Organizing Your Refrigerator

Use Baskets to Organize Refrigerator and Freezer

I find that if I use wire baskets (or plastic) to organize my freezer and refrigerator, it is so much easier to find things and also to clean them. I move the oldest items in the freezer to the bottom bin so they get used sooner. This has saved me a lot of time looking for things.

By desertgal from Phoenix, AZ

Use Tray for Containers in Refrigerator

I live in an older mobile with the original refrigerator. The light doesn't work and most of the slats for the shelves are broken. For this reason, I have to keep the shelves pretty close together and I find that limiting in keeping things from getting shoved into the back and forgotten.

Then, I found an old tray from a camper refrigerator and came up with a pretty nifty idea. If you have food storage containers that fit inside it, and they are not too tall, you can use this as a tray of sorts,and slide it in and out. The only drawback I found, is that if you don't hold it when you pull it out, you can lose the stuff in front. That just means you have to hold it with one hand while putting in or taking out the container.

For me, it's a small price to pay for knowing you can fit 5 or 6 containers. I use these just for leftovers, so I know to look there first for foods. I hope this helps. You might be able to do the same thing with an old cake pan you no longer use. Just coat it with newspaper or foil, and slide it from front to back or from side to side.

By Poor But Proud from Coos Bay, OR

Keep Small Jars Organized in a Plastic Basket

I live alone and have a pretty small refrigerator. I found that buying one of those little plastic baskets from the dollar store and putting all your jams, jellies, etc. in it on the bottom shelf of your refrigerator. It makes it a whole lot easier to find smaller stuff like that, just pull out the basket and it's all there. It's just something I came up with while cleaning out my refrigerator one day and found jars here, there, and everywhere.

By Barbara from Evington, VA

Label Leftovers in the Frig

I buy removable labels at an office store. I put them on the lids of containers with the date and type of food. Now we know what leftover is in the frig. I use the 7 day rule and throw out when necessary.

By retired person from Baton Rouge, LA

Keeping Your Refrigerator Clean and Organized

I use plastic placemats to line the top shelf of my refrigerator. I cut up the old placemats to fit the top shelf and it really helps when it comes time to clean. Milk jugs usually make the most mess in my refrigerator and this way I just pick up the placemat and clean it off and do not have all the hard milk stains to clean up. I put one placemat on each side of the top shelf.

The other item I use to help keep the fridge clean and organized is one of the plastic sock holders you can purchase in stores like Walmart. This holds my condiments either on the shelf or in the side drawer. This way if something like soy sauce drips, it is inside this plastic holder and not on my fridge. I use several of these in the door of my fridge.

This also helps when you are cleaning as you can lift out the entire container for cleaning. You can see the blue placemat under the milk, and there is one of the sock holders with condiments in it.

By Susan Capps

Organizing Jars in a Refrigerator

I use a double stacked turntable in my refrigerator to store jars of different heights in a compact area.

By vimom from Pittsburgh, PA

Save Money by Organizing Your Refrigerator

Always add a label with the date a product was opened to insure freshness. If you do not plan to use leftovers right away, immediately freeze them for future use.

Once a week empty the fridge prior to grocery shopping so that you do not purchase something that you already have, while empty wipe the inside clean before returning food to the fridge. Keep a check list on your computer (I use excel) of all the most frequently used items so that you can highlight when they are needed.

By Donnaschmitt215 from Glendale, NY

Organize Your Sandwich Fixings and Condiments

Try keeping most of your sandwich making items in a plastic basket in your refrigerator. Not only does this save multiple trips to and from (opening the door each time) but your kids won't require much help at snack time! The same applies for home picnic items, all the condiments simply get toted to the patio in one swift trip!

Clean The Inside Of Your Refrigerator Weekly

I used to think everyone did this, but they don't. Besides the benefit of keeping it clean, this will prevent food from getting shoved to the back and forgotten about. It will also help you plan your menus to use the food available. It will also make you a better cook, because you will combine what you have in your refrigerator to make some dishes you have never tried before.

Source: My mother.

By Judy from NY

Keeping the Refrigerator Shelves Clean

To keep your refrigerator fast and easy to clean, use old vinyl place mats on glass shelves and cut pieces to fit for inside of condiment shelves, vegetable bins, etc. Simply pull out, wash off, dry, and put back into place. Mats are available in many decorator looks too! No more bending over for long periods of time!

By Denise from Crescent City, CA

Organizing Your Fridge

To keep my fridge organized, I found some second hand plastic drawer units. I then keep my cheeses, lunch meat, eggs, and breads in them. This really helps anyone with a small kitchen and, like me, needing to get all the food for the month in one shopping trip.

To keep the dressing and catsup, etc, organized, I put them in used flavored water bottles. I use a black marker to abbreviate the contents on the cap and the bottle, to make sure one doesn't get mixed up with another. It takes up half the room as the odd shaped bottles, and keeps things organized. I hope you can use this trick, as it's really made a difference in the fridge.

Fridge Organizing With Metal Desk Trays

I had a lot of the old fashioned metal desk trays. These now are in the fridge to help keep things organized, i.e. all the dairy products including: yogurt, sour cream, and sliced cheese are in one. Bread stuff like muffins and bagels are in another. This works on countertops and pantries, too. Repurpose an otherwise sort of ugly item and reorganize a chaotic space.

By Linda from Vista, CA

Organizing Your Refrigerator

If you're like most people, keeping up with the organization of your refrigerator is one of the last things on your mind. We generally tend to forget about our refrigerator until there is a problem, like we suddenly need to put something in it and there's not enough room. You can actually avoid this problem though, if you organize it well to begin with.

Cleaning

Organizing your refrigerator is also a great time to clean it so you might as well take everything out of it, give it a good wash down, and just start from scratch. Dishwashing liquid is a good cleaner to use and paper towels work well to clean and dry with. Don't forget to take out the shelves and wash them down as well.

Get Rid of the Waste

Next, you'll want to throw away everything that has expired. If you have a compost pile then remember that many things can go in there. Food items that you'll want to avoid composting are dairy, fruits, and meats.

Organizing Your Food

Once you're ready to put things back in the refrigerator you should start by grouping things together. Use one drawer for all of the cheeses, one shelf (preferably inside the refrigerator door) for any condiments that need to be refrigerated, and put all of the vegetables together. If you have several drawers and they're all about the same size then put the items that you use on a more regular basis closer to the top so that you can just reach in and grab them.

If you lack shelf space then simple under shelf baskets and stackable shelves that can be removed are good ideas. These can help keep things separated and therefore easier to get to.

It might be a good idea to combine some things if you can. For instance, if you have three cartons of eggs but they're not all full, empty the eggs into one carton if you can and toss the empty ones. Likewise, merge salad dressing bottles, juices, etc. if you have more than one of the same kind and they've been opened.

Keep Items Handy

Although you might be tempted to put the larger items in the back so that they don't hide the smaller ones, this doesn't always work to your advantage. If you need to use the large item (like a carton of milk that's about to expire) then put it in the front. That way, you'll remember it and it won't go to waste. With that in mind, once you have organized your items you might want to leave a special space up in the very front to highlight items that you need to use soon or that you plan to use for your next meal.

Easy Refrigerator Slide Shelves

Make a slide in/out shelf in your fridge by using 1-2 cookie sheets. On these place your bottles, jars, etc. Gives you easy access because they slide in and out.

By Ms Butterfly770 from Oak Creek, Wisconsin