1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methods and devices to ensure the safe storage of food and, specifically, to a method and device to display the identity and storage time of food items in a refrigerator.
2. Description of Related Art
Most people have discovered mold growing on food in a refrigerator. The common response is a slight shudder of revulsion followed by quick disposal of the offending item. Sometimes one does not discover the problem until the food is being prepared for consumption or is actually about to be eaten. If the spoilage is not readily visible, the tainted item may actually be eaten, with mild to severe medical consequences. Although the problem is most apparent with readily perishable food in a refrigerator, food in a freezer, and even dried or canned food in a cupboard also deteriorate, albeit at a slower pace. The prior art solution to this pervasive problem has ranged from periodic disposal of all stored items to various lists attached to the front of the refrigerator or cupboard and manually maintained.
The problem with manual lists is that it is difficult to unambiguously identify the stored items. If one stored a piece of cheese in a refrigerator and wrote "cheese" on a list on the refrigerator door, confusion would result if there were more than one piece of cheese in the refrigerator. An attempt could be made to track the age of the particular item by also writing the date of storage on the list. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to look at such a list and immediately spot the item which is approaching the end of its useful life. When faced with a list of dates, the human mind does a poor job of instantly computing the current age of the item based on its date of storage. Also, most people do not have a clear idea of how long a given leftover should be stored. Furthermore, even if a leftover on the list is identified as approaching the end of its useful life, it is often difficult to easily locate the leftover in the refrigerator. Many perishable items cleverly hide on upper shelves or behind other items.
It is an object of the present invention to solve these common problems of food storage management;
It is another object to provide a method and device to furnish a ready display of the names of the stored food items, an indication of how long such an item should be stored, and a display of how long each item has actually been stored; and
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a quick and simple way to locate a food item stored inside a crowded refrigerator.