Organizing Your Fridge

I’ve been doing a lot of food shopping lately at a warehouse club, so right now I’ve got a lot of food in the house. A good deal of it is in the fridge. I’ve noticed, though, that some of the shelves have gotten so crowded that you can’t see what is in the back of the shelf or get to it.

That means the possibility of food that doesn’t get eaten which equals wasted money. Not good.

Even if you don’t have as much food as I do in your fridge, it pays to clean it out and organize it properly.

Don’t you love what Jenn from Clean and Scentsible did to her fridge? So creative!

Here are some things I learned from researching fridge organization:

Specific areas of the fridge are meant for specific foods. For instance, meat should be stored at the very bottom in order to prevent contamination if it leaks. If you have the room, fresh meats and ground meat should be stored above raw chicken.

Here’s an interesting one. You don’t have to store produce in the designated drawer. Some produce, like tomatoes, do better on the counter. Apples give off a gas that makes other produce ripen faster. If you need ripe avocados tomorrow, put them in a paper bag with an apple. And - this one is especially for we ADD Moms - if your produce drawer is where veggies go to turn to slime and mold, take the drawer out and use open baskets instead. This tip plays into our visual learning preferences.

Use plastic baskets to corral like items. This is one tip I already use. We go through a lot of lemons at our house, so I keep some in a basket on the shelf within easy reach. I also use another one for Mexican food items like salsa, tortillas and queso. We eat a lot of tacos and Mexican food, so it’s helpful to have everything together. If you pack lunches and make a lot of sandwiches, you could use this idea for storing all of the lunch stuff together. And before you go out and buy baskets and bins, check to see how many plastic containers you have with no lid. Great way to put them to use!

Of course, as you’re organizing your fridge, be sure to clear out expired foods and address that condiment mess. How can one family use all of those condiments? We have so many they overflow into the fridge. Hey…. that’s a great idea for another basket!

Tagged as: AD/HD, ADD, ADD Moms, Attention Deficit Disorder, Clean and Scentsible, clutter, creative, forgetfulness, fridge, housekeeping, Organization, organized, organizing, structure, systems