Organizing the Fridge and Freezer {The Household Organization Diet}

Hey guys! I hope you all had a great weekend and are ready to continue on with The Household Organization Diet.  I'm not losing anyone, am I?  You can do it!!!

Today we will be working on our fridges and freezers.  The main idea when re-organizing your fridge is to maximize your space in order to make your food more accessible and minimize food waste.  I did some major fridge re-organization about two years ago but have made a few changes.  Here is my new and improved fridge!

Cleaning Supplies:

• microfiber cloth
• Norwex window cloth
• Bowl of warm water with some dish soap added

To Do:   

To clean out the fridge, I usually just do a couple of shelves at a time so that the food is not out for too long and I don't have to leave the fridge door open for too long.  Remove food in the section that you are working on.  Remove the shelves and bins and wash in the sink if able.  Wipe the remaining parts on the fridge with your microfiber cloth and warm dish soap water.  Dry with the window cloth.  When you are replacing your food, keep like items together as much as possible.  Make sure you are checking expiry labels and looking for food that may have gone back before replacing it in the fridge.

I love using bins to help organize things.  Bins that run the full depth of the fridge work much better for me than smaller bins as you can pull everything out without having to remove any other items.  It also prevents little items from getting stuck in the back of the fridge and forgotten!  The white bin on the second shelf stores up to two loafs of bread {or a loaf of bread and bagels or buns} as well as tortillas.  No more partially used bread bags stuck in the back of the fridge!

The clean bins on the top shelf are from Bed, Bath, and Beyond.  They were not cheap but I just picked up one at a time and they always seem to have 20% off coupons.  I love the egg holder as there is a solid top so you can always place items on top if the fridge is really full.  The other thing that I love about it is that it holds 16 eggs so if you have a few left over and then buy another dozen they still all fit.

The yogurt bin on the bottom is also from Bed, Bath, and Beyond.  Since my husband is a vegetarian, our protein drawer holds mostly veggie ground "meat", tofu, and other meat alternatives.  The kids and I do eat a lot of chicken but it is usually frozen.  Raw meat is best stored on the lower shelf to prevent any drips on food below.

We store all of our leftovers on the second shelf in these Ikea storage bins.  They have removable dividers to separate food if need be and we can fit four of them in {plus there is still room in front of them}  I also like having the leftovers stored in clear containers so I can see what is in them.  For extra fruits and veggies that do not fit in the crispers, I have an extra crisper unit that fits in this shelf as well{purchased from WalMart}

I like to take my fruit and veggies out of their bags and containers when possible.  I also like the idea of storing lettuce and other cut up vegetables in mason jars like this post from Salad in a Jar.

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It would make it so much easier to take salads for lunches as well!

 

  I know that there are MANY opinions on how to store and preserve shelf life for fruits and vegetables and I won't really get in to that as it is not my area of expertise.  I usually do two produce runs to the grocery store per week {one big shop and one quickie shop} so I do not have to worry too much about it lasting for long periods of time.  I try to wash the fruit before putting it away in the fridge after grocery shopping .  I use the Norwex Fruit and Veggie wash and also just found this DIY natural fruit and veggie wash that I want to try.  {**Note: Washing fruits can decrease their shelf life; however, for our family, I find that it is more likely to be eaten if it is washed and ready to go and the fruit wash does help with extending shelf life**}  

 

I have a basket in the fruit section and also have a couple of berry and grape containers that fit in there as well.  A lot of the fruit can be stored in a fruit bowl outside of the fridge so there is often room in here for extra veggies.

I have a couple of bins in the veggie drawer as well to hold cut up veggies and another one for onions.  Again, cut vegetables will tend to spoil a little quicker but it makes them so much easier to grab and eat that it is worth it for us.

I store my milk in the door as well as many of the condiments.  I have read that it is best to store the milk in the fridge rather than on the door so it is in a colder section of the fridge but it fits so much better in the door and I have never had a problem with it not being cold.  Maybe this is more of an issue in warmer climates or maybe it is because we go through the milk so fast but, in any case, it works great for us.

I also like having the lazy susan in the fridge - it really makes it so much easier to reach those items in the back.  Just give it a quick spin!

I used some vinyl and my Silhouette machine to create all of the labels for the bins...

....and also have one on the outside of the fridge.

To clean the stainless steel, I use the Norwex window cloth and a little bit of water.  It works better than any of the other cleaners that I have tried and is quick and easy to do.

Freezer

For our freezer we have two pull out bins {we also have a deep freeze but that is another post all in itself!}.  The bottom one is the biggest and holds most of the food.  I just added the blue stackable bins - one for frozen veggies...

...and one for frozen fruit.

These little packaging toppers are a favorite of mine - no more peas and corn all over the bottom of the freezer! 

I received these as a gift but I have seen them at Safeway and Home Sense. 

I also saw a DIY version on Pinterest.  Unfortunately it just leads to a photo link but if you happen to know where this is from, please let me know!  It seems fairly self-explanatory though.

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The top pull out shelf mostly just holds the ice, frozen juices, and some ice cream treats.

Maintenance

As with all organization projects, the key is always in the maintenance!  I find that the best time to do fridge maintenance is right before I head to the grocery store.  Here are a few things to do before you go:

• Do a quick clean up of expired or spoiled food.  This also gives you a good idea of what you need to buy at the store. 
• Give shelves and bins a quick wipe down when they are less full. 
• Look for foods that need to be used up in the next couple of days.  You can then plan meals that will use those foods so they don't go to waste. 
• Try to grocery shop when you know that you will have time to put things away properly {yes, I know that this is not always possible!}  
• Store newer items towards the back so that the old items get used up first. 

Hopefully that isn't fridge overload!!  Any other fridge organizing tips that you have found helpful?  Let us know!

**This post is part of my Household Organization Diet series.  You can join in anytime - just start with these two posts here and here.  If you are looking for past projects, you can find them all on my Pinterest board.**

Happy Organizing!

I linked up with I Heart Organizing, Delightful Order, House of Hepworths, The Frugal Girls, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Stone Gable, Craft-O-Maniac, Under the Table and Dreaming, Project Inspire, I Heart Naptime, Cheerios and Lattes, Tatertots and Jello, Tidy Mom, Crafty Scrappy Happy, The 36th Avenue, Stone Gable, Lil Luna, Savvy Southern Style, Home Stories A to Z, A Bowl Full of Lemons and Love of Family and Home.