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Give Fridge A Fresh Start

Rick Bonino Food Editor

So you thought you were going to kick back and relax with IN Food for a few minutes, huh?

Sorry, but today is the annual Whirlpool Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day - and if yours looks anything like ours, you’d better get started now if you hope to have it done by Thanksgiving.

According to a Whirlpool survey, 18 percent of the people polled cleaned their fridge twice a year, 5 percent only once and 3.5 percent, in the immortal words of Bob Dole, just don’t do it.

For free refrigerator cleaning advice and information on storing holiday leftovers, call (888) 253-2668, weekdays from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., through Dec. 1. Or visit Whirlpool’s World Wide Web site (http://www.whirlpool.com). Or send a self-addressed, business-sized envelope to: Whirlpool Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day, 43 N. Canal, Chicago, IL 60606.

Bird call

The Spokane Food Bank is seeking donations of frozen turkeys to help needy families have a happier Thanksgiving. Take turkeys in their original packaging, by Friday if possible, to the food bank offices at 1234 E. Front (cash donations also accepted), or drop them off at the KZZU-FM food drive in the parking lot of the Spokane Arena.

Families in need of a Thanksgiving food basket should call the Food Bank by Monday at 534-6678.

Beans talk

So does Thanksgiving bring back warm memories of gathering at the table around a steaming dish of green bean casserole made with French’s French Fried Onions?

Us, neither. But if you do have a holiday story about the stuff, write it down in 100 words or less and send it by Dec. 2 to: Reflections of the Green Bean Casserole Contest, 411 Park St., Upper Montclair, N.J. 07043. Grand prize is a gift basket worth $300, with 10 honorable mentions worth $30 each.

All entrants also receive a French’s recipe booklet. To get that by itself, send your name and address on a 3-by-5-inch index card to: Recipe News You Can Use, P.O. Box 6853, Young America, MN 55558-6853.

Now hear this

Elsewhere on the contest scene, the National Pasta Association will give a pound of pasta to the Second Harvest food bank for each entry in its “Exceptional Pastabilities” pasta recipe contest. Grand prize is a $1,000 donation to Second Harvest or other charity. Deadline is Dec. 15; for complete rules, call (703) 841-0818.

And a 12-month membership in the Seattle-area Roasters Select Coffee of the Month Club is the top prize in its coffee recipe contest, also with a Dec. 15 deadline. For information, call (800) 528-2728.

, DataTimes MEMO: We’re always looking for fresh food news. Write to: The Fresh Sheet, Features Department, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210. Call 459-5446; fax: 459-5098.

We’re always looking for fresh food news. Write to: The Fresh Sheet, Features Department, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210. Call 459-5446; fax: 459-5098.