We’ve all seen the celebrity blogs with the famous cookie stacked jars, and perfect water selection fridges, and sometimes, dare I say, even a walk-in freezer (#goals). If you’re an organizing junkie like me, then the fridge is a big part of that. I always say, “If you have a messy fridge, then you have a messy life.” I love keeping my kitchen organized with food storage containers, and my fridge is the very same way. I also love having treats for guests like muffins or bagels in beautiful glass jars and covered clear serving jars.
Organizing a fridge is more than just cleaning it out. There are some definite things you need to know! Today’s post is all about where to buy containers (for every price range), where to store the food, and how to organize it all. After reading this post, you’ll definitely be inspired to get at it!
Here are my tips on organizing like a pro. These tips will also help you avoid waste, and with grocery costs going up, we hate that! How many $2 avocados are you going to keep throwing away??
Put Perishables Front and Center
It’s way too easy to forget about things like avocados, cheese, dips, and perishables (for me salad bags) because they’re hidden at the back of a shelf, or under a lid. I’ve stopped putting my salad bags and veggies into drawers because they always go bad before I use them, because I’ve forgotten they were there. I now like to put all those perishables into colanders, crates, and small fruit bowls, and then put them front and center where I can see them. This will remind you and your family to use the perishables first, and help prevent unnecessary food waste.
Separate Your Fruits and Veggies
Hopefully by now you know that you should separate your fruits and vegetables, but why? Did you know that most fruits produce a gas that can cause vegetables to decompose faster? If you really want to make your and kitchen look like a celebrity, go a step further and separate those goods with a divided drawer, rather than tossing all your fruits and vegetables into one crisper. I also have glass bowls and wooden bowls that I use to leave out things that don’t need refrigeration such as lemons, oranges, melons, or avocados for the next day.
Where to Store Food?
The top shelf and door tend to be the warmest “zones”, while the middle and bottom shelves get progressively cooler. So, you should keep condiments in the door, dairy products, eggs and spreads on the upper shelves, meats and milk on the lowest shelf and fruits and vegetables where you want, but separated.
Shelf liners are also a must for the bottom drawer. Before the pandemic I used to buy meat and seafood at the butcher or seafood counter at the grocery store, and they always wrap it in paper, right? Well, one thing I noticed is how badly those papers leak — messy and annoying. So, now I use shelf liners for the drawers. Those will also cut down on wear and tear and are easy to remove and wash.
Where to Buy the Organizing Goods?
I love a good Home Goods trip! Home Goods has a ton of glass serving dishes, food storage containers, not to mention I love the spices and oils they sell! They also have a great selection of fancy pastas that would look great in your new containers.
Walmart (online) has the best glass storage containers with lids that clamp. Those are my favorite. I bought a few sets of the round glass bowls, and not only do they work great for storage, they’re also amazing for when you have friends over as clear dip containers!
Ikea, believe it or not, has great large silver bowls that I love not only to use at our factories, but also for large bowls of fruit etc.!
If you have a bigger budget, Williams Sonoma has amazing kitchenware, and I love all of my SMEG brand appliances. SMEG even has a Dolce and Gabanna Toaster, lol. Gucci also has great kitchen accessories and bowls as well.
Tag me in your fridge or kitchen edit so I can re-post your pic on @AskheatherMariannablog on Instagram!
XOXO,
Heather