How to Organize Your Fridge Like a Pro

We’re all guilty of it. That bag of lettuce you buy week to week only to throw it away in dismay because it went bad before you could eat it. Yup – it happens to the best of us! I mean, the intention was to eat the lettuce, right? Organizing your fridge is one way to salvage the many things that can get long lost in the fridge. The HealthyGirl team is here to help you learn how to organize your fridge like a pro.

Here are some simple tools to help you organize your fridge and eliminate any food waste that can occur because of it.

Storage bins

First, get some storage bins. This helps you section off your fridge to know which items to put where. In my fridge, I have an area for vegan dairy products, drinks, condiments, vegan yogurts, fruits, vegetables, herbs, and leftovers.

This way when I am looking for something in the fridge I can always find it. You can also add labels to these bins for an added step of organization. 

Strategize

Next, Always put the things that will perish first in the front. You want to make sure the food that will spoil gets eaten, and the best way to do that is making those items seen in their appropriate section.

Store your food properly for optimal longevity:

• Don’t wash your berries until they’re ready to be eaten (unless you wash them with vinegar and dry them well)
• Store cut up veggies like carrots and celery in a mason jar with water and a tight lid or a glass container. It will keep them fresh for up to a month!
• Bundle your herbs in a dish towel or paper towel to keep them fresh longer
• Once fruit is ripe, transfer it to the fridge as it will stop the ripening process and keep it fresh a bit longer.
• Don’t put hard produce in the fridge, let it ripen on the counter.
• Ginger and citrus fruits last longest in the fridge, otherwise they will mold.

Get a Lazy Susan

Many times the fridge will fill up with half used bottles of condiments.

One way to help keep these organized is by having a lazy susan. This way you can still access all of them and don’t have to reach in the back of the fridge. The best part about a lazy susan is that you don’t need to take everything out in order to get to the condiment you want. Just spin, and pick what you need.

Also consider getting a can dispenser.

Prep for Success

When you get your fruits and vegetables, you can combine them in bins by color or according to each meal. I like to wash my vegetables, and if I have a busy week, I even cut them up too to make for less stress later in the week.

The Clean Out

Once a week, go through your fridge and do a total clean-out. This means cleaning the fridge with a non toxic cleaner like Branch Basics, and moving some foods to the front of the fridge that may go bad. This way, they can be eaten and not wasted. Another way to avoid food waste is by freezing any leftovers or fruits and veggies that you can not use before it goes bad. By freezing your fruit and veggies you can create smoothies, stir fry, ice cream, and so much more! 

The more organized your fridge is, the more motivated you will be to cook healthy nutritious meals! Open up that fridge and get to it! Tip: add fridge clean out to your morning routine every Sunday. Read more about how to have a productive morning here.

Make sure to sure @healthygirlkitchen on Instagram and post a picture of your organized fridge! We hope you learned how to organize your fridge like a pro.