Organizing The Fridge

Problem: My fridge was a Hodge-podge of food.  I never had any idea where anything would be, and when you have 3 whining kids at dinnertime that tends to dampen ones spirits.

Organizing the fridge is one of the best things you can do to save time when you’re making meals.  Fridge food tends to be the most healthy food, so if it’s organized and easily accessible it makes for better dinnertime/breakfast/lunch prep.  Here are a few tips I have learned for keeping it that way {and helping your kids keep it that way}.

1.  Long rows.  Just like in my pantry, I try to keep long rows of items.  I keep all the juice and milk in a long row, I keep all the yogurt in a long row with the most recent bought at the back.

2.  Analyze the space.  I have a weird spot under my deli meal drawer, which just happens to fit two things of eggs, one on top of the other.  We eat a LOT of eggs around here (even more since I started my meal plan).  I also keep cream cheese behind the eggs.  It’s totally random, but those tiny boxes tend to get lost other places in my fridge, but now I know it’s behind the eggs.

3.  Keep staples easily reachable.  For me, that’s sour cream, butter and yogurt for smoothies.  I keep those right at “hand” level on the right.  Easy out, easy away.

4.  Organize your door shelves into like items.  I separate condiments into similar items.  There is a sandwich/hamburger section, a salsa/Mexican section, a salad dressing section.  Along the bottom, it is such a large shelf I tend to keep a mish-mash of stuff.  It is what it is — the junk drawer of my fridge. 🙂

5.  Clean out your bins every month.  I’ve tried lining them, but then I just end-up cleaning up the lining and the drawer — so I just wash the drawers.  if anyone has a great tip for these, I’d love to hear it!  I also am really trying to keep cut-up veggies in this drawer, either to steam or to snack on at will.  My kids really like raw veggies, and I am trying to use that to my advantage.  Add a little dip and you’ve got yourself happy kids!

6.  I clean my entire fridge, pulling out shelves, etc. every 9 months or so.  I think that’s one of the most important parts of a fridge, how the shelves pull out and how easy they are to wash.  I mean, they’re never going to be “easy” but they can be easier.  I’m grateful for split shelves in most areas of my fridge, because it does clean up better.  I’ve mulled over using seal wrap or something on the shelves to keep them cleaner, but I have yet to get that far.

7.  I re-organize my fridge every week.  Everyone tends to grab and thrown (sometimes even me) and it needs a thorough going over to make sure you know what you have.

8.  I don’t use baskets or bins.  I think they waste space.  I had to laugh when I saw this video on fridge organization from Alejandra.  We have so much string cheese, leftovers, lunchmeat – I really need to pack it all in.  Am I missing something about fridge bins?  Do you use them?

So, what tips do you have for organizing the fridge?  Is it a hard area for you to keep organized?  Trying to have zones and areas may make it easier to manage.