In life, you should be cautious when getting advice on two subjects:

1. How to deal with a troubled relationship
2. How to organize a refrigerator

Whoever gives you advice on how to handle a problematic relationship will surely give you guidance based on his/her very own past experiences, and that’s not necessarily the best piece of advice for your own situation.

The same pretty much applies to refrigerator organizing tips. Whoever gives you advice on how to organize YOUR refrigerator will basically give you tips based on his/her eating habits, grocery shopping routine, number of family members, tendency to entertain and so much more.

Since this is a home-diy blog, I’ll pass on the troubled relationship topic and I’ll go straight to the fridge subject.

Anyone can tell us how to organize our desk drawers because that’s where we all keep pens & markers, envelopes, sticky notes and other office supplies that are pretty much alike. We should gladly accept advice on how to organize our linen closets because all linen closets have more or less the same content: folded sheet sets, towels and coverlets. The same applies to our kitchen cabinets (I bet that’ s where 99% of us keep our dishes and bowls, glasses and serving plates), and to kitchen drawers, closets, medicine cabinets and so on.

But who can tell us how to organize our refrigerators?

Over the years, I’ve come across many interesting ideas, but none really ended up working for me.

I remember being thrilled with having a Lazy Susan that would keep all the salad dressing bottles & the condiments well organized on one of my refrigerator’s shelf. But the Lazy Susan took too much space and apart from ketchup, mayo and two types of mustard, I didn’t have much more. Plus, what do you keep on your refrigerator doors if not all of the above?

I also loved storing eggs (either raw or boiled) into a pretty ceramic egg crate. What a sight when opening the fridge door! But I soon found it rather inconvenient as every time I needed to re-arrange the contents of my refrigerator,  I had to move the crate with such mastery in order to avoid ending up with broken eggs.

I was also among the first who bought (in many sizes) (and shipped to my sister overseas) (and shipped to my mother overseas) the clear plastic refrigerator bins when these first appeared on the market a few years ago, thinking that they were the most amazing invention. But the type of yogurt I buy did not fit in them, and I never used the ones designated for the cans because we rarely buy soda drinks. In addition, most bins where either half empty and taking too much valuable space from my refrigerator, or too full and I couldn’t stack them on top of each other. They always looked messy, too ~  I would throw in there deli bags and everything looked unorganized. I still use them for storage, but not in the fridge anymore.

So, I’ve come to realize that it’s really difficult to give advice on how to keep a refrigerator well organized and clean, simply because everyone keeps different types of food.  Some of us will fill up our fridges mostly with produce, others will keep many types of dairy products, many will have plenty of juice/soda drinks etc. And if that was not enough diversity, just count how many times per day the content of our fridge changes and how often we have to re-arrange everything. Personally, one moment I need space for seven huge eggplants and a few hours later I need to find space for my moussaka.

For years, I’ve tried to do my best in keeping my refrigerator well organized and clean – with not very good results, I must admit – but it was not until recently that I made ONE SIMPLE CHANGE that drastically upgraded the interior of my fridge (and our lives) and it can work for everyone:

As a general rule, everything that goes on the refrigerator shelves has to be inside a container (square or rectangular, please take note of this detail, I’ll come back to it later), preferably lidded. 

 No more leftovers in plates and bowls covered with plastic wrap. No more smelly and oily take-out containers. No more deli meats in half opened plastic bags. No more fruit and vegetable in semi ripped super market clear plastic bags.  No more unidentified food covered with aluminum foil.

I now transfer ALMOST EVERYTHING into a lidded square or rectangular food container.

ALL food containers can then be nicely stacked on top of each other inside the refrigerator.  The square and rectangular food containers take less space than plates, bowls and round containers. All the food looks much more appetizing. Everyone can see what is where so there is less frustration.  Plus, the food stays fresh for longer, so there is less waste.

I can count only advantages!

To make this work, I banned all round containers from my fridge (and kitchen cabinets). Yes, I did give away all the round food storage containers and replaced them with square and rectangular STRAIGHT SIDED containers which fit nicely next to and on top of each other, leaving no unused space. As my daughter says (who is in the path of becoming an organizing expert), unless you have a round refrigerator and round kitchen cabinets, why on earth would you need round food containers?

Some fruit and vegetables (berries, kiwis, cherry tomatoes etc.) already come in square or rectangular lidded containers, so these may go into the fridge in their original packaging, unless they need to be consumed right away ~ in which case I wash them and store them in my own food containers. I still keep the eggs in their carton, because I don’t want to miss the  “good by” date, and the container is anyway always rectangular, plus the eggs are just safer in there.

Just like any other rule, there are exceptions. For example, yogurt, sour cream and other types of food that come in round containers will always be a challenge, so, I try to keep those all gathered in one spot. Or sometimes I transfer them into my own container (that works well for store bought guacamole, crab salad and more ready to eat food).

 

Also, note that apart from the regular square or rectangular lidded food containers, I also use tall and narrow plastic containers like these ice cube bins that do wonders  (as seen on the left top shelf of my refrigerator). I wrote a blog post long ago on how I wash and store produce and I still use this method when I have lots to store. You can find the link here. Lately, I also use these tall plastic bins to store items from the deli.

Just like any other rule, you have to try and stick to it ~ and I’ve been doing pretty well because the results are amazing, I see them daily.  It’s really rewarding to open the doors to a clean and tidy refrigerator.

If you’re still struggling with keeping your refrigerator organized, this is the only piece of advice that you should absolutely keep ~ no matter your eating habits, this method works for everyone!