Best Ideas for Organizing a Refrigerator
Lately, have you cleaned out your fridge? Once the expired condiments and forgotten take-out containers hit the trash, and the shelves and walls get scrubbed clean, you might as well go ahead and organize the refrigerator. The way you do that matters.
How to organize a refrigerator
Here is a general strategy followed in professional kitchens based on the temperature the foods need to be for food safety:
Upper shelves
Leftovers, drinks, and ready-to-eat items like yogurt, cottage cheese, and so forth. This area of the refrigerator is slightly warmer than the lower areas, so keep that in mind as you decide what should go here.
Lower shelves
This is the area you want to store raw ingredients that you will use for cooking, like eggs, meat, poultry.
Door
Condiments only in the door, say the food safety pros. Why not cheese or deli items? Because this is the warmest area in the refrigerator.
Drawers
Typically, refrigerator drawers are designed to hold produce at specific humidities. But if you want to store both fruits and vegetables in one drawer, with meat in the other, make sure you clean the meat drawer at least once a week.
If you need both drawers for produce, placing meat above the drawers could result in cross-contamination. A great solution is to improvise your own additional “drawer” for meat by using a clear plastic bin that will catch any drips and keep the meat safely away from everything else.
Best refrigerator organizers
The well organized refrigerator makes good use of all the available space in a way that its contents are readily visible.
Consider these highly useful items that can help move your refrigerator from chaos to calm in no time at all.
Magnetic bottle hanger
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This Magnetic Bottle Holder uses very strong magnets to hang bottles from the ceiling of a well organized refrigerator—making good use of that empty space.
Greek yogurt slider
This space-saving Sliding Greek Yogurt Refrigerator Organizer gets all those yogurt containers corraled in one place, which keeps them visible and super handy. No hardware or tools required to add this to the side, ceiling, or under-shelf because it is peel-and-stick. Comes in a 2-pack to keep 8 yogurt containers always at the ready.
Plastic bag organizer
Don’t let zipper bags mess up your fridge anymore! Hanging them in a file-type arrangement with this Ziploc Bag Organizer keeps their contents visible and corraled in place. Never lose a refrigerator bag again!
Beverage can organizer
This beverage can organizer holds up to eight standard-sized beverage cans and is ideal for storing soda, sparkling water, seltzer, juice, tea, beer, and more in the refrigerator.
The raised front edge and sides prevent cans from rolling or falling out, while the removable lid allows items to be stored on top of the organizer to maximize storage space.
Stackable storage containers
The Stackable Fridge Bins are made of durable high-quality shatterproof BPA free chlorine-free plastic. Easy care. Wash with mild soapy water. Not dishwasher safe, however. What a great way to keep the organized refrigerator contents neat, tidy, and highly visible.
Food storage containers
This 42-piece Rubbermaid Food Storage Containers set features Easy Find Lids that snap onto container bases. And the lids are the same sizes, so you can always find one when you need it. Your cabinets and fridge will stay organized. Super deal on this generous set.
Non-skid turntables
This set of two Lazy Susan Turntables are perfect in both the refrigerator and cabinets. This set includes 9″ and 12″ turntable with non-skid liners ane rimmed edges. Never worry about your items falling off.
Refrigerator shelf mats
These Washable Refrigerator Mats can be cut to fit the organized refrigerator shelves and drawers. Makes cleaning the refrigerator so much easier when you can just lift out the mats to easily clean them. Waterproof, mildew proof, dustproof, oilproof, non-skid, and super colorful. Each pack contains 3 pink, 3 green, and 3 blue mats.
I have those washable shelf mats. They slip and slide and build up condensation underneath. I had high hopes for them but had to stop using them.
I had seen that people have used the Press n’ Seal wrap on their refrigerator shelves. Easy to clean up messes too!
I love gadgets and some of these I’ve never seen. That magnetic bottle hanger looks fun as does the ziplock bag holder.
I appreciated these tips, Mary. I once had a built-in rolle-shelf for beverages and loved it.
I have an older refrigerator (early 1990’s? WHY won’t it DIE?). If I set the temperature control a bit lower the items on the top shelf get frosty. Based on this, can I safely assume that my fridge is the opposite of the description regarding warmest v. coldest spots?
Good ideas, but i can’t get past the picture of bananas in the fridge! They would be brown, not yellow.
and THREE?! boxes of pizza? LOL
As a mom of 6, I totally get the 3 boxes of pizza! But agree on the bananas. And I love the tomatoes just perched there…
Artistic license! Ha. That is a stock photo …