I have always loved seeing what other people eat and how they organize their homes. This post marries the two with the question: How do you organize your fridge!?
How do you organize your fridge?
I know this can be a polarizing topic!
There are some best practices for food safety: experts will tell you not to put the milk on the door because it can spoil the fastest. (We drink ours too fast for this to be a big concern…)
They’ll also say to put the meat on the bottom so any drips will be contained. I always put my meat/fish on a plate for this reason! My bottom shelf is right above all the fresh produce.
Fruits and veggies should be stored separately at different humidity levels.
But beyond the storage zones, how you actually organize your fridge is up to you!
Fridge Organizing Tips
I found a bunch of good articles on tips for storage from labels to magnetic racks to stick-on and slide-in drawers.
- Rachael Ray + The Home Edit Video
- How to Organize Your Refrigerator in 12 Simple Steps – Simply Self Storage
- The Best Way to Organize Your Refrigerator – The Kitchn
Favorite Storage Items
While I love so many of those tips, particularly the containers and labels, I always lean towards the simplest option: have fewer things in there to begin with and you don’t need to label each drawer!
When it comes to organizing what’s left after you’ve pared down your fridge contents, I don’t think you can go wrong with a few of these bins! And I swear by our egg organizer. We probably should invest in one of these for seltzers because every so often we end up with cans spilling out of the fridge and onto the floor if a certain elementary-aged child doesn’t open the box correctly!
We generally don’t have trouble finding the food in our fridge thanks to a fairly minimalist approach. My goal each week is to eat almost everything before we re-stock on Sundays. Sometimes we have fruit (like citrus) carry over, or eggs, but my goal is for all leftovers, ingredients, and fresh items to be consumed.
Here’s How We Organize Our Fridge
I’m using the little pink basket to corral our weekly Blue Apron dinner ingredients – the knick-knacks and meats. Any veggies or fruits go in the appropriate drawers. Potatoes, cans, and room temp things in the pantry!
Our fruit and cheese drawers are always full.
I also like to have a tall area (where we store dinners) left open bottles of wine or other tall packages, like a to-go bag or cake!
Sauces and things go on the door
I am always trying to minimize those…
And gasp – I have been storing my milk in the door.
It’s just such a great, easy-access spot where you can grab the gallon without knocking anything over. We are usually in and out very fast, so the door doesn’t hang around at room temp for long, and we drink it in a few days time.
But the best place for milk – we can all agree – is in the back on the shelf – next to where I have the dinners. I bet I could swap out some of the shelf foods to make a nice spot for the milk.
In my next fridge I’d love to have one of those third drawers between the fridge doors and the freezer. We use our big drawer for drinks and overflow, mostly because you have to open both doors to access it.
elle says
The “don’t keep milk in the door” rule isn’t accurate. The cold in the fridge isn’t just hanging around in the air in there, and needing to be replenished every time the door is opened. The products themselves are cold, and keep the temp stable even if the door is opened. Also, we take milk out of the fridge to pour it, so it doesn’t matter if it’s in the door or 18 inches back in the fridge. It’s more important that the fridge be fairly full of items at all times so you might try filling a couple of gallon jugs with water and keeping those in the fridge, adding another as you remove products throughout the week, since an empty fridge is a warm and sad one.
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog says
So organised! My fridge is tiny so it doesn’t need much organising – there’s not much in it at a time! ???
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Erika says
Where’s your food?!?! Your fridge looks empty compared to mine 🙂 Mine may not be ‘organized’ other than putting what needs to be eaten first in front and I know where everything is. I don’t know about the milk rule but I keep mine on the bottom shelf above the drawers so the kids can reach it.
Kath Younger says
It’s in there! It’s also a big fridge. This wasn’t taken on day 1 of grocery store trip either.
Jen says
Wow, you’re so organized! I’m wondering where all the food is, too. Do your kids eat lunch at home, or pack? My kids (10 and 5) never stop eating.
Kath Younger says
Fruit bowl, the pantry, the freezer. Mazen eats at school now and Birch usually has an almond butter sammie with sides each day.
Susan says
Great post. I food prep a lot, so my refrigerator is full of meals to grab. But I love the idea of putting the drinks in the bottom drawer. I have been using the bottom drawer for things like celery, green onions, spinach and salad mix. But the food always freezes. I have put the temperature of the refrigerator as low as I think is safe (38) but it’s still a problem. After reading this post I’ll move things around and put the drinks, cheeses and other heartier items in that bottom drawer. Thanks as always for the great information.
ellie says
I’m so nosy (maybe that’s why I like blogs so much?!), so I love seeing inside everyone’s fridges! I’m not sure I had ever heard that about milk, but I also don’t keep milk in my fridge, so that may explain it lol. I have to say, investing in “pretty” bins and matching nice storage containers makes me much more excited to open my friend/likely to eat leftovers, and I love my stacking wine bottle holders! So much more efficient. I do have to laugh, a little, at your sauces! I appreciate how minimalist you can be there because I probably have like 19 open bottles of sauce in my fridge – I just love allllll the different flavors. I also use that bottom drawer solely for cheese – whoops?! It is so aspirational that y’all do a good job emptying the fridge every week before grocery shopping; especially in the pandemic/not going to the store that often, I usually keep extra backstock “just in case.” It makes it a little more cluttered, but I do love the idea of the bins for specific items to group like with like. Whew, I had more thoughts on this than I thought! Maybe you should have readers share their fridges with you via stories so we can get a peek into everyone’s different methods; I learn so much from you that I bet I’d get some tips and tricks from the KERF community.
Kath Younger says
I would 100% do a round up post of other people’s photos and notes!
Rachel Lynn Dougherty says
I used to have a fridge like yours. I used that middle drawer for lemons, limes, and ginger and put meat and cheese in that bottom drawer. We have a new home and smaller space and replaced the ill fitting large fridge with a smaller European style one. The old one is downstairs and I keep beverages, plus sauces and ingredients I do not use everyday. I like having the essentials upstairs, but definitely have to stay on top of both spaces.
Angie says
What do you do with sandwich bread, bagels, etc? We tend to keep those in the fridge (to prevent mold), and they take up a LOT of space.
Kath Younger says
We keep them on the counter! I learned with Great Harvest that keeping bread in the fridge isn’t ideal. While it lasts a little longer, it doesn’t taste as good. So either freezer or counter is ideal.
Angie says
Have you ever used a bread box?
Kath Younger says
I haven’t…
Erin says
Not being able to open that bottom drawer without opening both fridge doors is my biggest annoyance! Ugh. You’ve inspired me to move our deli meat and cheese (which I reach for A LOT with a toddler + dog, ha) into clear plastic bins on one of the main shelves. Thanks for the inspiration! 🙂
Amanda says
LOVE this post! I, too, am fascinated by what people eat and how they organize their space!!