and we all suffer from stomach issues when we do eat it. 🙁
Jill
Freeze it! Then meal plan around those leftovers in the future.
How I wish I had your “problem.”
I love your blog and I also love to have an empty frig! Our family also likes to give back, too…that’s why I love your donation idea! Thanks for letting me in on the giving 🙂
I love an empty fridge! it helps you be more creative with what you have. unfortunately, I always seem to be battling my hubby who likes it more ‘fully stocked’
That is something I certainly struggle with…I am not good at meal planning! My frigerator is always clean and organized, and I am good about cleaning out old food, but we have too much waste!! Its definitely a goal of mine to be more mindful/efficient with our grocery purchases!
My refrigerator is a mess. I’m glad I read this post. Inspiration.
Thanks for doing the donation! We also set aside a portion (10% of post-tax dollars) for charitable giving. Segregating those funds in a separate account makes it so much easier to remain accountable for charitable giving.
We’re also on the same page regarding the Empty Fridge. We plan meals and shop once per week. I can’t imagine winging it for dinner each night!
Kathleen – yes, yes, yes! Since we started putting aside money monthly into a giving fund it has been so easy, and nice, to say yes to requests for donations. And so rewarding to be able to donate a, to us, fairly large sum to organizations that we are excited about. We are at about 2% of gross income. On my life list to get it to 10% of gross.
My refrigerator doesn’t look like this, but it needs to! I have been reading other articles about an empty fridge being a sign of being organized, and I need to work on it. I just cleaned out my freezer and found 4, count ’em, 4 Cool Whip containers, 3 of which had 1 teaspoon or less in them! In my defense, I will say that I have been ill most of the winter, and am not totally responsible. However, after cleaning y freezer and pantry, I don’t need to go shopping for a while!
I love this post! My fridge doesn’t look like that because I store a lot of my bulk dry goods in the fridge. Living in the American South and keeping your flour and sugar in a pantry is asking for a pest infestation, so the entire top shelf of my fridge is dedicated to dry goods. Other than that, I only have a couple of leftovers, eggs, some milk, cheese, and veggies left. I’m using the veggies tonight for sure and the eggs will be gone before our shopping trip on Saturday. I like being able to see what I have and easily and quickly clean the fridge before heading to the farmer’s market or to the store.
I like an empty fridge, it means we ate the produce I purchased. Just this weekend I cleaned out the fridge and filled it with more healthy veggies and fruit.
I don’t…but I will try for now on!
Good job on the donation, we also make donations part of our budget!
What a great post! Happy to see so many comments!
I will so get there one day; soon 😉
Our refrigerator has never been empty. But I am new to the site and the idea of living minimally.Thank you for the inspiration you give me. I have a close friend who lives across the street from me and continually shares with our family food that she fears will not be eaten and will go bad. We then incorporate it into our meals. A win-win for both of us. How nice of you to donate to Feeding America.
Life here is so crazy, isn’t it? We have so many consumables within our easy reach that it’s actually a battle to keep it all at bay and we pride ourselves on successfully doing that, when much of the world barely scrapes by each day.
i LOVE having an empty fridge! my husband is a powerlifter (translation:he picks up heavy stuff in competitions), so protein is a must for us. lots of it. we buy 7.5 dozen eggs at a time. one day i posted a picture on facebook of the inside of our fridge, the point being that we have a shelf solely devoted to eggs (it is labeled: “eggs”). people started commenting left and right about how we didn’t have anything on our other shelves. i finally said “yes! i love it! it means nothing is going to waste, we can find everything, and it looks so clean!” i don’t get how people can enjoy having fridges crammed full. thanks for this encouraging post!
My fridge gets fairly empty at the end of every week (though not as empty as your’s in the picture) and that’s when I wipe down the inside, right before I go shopping. Or at least that’s the plan, I don’t do it every time 🙂
I try not to over buy perishables, but don’t always succeed. Thanks for the post, it’s a good reminder that there’s no reason my fridge can’t get to completely empty and then be (partially) refilled.
Our fridge is never totally empty, but yes it gets pretty bare sometimes. We shop often for what we need since we have 4 kids who go through a lot of fresh produce. Bare for us would mean I can still find something for a snack for them — part of a gallon of milk, one or two kinds of fruit left, a few eggs, cheese, butter. We have a ridiculously huge fridge and it’s never full because of the way we shop.
So awesome that you’re donating for each comment!! With four homeschooled teenagers at home most of every day and a husband who still eats like a teenager, I don’t aim for an empty fridge. We own chickens so there are eggs being added to the fridge every day. However, I have been diligent in meal planning the last several months and have greatly reduced our food waste and as a result, our food expenditures. Normally, anything past its prime is fed to the chickens or dogs but still, I dislike not using what is purchased so that is my goal.
My husband, who is from France, is horrified by my food hoarding. There is very little that actually goes to waste but I seem to feel the need to keep way too much on hand. In reading the comments I have come up a dozen different reasons why I do this, background of scarcity, love of international cooking, a multiple of differing food allergies, etc. I think it’s time to re-evaluate and come up with a different system. Thanks for shining a light in all of the dark corners of life and questioning whether the status quo is really the best way of doing things.
I too like an empty fridge-it means I’m eating whole foods that won’t last too long.
J
I thought I was the only one who loved this sight!! I am not great about getting there every week but when I do it feels so good 🙂
I should add to my comment above that I didn’t mean to infer that the children who starve each day are from America. They are not, unless their parents are truly neglectful. In America, we have many resources. In many third world countries, they simply do not.
We let our fridge get super empty once a month and clean it out. With two growing nearly teenagers and another growing little one and a husband who has a weird work schedule, the weekly empty doesn’t work, but the monthly empty…perfect! And, it makes us really appreciate what we have for those last few scraped-together meals! It also insures a pretty clean fridge. Thanks for the post and thanks for the donation!
I try to empty the fridge, and use up what we have before shopping. It is definitely harder to use what you have if you cannot easily see it. But my husband sees the empty fridge and more often than not, will get upset that we have let the grocery shopping go so long! Working on it. The donation is a wonderful idea, by the way.
For me being bad at meal planning means that the fridge is empty and that I don’t really know what to eat ! So I often go tothe store and shop based on what I plan to eat for the next meal or two ! Anyway this is so true that an empty fridge is cleaned more often and doesn’t get dirty as quickly.
I am working on this, and you have definitely inspired me. I read in the book “The Hole in our Gospel” that 125,000 children starve every day – so incredibly sad and appalling! If only we would all have your attitude, that number could at least be greatly reduced, so thank you. Now, off to clean out my frig and do some meal planning, and donate what I save to relief organizations that really make a dollar stretch like Compassion International and World Vision.
I’m somewhere in the middle of being a minimalist and a hoarder, but I definitely don’t like an almost empty fridge. I rarely have to throw out food, I guess it’s because I have had a lot of years of experience buying and preparing food, and I have a rough idea of how much to get. I also freeze things I know we’re not going to use quickly, and when fruits and veggies or leftovers start looking like they might soon go bad, I make a smoothie, a soup, or a casserole with them.
Well said…as we have worked on simplifing our day to day, menu planning, shopping with a list and batch cooking freezer meals has saved us alot of $$$. As the child of a woman who grew up in poverty, simplicity did not rule the day. My mother has consistently overcompensated for her childhood poverty by overbuying everything (from food to clothing) and she passed that tendecny on to me!!! I have found your blog refreshing and inspiring! Thank you!
Thought provoking
YEs an emptier fridge will give less stress and less waste. I will work on it.
I don’t let my fridge become *too* bare, simply because I like to have some staples on-hand for preparing simple meals for our children. Should something happen, and we are unable to buy groceries, at least I have some items that I can make meals from, so no one is hungry. I don’t like to rely on the fridge though, because it’s far too common to lose power during storms, and then so much food can be lost. I endeavor to live a more minimalistic life in many areas, but it is a joy to me to keep a fully stocked pantry. In the case of illness, emergency, or job loss, at least we can still eat. 🙂
I meal plan and like the fridge to be empty enough to clean at the end of the week. I do shop at Sams club to get good prices on certain things and usually have a full freezer
In the first world we seem to think a full fridge is a sign of wealth. Publicising meal planning and images of end-of-the-week empty fridges is needed to make people stop and think about waste. Thank you Rachel.
I aspire to this. I often wonder if my full fridge is more about “security” and less about the food. Lots is wasted…so what is the point? Thank you so much for your blog and for the donation you are making 🙂
I was just commenting to my husband this weekend how empty our fridge is at the end of the week. I have always been a meal planner but since losing my job, I have to buy only the food we absolutely need. I feel so much better now. When I see that empty fridge I know I planned my shopping to perfectly match my meal plan for the week.
I’m also working on reducing our pantry. I’ve recently figured out I don’t need three extra of everything on hand at all times!
Thank you so much for your donation! I too like it when our fridge gets down to almost nothing. My husband does the shopping, so I need to give him the credit for planning things out right!
I love this. I’m the WORST meal planner and always waste food at the end of the week, which I HATE doing. This is an interesting concept because it’s a comfort for me to have a full fridge. Maybe I should step out of my comfort zone and see if I can waste a little less? and THANKS for making the donations to Feeding America!
I grew up as one of the hungry Americans that your donations will help. For my mother a full refrigerator was something she was proud of and it always provided me and my siblings a sense of security. However, since moving out I have noticed that my food waste has been much higher. Once again, as a previously hungry American the idea of throwing food away fills me with shame and anxiety. I like your minimalist approach. I plan my meals out pretty frequently, but I still freak out if my refrigerator is looking bare, so I usually cave and run to the store. I will try to look at it from this perspective in the future. 🙂
I love getting creative when the fridge starts to get empty. It’s a fun challenge to see what new meals I can come up with by combining things in a way I hadn’t before. It also forces us to eat those last things we might have otherwise overlooked.
I have to get better at this. As a single guy…it’s funny that I find myself coming to your page so much….but you always have such great advice. Thank you for your donation…and for being such a great role model!
Since I have started meal planning, maybe 6 months ago, I have started noticing an emptier fridge each week. My goal is to be like you, and have not much of anything, but I have not gotten that good! I am WAY better at using up the more perishable items first, and continuing on to the others in later dinners. Thanks for donating!
Ha! I took a break from researching uses for grapes on the California grapes website to read this. They are a little wrinkled, but still good. I will use them up! My perishables should be gone tomorrow. Yay!
I love the way you look at an empty fridge. After growing up poor, I have spent most of life *needing* a full fridge and pantry. Unfortunately the side effect of that was a lot of waste (even though it actually made me feel GOOD to be able to afford waste, in a weird twisted way). Slowly over the last few years, I have been able to get over that and purchase just what we need, for the most part. My fridge never gets to the empty stage, but we get closer. Thank you for sort of validating that! P.S. What a wonderful idea for giving! I like this blog so much MORE now! 🙂
I love that you acknowledged the hungry in your post. I do like an empty fridge as a sign of good planning, but more often it reminds me that I have to go to the store. I’ve been having trouble motivating myself to shop for groceries recently.
yay!
It’s a rare occasion when my fridge is empty. My husband always needs stuff for his lunches in there. But I can see where it would sure be nice.
I don’t remember mine ever getting that barren but after a recent accidental kitchen remodel, I realized how many “essentials” there really are (hint: not many!) and that one wastes much less food (and thereby spends much less money) if one puts a bit of planning into the week rather than just buys what one sees at the store. (And by “one,” I mean “I” or “Me.”) I grew up with stores closing at 9 pm and closed on Sundays and holidays. Stocking up was what we did once a week. Now, I live a mere two blocks from a 24 x 7 grocery that always has what I need. There are fresh fruit and veggies in markets along my walk home. Stocking up is not necessary. I still make my mistakes “just in case…” but by planning a bit, purchasing the options to make things, using up the remaining ingredients from one recipe into another, and forcing myself to eat from the refrigerator rather than the pizza place across the street…much cleaner fridge, much smarter buying decisions. Great post!!
I used to do this all the time, but it’s been quite a while since it’s happened. I’m going to go through it right now & see what I can scrape together using a few old condiments that never seem to get touched! Thanks for a great post – and for the donation!
We let our fridge get to empty (or near empty) before shopping again. I try to grocery shop only once-a-week. I even try to push the limits sometimes to once every 2 weeks! Our fridge/pantry empties pretty quickly being a family of 8! However, I try to shop smart, meal plan and use up items in the fridge creatively so we have little to no waste!
Ours doesn’t get as empty as yours, but it does get a lot emptier than my mom’s and/or the fridge I grew up with. I call that progress. I love your blog & find it inspiring. Thank you.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE an empty fridge for all the same reasons. 🙂
Awesome post! Sometimes I get too caught up in meal planning because I am a foodie. The condiments or special ingredients get me everytime. However, lately I have really been trying to clear out the pantry and use less “special” ingredients per dish. We sometimes end up throwing away leftovers, but that is getting to be a rare thing too. A work in progress.
As an American, thanks for donating to Feeding America. I support our local food banks and our local farmers. There are just too many people in our country that are going hungry or do not have access to fresh, healthy food. Feeding American really does amazing work.
We let our fridge get empty because I hate spending money on food. It costs so much to eat these days.
Great post Rachel! I love when I have a nearly empty fridge. It’s so satisfying when my planning all works out 🙂
Nice idea for the donations, so I had to comment!
I started meal planning about a year ago and we totally have gotten to this stage! I know exactly what you mean. Web the fridge is empty, I have triumphed. This last month has been a total fail because my husband is doing a night class and it’s ironic because we have actually gone WAY over budget on groceries. You would think it would be the opposite and we would have tons of extra food. I am looking forward to next month when the class is over and we can get back on top of things again.
I do let my fridge go empty, save for our weekly FreshDirect delivery! My hubby and I work and the kids are in day care. There is no need to waster $ or food on things that go bad. Thanks for donating – inspirational!
Hi R,
Sending love, love, love from Vancouver. You know how the weather this time of year is in lovely Vancouver, cherry blossoms and daffodils. Smiles all around. I too am a fan of the empty(ish) fridge. I plan more and more these days when it comes to meals. I shop for everything on the Drive or the Farmers Market if I can but that ( the Market) is costly and a little too upscale for me 🙂 I am foraging and looking for free as much as possible. This type of eating provides food which needs to be eaten fairly quickly, which I do as well ensuring that nothing is not used….ever. This is a big deal for me . If I have it, I use it even if it means freezing it. If I am sticking to a cooking from scratch, plant based, non-GMO, non corporate supporting diet then I have less and less in the fridge because there are no extra bottles of sauces or condiments. We have what we use and that is it. Take care R…. 🙂
Great post! I’ve been feeling this way about my pantry and fridge lately. Interesting how simplifying and eating real food go hand-in-hand. Less pre-packaged food that keeps for months/years and more things like homemade vinaigrette’s, fresh produce, etc. An empty (ahem, well planned out) fridge challenges your creativity as a cook when you have less to work with by the end of the week. Pre-planning and eating real food has helped us save money by avoiding the “I’ll just run to the grocery store real quick” mentality.
It is a wonderful feeling to know nothing is being wasted! Well done 🙂 good tips!
I do meal plan, but don’t ever let my fridge get that empty.
Thank you for your generosity…
Thank you for the donation!
I feel the same way as you, I wish this world could see no hunger no pain that comes with hunger. People like you make me believe in humanity a little more. Thank you for doing this.
It would be hard for me to get used to seeing my fridge that way. I’m still working on becoming more organized and economical with how I handle meals/food in my home. Thanks for donating to Feeding America 🙂
I really liked this post! I have been working on meal planning more as well. We are now empty nesters and it is much easier than when we had teenagers around with varying appetites and who ate at different times because of work and social schedules. We find we waste much less food and the fridge seems much more organized.
My fridge is empty but not because I am a good meal planner. I need to meal plan becasue I hate going to the grocery store and then a few weeks later pitching things I didn’t find the time to cook or didn’t coordinate with a meal but looked good in the store. Thanks for donating to the cause of those who have nothing in the fridge but not because they are minamalist.
Our fridge is pretty empty now (although not quite as low as yours!), but that’s just because we haven’t been shopping. I’m horrible with meal planning and using all of our food. I just can’t get the hang of it! Looks like you’re doing great at that.
What an inspiring post – both in its content and for the idea of a donation for each comment! We aren’t masters of meal planning, either, but when we do it well, our family eats healthier and feels better. Thank you!
I like an empty fridge too. Nothings wasted.
My fridge is not nearly so empty, but it is not full by any means, as I really hate food waste. I try to meal plan for each week, and we have pared down our nearly daily grocery trips to once a week to once every two weeks, depending on how ambitious I am with my planning. I would like to be a better planner, which is something I am working on.
That’s so funny, just today i had about the same in my fridge— 2 hard boiled eggs, 2 avocados, one package of cream cheese and homemade yogurt. I have some baking/cooking goods on hand and was feeling creative but am totally sleep deprived today (and therefore unfortunately admit to having ordered pizza).
I’ve been working on shopping for 3-4 days of meals/snacks at a time instead of the 2 week shop we’re used to. Fresh fruit and veggies taste so much better when they’re not wrinkly!
I wish I were this adept at meal planning – something I definitely aspire to. Our fridge has the moldy grapes and left overs, unfortunately. But I’m slowly learning 🙂
I really enjoy your blog and love that you are donating to Feed America! I come from a long line of fill the fridge, freezer and pantry “just in case something happens” people so this is a challenge for me. We do waste quite a bit of food so I am ready to pare down. Thanks for less food for thought!
A goal of mine is to be a better meal planner. Thanks for making our comments count!
I try to meal plan so normally the fridge gets rather bare, but not too much. It’s hard with 2 little ones. Funny thing is I never thought of “emptying out the fridge”. I am definitely going to make more efforts to do that and not let anything waste!
I am working hard on meal planning – but I just haven’t quite figured it out on a regular basis. My planning is made more complicated with different food intolerances and eating schedules. I understand your concept and had this realization the other day when I cleaned my refrigerator – reorganizing and making things more accessible helped me not to over-buy what we already have or run out too fast. Thanks for the post.
We usually try to get our fridge down to just condiments in the door and our Brita pitcher before we head out to the grocery store. This system works well for our family of three and not a lot gets wasted. The pantry however is usually packed until the army has to move us and then we have about 3 months to go through that food before we PCS. That’s when my creative side comes out with crazy combinations for dinner to try and use up the last of the dry goods!
Great post! Thank you for your thoughtfulness.
Congratulations on the empty fridge! I spent the weekend with my parents recently who have always had a massive amount of food in the house, much of it past the use-by date. I know they have always provided this food from a place of love, but I think it only adds to their own stress when it comes to throwing out what they can no longer use, and cleaning the kitchen. The message of simplifying their lives is one I am hoping to introduce to them gradually, thank you for the extra inspiration!
I have come a long w ay in decluttering and would love to get down to even less, includind g e fridge!
I love when my fridge contents get low enough that I can SEE everything and plan meals around the leftovers, etc. Thanks for doing what you’re doing!
Our fridge looks rather similar to yours.
Last week has still been exceptionally bad for food waste, but that’s me not being used to our now warm temperatures. During winter I tend to just leave the pot on the stove and re-heat it, but it’s time to put things straight back to the fridge again. I did feel really bad when I threw that stuff out, food waste is usually very rare here, so I hope that’s enough for a commitment to not let things out in the sun.
I have just started meal planning and I am already seeing a difference! I have less waste, and there is no panic at the end of the day about what we are going to have for dinner. I’m still learning, and someday soon I hope to have a more empty fridge.
I’m learning (slowly) the beauty of an empty fridge! We’re moving in two weeks so our fridge is pretty bare at the moment.
Such a refreshing post! Our fridge has been bare of late, and that makes me happy to know that we are eating all of the food that is purchased, and not wasting it! This takes some planning on my part, but is well, well worth it. Thank you for sharing! Thanks to everyone for their comments! It’s good to know that I’m not alone in loving a bare fridge.
We don’t go completely empty but fairly close. I get nervous when it is too full because I know I will forget about something in back.
Thank you for your post and for your kindness!
I feel blessed that my husband loves to cook and so he does the majority of it, plans our meals, and chooses what we get delivered for our grocery delivery. I’m not sure I could do that on my own. We tend to get down to nearly nothing too. Which I have to say can get a bit scary at the end of the month because I wonder what we will eat. But it is so nice to not have to throw things out because they went bad and was wasteful.
B.
Thank you for all the hard work you have done. I am in no way close to letting things go but I do know now that when I do it is all going to be ok. One question that is the hardest part for me books and craft supplies do keep them on hand or let them go?
I always love your posts…..one day soon I hope I will be able to see an empty fridge, but I have not mastered meal planning yet.
I don’t let my fridge get bare. Part of the fun for me is opening up and seeing what amazing thing I can make with what’s on hand. It’s like living an episode of “Chopped!” Plus, living in the American South, it is very hot and humid with a wonderful plethora of insects that can get into things, so most of my pantry staples are stored in the fridge too.
We don’t run our fridge to completely empty, but it is generally quite lightly stocked.
Even when we’ve run out of most major food items, there will be butter, mayo, ketchup, mustard, maple syrup and a few other condiments in the door shelves which stops the fridge looking completely empty. Do you not have these items, keep them elsewhere or they’ve all run out at once?
With two much older children and a husband who all have packed lunches, there’s usually something that can be rustled up between the fridge, freezer and store cupboard.
Well done for donating to such a good cause.
Yes, condiments — all those little bottles that kick around and take up space. I try to keep mine to a minimum, but it’s amazing how much room those “long term residents” take up. It doesn’t help that we like to cook (hence, capers, siracha, horseradish, grey poupon, sundried tomatoes etc.), and that one flavor of jam is deemed not enough variety. I try to limit my condiment storage to the refrigerator door, but it’s a fight.
When I lived as a student in Germany (back in the 80’s), I was first introduced to the idea of SMALL refrigerators. I came to appreciate and like the custom there of buying fresher food, and buying it closer to when you actually planned to prepare the food – rather than the “major shopping” trips to the grocery store I was used to.
I love a sparse refrigerator too – it’s much easier to see what you have on hand and easy to keep organized!
Agreed. That’s why we do it, plus it reduces/eliminates food waste as there is little that can go off!
Mine doesn’t get down to empty, but I have gotten better with meal planning. That is a huge time and stress saver during the work week, not to mention a big help with the budget.
The empty fridge is great, compared to the full fridge with the leftovers that get pushed back into the depths of the fridge, only to be discovered again when they are ready for the garbage. Less is more. 🙂
I also enjoy an empty fridge. I’m still fine tuning my menu planning but it’s getting better and easier! I really need to clean the fridge too! 😉
Yes, I love an empty fridge too. It means we’ve managed to use everything up. Also a great time to clean it before going grocery shopping. 🙂
Like you, I love to meal plan! While I’m not so good at doing freezer meals for later, I plan each weekly dinner and shop from a list. I find this is the best way for me to cut down on waste and keep the cost lower. I’d love to see some tips on meal planning if you have any to share!
I always feel victorious when our fridge is empty of any leftovers or pre-prepared foods. We have the usual assortment of condiments and always have carrots available along with some cheese and tortillas. Those are my absolute minimum fridge contents because even then, I know I can whip up a relatively healthy lunch of a black bean quesadilla with salsa and carrots on the side.
I hate throwing food away! Thanks for your good website and good luck with the donations. Greetings from Norway 🙂
I am currently lodging with my landlords and my fridge is down in the basement (two flights down!). There is no nipping to the fridge to see what is there or to grab something I forgot to get out when cooking dinner. This has made me a lot more conscious of what I have in the fridge at any one time and by meal planning it makes my trips up and down the stairs less too!! I am possibly shopping more as the shop is only a couple of minutes down the road and I walk past it when I get off the bus. When I say shopping though I mean getting a pint of milk and a tomato not a full on shop!! The one thing I am wasting is milk though. The last thing I want to do is get dressed, traipse down to the basement to get the milk and traipse back again so I can have my first cuppa of the morning. During the really cold months a pint if milk was lasting quite well on the windowsill but as we’ve been getting some sun it’s going quite so well!!!
For a while my family was desperately poor. Then after a new job, we weren’t. And having a fridge and pantry full of food felt like security. But now, with the fridge stuffed to the gills, it is overwhelming. We can’t find anything, so we eat junk food, instead of the healthy stuff I have purchased (and then have to throw away when it goes bad). I am working on balance. Thank you for sharing.
It’s never gotten as close to yours! Whenever we get to the last gallon of milk, my 6yo freaks out and tells me I need to get to the store.
You are my hero! I hate a fridge full of food-like things yet there’s nothing to eat. I always hesitate to buy a bottle of some speciality condiment for a specific dish as I know the remander of the bottle will linger untouched for months taking up real estate in my fridge. So I stopped buying speciality condiments & my fridge & wallet have been better off for it!
I’m exactly the same! I love to know I haven’t wasted any food. Buying fresh when you need is so good for both us and the environment (and local businesses), but also such a privilege. Nice work on the donations as well 🙂