Neither. The “current” milk is standing, the rest is laid down on the shelves towards the back. This keeps it at a stable temperature, there is no ambiguity about which to grab, and keeps valuable door space free from clutter.
It depends on the user(s). Which position do you naturally reach for first? That’s where the oldest stock goes, with newer stock “behind” that in descending order of age. You always want to rotate stock, such that the oldest stock gets used up first.
The door suffers from temp fluctuations and is often the warmest part of the fridge. Milk is sensitive to this so it should be at the back of the fridge not the door. The door is just to keep things chilled, or for keeping things from going bad.
I’d put them oldest further from the hinge. My logic is that they’d be closer to me when I open the door that way (same logic applies whether you store them in the door or fridge). However, of you have a weirdly designed fridge like mine, it makes more sense to keep them on the right side of the body of the fridge because we have double French style doors and it can be sort of cumbersome to try and open the right door and grab the milk if it’s sitting toward the middle away from the hinge due to the left door not being open and my arm bumping it / it being partially in the way. The left side is ruled out completely because there are shelves that are too low and don’t allow enough headroom for the milk.
I don’t care.
I feel like most comments here are missing the point. I think you understand the concept of “first in, first out” and are just wondering if the “first” here should be closer to the door hinge or further. You want to establish a standard for your family, like “Always keep the oldest milk to the left and use that up first”, but are not sure what logic to use to determine if you should keep the old milk to the left or right .
In short, I say that the oldest milk should be placed further from the hinge.
My logic comes from my experience in the restaurant industry and actually arranging coolers. Optimally, you want to make it so that without thinking, in a rush, the first item a user sees is the oldest one. This is usually the item that is closest to the door/opening/user/whatever. In the case of storing items in the door itself, I would say that the further an item is from the hinge, the closer it is to the user.
Whatever you choose to set as your household standard, the most important part is to make sure all users in the household understand the logic and follow the same pattern. Realistically, it is pretty arbitrary where the “first” milk is kept. Everyone just needs to agree on a single standard.
In response to "just use up your milk before buying a second one"
There are times when you want to always keep a staple ingredient on hand and never run out. If you wait until you have none before you buy more, you may unintentionally end up in a situation in which you are unable to restock that staple in a timely fashion for some reason because some life situation arose. In cases of these staples, you will often end up with two units on hand: one that is partially empty that you are focusing on using up, and a second one that is full and waiting for the first one to get emptied before you start using it. Furthermore, depending on how critical the staple is and how much you expect to use before you have the ability to restock, you may actually want to have three or more units on hand. Maybe you are going to host a large family event and want to stock up so you have enough on hand for everyone. Maybe your grocery store is going to be closed on your normal shopping day next week, so you want to stock up so you do not have to go shopping that week. Maybe the store was having a sale on the smaller size, so you calculated that it was actually a better unit price for you to buy several of those than to buy just one of the larger size. Regardless of why you have more than one on hand, it is smart to set a standard for which one (left, right, etc.) should be the one you always use up first.
Yay … a solid argument!
Thank you.
I keep the new, unopened milk in the back of the main part of the fridge until it’s called to action for door duty
one milk at a time. Replace after the old one is used up
If today is shopping day and you have a days worth of milk left you’re not going to buy a new milk?
I usually forget, but if I remember I just chug the remaining milk.
Then use the already open one? If I see multiple milk in my fridge, I find the one someone else opened already
Me too.
Literally just throw it wherever. You know the milk you bought most recently, only open it after finishing the older one.
What do you mean you have 3 milks, wtf
My partner and I keep anywhere from 3 to 6 half gallons of milk in our fridge at a time. We’re plant based and the stores don’t sell them in full containers. I don’t actually know the milk I bought most recently because they typically all look the same. We try to keep them organized them by FIFO with the oldest in the front so we can grab and use those first without having to read the tiny “best by” dates.
Aligned oldest to newest in the back farthest from the door.
anything else invites ruin
Civilization depends on order and shared values.
Milk goes at the back of the fridge
Well look at this fat cat here that can afford multiple milks…
Nah, for real, put the newest milk in the back, use up the oldest milk first.
Yep. FIFO. First in first out.
should milk even be on the door? isn’t that the warmest spot?
My girlfriend puts the milk on the door… Ok, not preferred but not worth a fight. The issue is she puts it with handle facing out which barely fits and even flexs the little band of of plastic holding stuff to the door. If it is rotated 90 degrees it fits perfectly but according to her its “harder to pull out” since you need to lift and rotate instead of just lifting…
Is this appropriate grounds to break up?
/s yes it annoys me but not nearly enough to break up.
Consider the amount of strength required to make either movement. It might turn out that one way requires more strength than the other.
It’s takes more the way she does it because it scrapes across the plastic band adding friction…
Did you account for any height difference between you? If she’s shorter then it might still be harder for her to get leverage with the way it’s turned. Just throwing out possible reasons for her convictions idk lol
Well she used to work in a warehouse so she should know how to put stuff on shelves.
Anyways I’m pretty sure the reason for her convictions was the bodies they found in the trunk…
J/K just a funny response to that phrase
It’s yo’ fridge
Do what you wanna do.
I ain’t gonna tell you
How to stock it, too.
You gotta live your life,
Cereal if you want it too
