Freezer and Refrigerator Organization

The first thing I did was figure out where our current freezer and refrigerator organization was failing. Like any other organization system, the most important step you need to take is to really examine how your current system works for you or is failing you. For me, I know that large, open spaces are an invitation to disaster. They just invite me to toss and forget.In our kitchen fridge/freezer, the lack of designated spaces resulted in foods just being jammed in wherever there was space. As a result, highly perishable foods were often pushed to the back and spoiling before they were uncovered.

I took everything out and used the opportunity to wipe down all the shelves and toss all expired foods and foods that I know just won’t be eaten.

I re-positioned shelves to best accommodate what would be stored on those shelves.

I knew I wanted to reorganize my kitchen fridge to keep all the most perishable items and foods that I wanted to get eaten sooner (leftovers) on the top shelf…in plain sight.

Use bins and containers to keep like things together.

Measure your available space and choose organization and bins that maximize that space. Once again, I spent a good deal of time making sure that I optimized every inch of space on each shelf… the bins I purchased were the very biggest I could find and still have room for 2 bins on each shelf.

Designate specific shelves for certain items

Label Everything!

Our kitchen freezer now has 4 bins; one for cold cuts/meats, one for cheese, one for frozen vegetables and one for our smoothie fixings.

Once again, I spent a good deal of time making sure that I optimized every inch of space on each shelf… the bins I purchased were the very biggest I could find and still have room for 2 bins on each shelf.

I finished this organization 2 months ago and am pleased to say that my system seems to be working. 

We are doing a much better of job of eating up leftovers and highly perishables as they are *right there* when we open the fridge. After this initial organization, I have a good idea of what we actually have in our fridge and knowing where everything should be will make it easier to figure out what I do need before I head to the grocery store.

Everyone’s fridge is configured differently and we have different things in our fridges. But these tips can work for everyone…the important thing is to really ‘study’ how your current freezer and refrigerator organization works…or doesn’t work… and then go from there.

If you have an additional tip for freezer and refrigeration organization, please pass it on below. I get a little geeky about organization.

So, just to recap:

• Think of ‘how’ and ‘why’ your current fridge and freezer organization works or doesn’t work.
• Designate specific shelves for certain items
• Use bins to keep like items together
• Square/Rectangular storage is more space efficient than round storage
• Put the items that need to be used first on the most prominent shelf
• Label!