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Refrigerator Organization

Have you guys ever watched Cribs on MTV? For those of you who haven’t, the show gives viewers a tour of celebrities’ homes and their whips (by “whips”, I mean motor vehicles, not the Fifty Shades of Grey kind). The celebrities usually say “this is where the magic happens” when they show off their bedrooms. And for some reason, the celebrities always show the contents of their refrigerators. Because everyone is waiting with great anticipation to see what Alanis Morissette and Lil Wayne eat and drink. And I’m pretty sure 8 out of every 10 celebrities has a bottle of Dom in the fridge. Well, sorry to disappoint but you won’t find any Dom in my fridge.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is where the magic happens. Wait. Wrong room.

organized refrigerator

Alright. We have your basic freezer up top, fridge down below refrigerator. The only bells and whistles in this puppy are the ice maker in the freezer and vegetable & fruit drawer crisper controls.

Now, on to how I organize our fridge. I keep our butters in the butter zone and eggs in the egg zone. Pretty basic stuff. Yes, I channel my inner Paula Deen and keep at least 4 sticks of butter in our fridge at all times. I’ve been limiting my dairy intake for the past 8 weeks (for this reason), which is why you don’t see any milk. Brad isn’t a big milk drinker so he’s fine with this arrangement. You can see what I’m substituting my milk intake with. Just kidding– I keep opened bottles of wine in this spot because it’s the tallest area in the fridge. (I was using the wine for this recipe post.)  Our most used condiments are in the area under the eggs, and the salad dressings and other random condiments are on the bottom shelf. We’re big condiment people. If you ever need milk don’t stop by my house. If you need Worcestershire sauce or spicy mustard, I’m your girl.

organized fridge

I keep Brad’s breakfast yogurt on a shelf in the upper left side of the fridge. I even go as far as moving the yogurts with later expiration dates to the back so he eats the sooner-to-expire yogurts first. Wife of the year.

organizing yogurt in fridge

All of my pickled foods (pickles, olives, jalapeños, etc.) are kept on the shelf to the right of the yogurt. This is also where we keep our coffee creamer.

fridge organization

On the shelf below the yogurt is where I keep our extra condiments we don’t use as often. To make it easy to reach them, since they’re toward the back of the fridge, I put them in a clear container (similar). We also keep snack-type foods (salsa, hummus, etc.) on this shelf. You’ll notice the aloe gel as well. Nothing feels better on a sunburn than aloe straight from the fridge. Write that down.

organizing condiments in fridge

Our leftovers are kept on the shelf above our meat and cheese drawer. The key to leftover containers is buying matching sets with matching lids. A couple Black Fridays ago I went bananas and bought three sets of these food containers in various sizes. I donated or recycled all of our mismatched containers and lids. This was life changing. I also have a couple sets of these glass storage containers that I use. They don’t have matching lids for the different sizes but it’s not hard to keep track of those.

organizing leftovers in fridge

Our meats and cheeses live in the meat and cheese drawer. I’m such a conformist.

organized meat and cheese drawer

There’s this awkward space under our meat and cheese drawer. I like to make use of the space by housing my unopened wine and other misc. alcoholic beverages. But one thing I hated was how the bottles would roll around, so I purchased a durable plastic drawer (found here). It keeps the bottles horizontal, and I no longer have to use other food containers to keep the bottles from rolling around.

wine drawer in fridge

I corral sphere-shaped fruits that tend to roll in bowls in the fridge. This keeps them from rolling around, thus cutting down on bruising.

organized fridge fruit drawer

Our veggies go in the veggie drawer. I’m blowing your mind right now, aren’t I?

organized fridge vegetable drawer

Well folks, that’s it for the fridge tour. I didn’t include our freezer because that’s a different ballgame. In case you’re wondering, the white and blue geometric mats are called Fridge Coasters.

Be sure to check out my other popular organization and cleaning posts below! There’s tons of great stuff to pin to read later!

GREAT refrigerator organization tips!

What’s your favorite Cribs episode?
Do you have any refrigerator organization tips you’d like to share?

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58 Comments

  1. It is so organized! I love the Fridge Coasters and bins…need to check those out. I am a spicy mustard and all things hot sauce girl too.

      1. Looks great but —–Wheres your normal foods like milk, bread, jams, juices??

        1. oops just saw about milk but no breads, bagels ect? Or don’t you sue them,…..I have a family of 8 –7 in home and its hard to find room to fit all nicely love how yours looks tho!

          1. Thank you, Laurie! My husband and I aren’t big bread, bagel, or juice people. When we do have bread, we store it in our pantry. My aunt worked in a bakery for many years and always said not to put bread in the fridge because it dries it out. Sorry I’m not help in that fridge storage department.

          2. No problem Ill just have to keep looking..thanks for info on bread my parents never did ..hubby family did so you know who won that one!

    1. Hah! I mostly do it so I don’t have to throw out expired food because Brad isn’t going to look at expiration dates. 🙂

  2. I was just thinking last night that I need to reorganize my fridge. We’re condiment people too. I’m constantly trying to figure out where to put them all. You’ve definitely given me inspiration!

  3. I SO need some of those Fridge Coaster! I try and keep our fridge cleaned out every week. Not full-out cleaning with pulling out shelves, but tossing any leftovers (before they go bad) and any other expired food/drink. I like to do this before my trip for groceries so that I make room for new items. It makes a world of difference!

    1. You’re way more on top of fridge organization than me. I need to start cleaning my fridge out before trips to the grocery store. Great tip!

    2. I’m with you Erin. I wish we could get the Fridge Coasters in the UK too. America seems to have so many more organising supplies than we do. Perhaps I’ll put in a suggestion to Lakeland?!

  4. I have no refridge tips to share, in fact after seeing your wonderful clean organized cold storage, I’m having refridge guilt. Saying ours is a mess is an understatement.
    Bliss

  5. I was gonna ask about the blue and white mats but you answered my question, so thanks!! Fridge Coasters huh? I’ll have to check them out.

  6. I have a strong urge to go clean my fridge now… We have a side by side and while it’s taller, I don’t feel like we have more space–everything is lumped into tiny shelves and I usually can’t find what I’m looking for lol

    I love posts like this!

    1. Hah! Yeah, side by sides are tricky. Definitely look into small bins, that way you can just pull them out and find what you’re looking for. Happy cleaning and organizing!

  7. There’s nothing like a clean and organized fridge! It gets crazy over here with all these adults and various shopping trips. I can’t wait to have my own fridge again…oh it’s the small things! Also can’t wait to be able to have wine again, but that won’t happen for a very long time.

  8. Your fridge is so organized! We have a side-by-side fridge that I thought was a good idea at the time but somedays it feels like I’m trying to fit all of our food in a cramped elevator. I’m terrible at figuring out where things go too (besides the obvious veggies in the veggie drawer, fruit in the fruit drawer) so this really helps!

  9. Love a good organized fridge! Too bad it only lasts for 2.5 seconds in our house before my husband gets a snack and manages to move everything around.

    1. We’re totally on the same wavelength. It’s because we’re geniuses. See you and that bump of yours (oh, and your man) in exactly 2 weeks!

  10. Wow, I knew I wanted to clean my fridge this weekend, but I feel like I have a higher standard now! I organized my pantry over 4th of July (yes, my life is that exciting) and it’s been great, so now it’s time to tackle the fridge, scrub everything down and hopefully make it look as clean and organized as yours 🙂

    1. Hah! You don’t even want to see my pantry. I finally got it to the point where I can open and close the door. Happy fridge scrubbing and organizing! 🙂

  11. MarieRoxanne says:

    I like the use of the bowls for the fruit so that they don’t roll around and get bruised… Will have to get me some of those. As I don’t eat eggs, I use the plastic egg storage containers (I actually have two side by side) for the fresh lemons and limes I buy in bulk. One side is for the lemons the other for the limes. They fit perfectly in the “cups” and they don’t get to roll around… 🙂

  12. I’m from NZ and so I’m a bit unfamiliar with NASCAR. I saw this one Cribs episode where this NASCAR driver had so much money he built a whole Wild West town on his property. Ridic.

    1. Yeah, that was Dale Earnhardt Jr. Crazy NASCAR drivers. Did you see the episode of Shaq’s house? He has this MASSIVE round bed. I’m pretty sure the bed was the size of my entire master bedroom.

  13. When you’re reaching for the relish and you get a nice big splash of aloe vera gel on your hot dog someday, I want to hear about it 🙂

  14. What a cute organized fridge! Must check out fridge coasters! Maybe my fridge will be organized again someday, but right now my 4 year old likes to “organize” it for me, and he and mommy have different ideas of what that word means, lol. Thanks for the grand tour!

    ~Abby =)

  15. Great post! I’m a little obsessed with keeping an organized fridge and labels facing out! A little nuts but makes for a very presentable and accessible fridge, right?!

  16. You have SO very little in your fridge! Maybe I’m a food pack-rat or something. Mine is usually so very packed that we have to wedge things in sideways. We go to Costco a couple times a month, and I like to hit the farmer’s market every Saturday for veggies. The biggest thing I’ve learned is to wash and prep them when I get home, or else I never will. I cut heads of broccoli and cauliflower into florets and put them in a bowl of water. If there isn’t room for a bowl of water (see the pack-rat comment) I put them in a gallon bag with a paper towel while they’re still damp. Funny, though, I don’t keep my soy sauce, apples or oranges in the fridge. And we never have opened bottles of wine. If a bottle is opened in my house, it never makes it to the fridge…we drink it all! 🙂

  17. Fridge looks goooood, girl!! I’m crazy for those Fridge coasters…even when my fridge is a hot-mess, it’s still cute! That’s a new level of pathetic isn’t it…thinking a fridge is cute?!

  18. I love my French door frig with a huge produce drawer. I use bins as well. One item I find especially useful is a lazy susan on a central shelf. I keep everyday condiments such as the homemade “Olivio”, jam, chutneys, sour cream, etc. easy to reach and stores more while keeping the items all I the front.

  19. Penny Johnson says:

    There are two drawers at the bottom of every refrigerator and I don’t know what you put in them. Do you put fruit in the right side drawer and veggies in the left side drawer?

  20. thanks for the post. I cleaned and worked on organizing my frig today. I am ordering frige coasters tomarrow. What a smart idea. I have to have some.

  21. I was just rereading this post and I have to say you crack me up! Love the humor…starting with “this is where the magic happens…wait, wrong room.” Thanks for making me laugh.

  22. OMG!! It looks great!

  23. Thank you I enjoyed the read. Every trash day I clean out the refrigerator and try to reorganize it since
    things just happen, you know things. But one thing that concerned me was I have always been told
    never to store dairy on the top shelf near the light because of the fluctuation of temperatures with opening and closing the door and being close to a heat source. So I stay on the safe side and keep those items on bottom shelves.
    Thank heaven for my door beeping after 3 minutes of the door being opened or my grandchildren would never
    know the door wasn’t completely shut.

  24. Suddenly, my paper towels in the bottom of drawers are no longer good enough! I’m enticed by those fridge coasters!

    I don’t know if anyone can identify with this, but lots of varying colorful labels annoy me and stress me out. Sometimes I transfer products to plain glass containers – mason jars, iced coffee bottles, mushroom and pickle jars – all with labels removed, I am collecting a stash of the lids that fit these types of containers to paint with black chalkboard paint. I then plan to use the lids to label and date the contents.

    Another finicky practice that I have is transferring sliced cheese to leftover containers – for some reason, I always fight with the manufacturer’s plastic “reclosable” zippers.

  25. Great post, I am always fighting with my Refrigerator over where to put what… Thank you for the tips…

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