Simple Steps to Get Rid of the Onion Smell in Your Fridge

Share this post:

Many people like to keep onions in the fridge because it prolongs their life and also keeps them fresh. However, how disgusting is it when you open your fridge and are greeted with a disgusting odor?

It’s utterly disgusting and before you know it, this smell is going to permeate into other foods that are kept in the fridge as well.

You need to make sure that you prevent bad odors from contaminating your fridge and onions are right up there at the top of the list.

Onions are a member of the lily family and they grow from bulbs like lilies. While the onions are kept inside their peels, you might not notice their odor as well.

However, once you remove the peel from the onion, the sharp smell will quickly begin to waft throughout the room. In fact, the smell is so strong that in most cases, even a well-sealed bag made out of plastic will not be able to keep the scent inside.

And if you keep these peeled onions in your fridge, it won’t be long before the smell spreads throughout the closed space.

Once the smell spreads throughout your fridge, you should know that it’s quite important for you to get rid of it as quickly as possible. The more you let the smell spread around the fridge, the more difficulty you are going to face in getting rid of the smell later on.

Now, there are a number of different steps that you can take in order to get rid of the smell of onions from your fridge.

Thankfully, you aren’t going to need anything special in order to get rid of the smell; standard household materials and chemicals are going to do the job just as well.

Here are a few things that you can do to get rid of the onion smell from your fridge.

Get Everything Out

The first thing that you need to do is to get everything out of the refrigerator.

You should know that almost all of the methods given in this article will require you to first take everything out of the fridge. Turn the fridge off and prop the door open.

The door of your fridge is automatically designed to close if there is nothing blocking the way so you can easily use a chair to keep it open while you remove everything from it.

Mix Your Solution

Once you have removed everything from your fridge, the next step that you need to take is to fill up a bucket with a solution that contains water and vinegar.

Mix both in equal quantities. Before you do anything else, it’s important that you remove the onion from your fridge and keep it far away from the refrigerator.

Then you need to start off by washing the inside of the refrigerator carefully with the solution. This is going to initiate the deodorization and cleaning process.

Vinegar is one of the most effective substances that you can use in order to get rid of the smell around the house, not just the fridge, so it’s a pretty effective option.

Once you are done cleaning the refrigerator and have applied the solution throughout the fridge, you need to wait at least 20 minutes. This is an appropriate amount of time that is needed to dry out the fridge from the inside.

Then when the inside has dried, you need to fill at least two bowls full of baking soda.

You need to closely inspect the refrigerator to determine the exact point where it is smelling. There is going to be a particular spot that is going to be smelling more than others. In most cases, this is the spot where you might have kept the onions in the fridge before.

You need to place one of these bowls at the site of where you kept the onions before. The other bowl needs to be kept on the shelf at the bottom of your fridge.

Now, you already know that getting rid of the smell of onion is not going to be an overnight task. In most cases, it is going to take you at least two to three days to get rid of the smell.

Now, obviously, most people can’t afford to leave their foodstuffs outside the fridge for such a long period of time. So what you can do is put all of the items back in the fridge and let it sit there for a while.

Once the baking soda has completely absorbed the smell of the onions, you can take them out and throw them away.

Once you throw away the baking soda, you might want to put a few drops of vanilla extract on a ball of cotton and then leave it in the fridge for a day or two as well. This is going to ensure that any lingering smell of the onion will be removed as well.

This is a great idea for people who want to get rid of the smell of onion without going through a lot of trouble.

A Thorough Cleaning

Another way to get rid of the smell of onions from your fridge is to give the whole fridge a thorough cleaning. This isn’t exactly a special solution but it should ideally be the first thing that you do in order to get rid of the smell of onions from your refrigerator.

As before, the first step is to make sure that you take out all of the food items that you have kept in the fridge. Make sure that you remove everything, including the food items in the door.

If there are certain items that need to be chilled at all times, you might want to consider putting them in a bag and placing them in a cooler box.

You need to get rid of any spoiled food or items that have crossed their “best by” date. Then you need to take out all of the shelves from your refrigerator and scrub them clean.

It is a wise move to make use of hot water and add some soap so that the strong smell of onions is removed from the shelves as well.

You might want to create a cleaning solution and use it to sanitize the exposed surfaces of the fridge as well. For instance, you can make a simple cleaning solution by taking a bit of chlorine bleach (usually one tablespoon) and then mixing it in a gallon of water.

This can be used to get rid of all stains of grime that might settle on the surfaces. It is important that you thoroughly clean the refrigerator from top to bottom.

More importantly, you will notice that by using this cleaning solution, you will be able to bring out the true white color of the interior surface. It’s also going to help minimize all odors that might have gotten stuck to the surface.

Finally, when you are done, you should let the interior dry for a while. Or you can also make use of a conventional dry towel in order to remove the humidity from the interior.

Make sure that the power to the fridge is turned off while you carry out the deep cleaning of the fridge.

Use Lemons

Citrus acid is one of the most effective cleaners and is going to help you get rid of the smell from your refrigerator with considerable ease. After all, when life gives you lemons, the least you can do is to use them to keep your fridge clean!

There are a number of different ways by which you can use lemon in order to clean your fridge.

For starters, you might want to consider soaking a few cotton balls with lemon juice and then use them in order to wipe down the surfaces of the refrigerator.

The lemon juice is going to help improve the smell and also remove the pungent onion smell from the fridge. This is a fantastic idea for people who want to get rid of the smell quickly.

However, you should know that there is a big risk that the smell will not be removed from the fridge. If the onion smell is quite deeply embedded, getting it out is going to be a big problem.

From time to time, you should also consider placing pieces of lemon in the fridge after cutting them open. Just keep them in a tray and place the tray inside the fridge.

The closed environment is going to do the rest in allowing the smell of lemons to move throughout the fridge.

You should know that most modern fridges come with deodorizers installed inside. These are designed to prevent any kind of smells from moving around the fridge so if you just take the onions out, the deodorizers are going to do their job and help you get rid of the smell on their own; however, it will take a bit of time.

Share this post: