Easy Refrigerator Organization Tips
A messy refrigerator can be overwhelming. If you’re in need of some refrigerator organization tips, you’ve come to the right place.
A refrigerator is the focal point of the kitchen, and yet it easy becomes unmanageable. It gets crowded, things go bad, and food gets wasted. Even worse, your fridge will start to smell. How unappealing is that?
CLEAN IT OUT
The first thing you need to do is take everything out so you can clean and really take inventory of your needs. Organization and cleaning go hand in hand: you need to clean to organize well, while having an organized fridge will make it easier to clean. As you go, toss out anything that is obviously old or that you are sure you won’t eat. Then read labels and make sure no expiration dates have passed.
While you have everything out, take time to give your fridge the deep scrub it needs. You can begin by removing anything that can be taken out—shelves and drawers—and moving them to the sink to wash. Fill a bowl with a few squirts of dish soap and warm water, then grab a sponge or microfiber cloth and get to work! Scrub all surface areas, making sure to get into hard-to-reach corners and places where the glass meets the frame. Don’t forget to wipe down the walls and inside the door, especially in nooks and crannies where crumbs and other spills can hide.
ARRANGE YOUR SHELVES
Before you begin putting everything back in, think about the types of food you buy and the arrangement that makes most sense to you. Many people just keep the same fridge layout that comes standard, but most fridges these days allow for customization. Adjust the side shelves to fit your condiments; move the inner shelves to fit your family’s lifestyle. This might even mean moving a shelf up to make room for large bottles, leaving you space to store shorter items like sour cream and dips on the shelf above. You may even find that removing a shelf entirely will free up the space you need. Do whatever works for you.
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BUY ACCESSORIES
Though many fridges these days come equipped with specialty areas for certain foods—a nook for eggs and butter, for example—you can and should shop for additional accessories to help you further organize. Containers and plastic bins can help you compartmentalize areas that will make it easier for everyone to pull things out and put them away. Plus, they can make it even easier to clean—if something spills, you only have to worry about cleaning out the container, not wiping up a mess that has expanded to the rest of the fridge.
GROUP ITEMS TOGETHER
When you have items that generally go together, such as peanut butter and jelly or ketchup and mustard, it makes sense to store them together. They will be easier to find and simpler to put away. To make food retrieval even more seamless, you could use plastic bins to group like foods together. This way, you simply have to pull the bin out when you are ready to make lunch or serve burgers for dinner.
LABEL THINGS
Once you have everything back in the fridge, organized neatly into your new storage containers, you may want to invest in some labels so that everyone understands that there is now a designated place for everything. Since your needs might shift depending on the meal plan for the week, you may want to invest is some erasable labels, which allow for customization yet also give you the power to change your mind. You may want to label baskets, doors, and drawers. Dry erase tape works great for this.
