My Organized Fridge

It's not easy to keep the refrigerator organized. We don't have a huge fridge, it's a normal size but it probably isn't as big as I would like to have for our family of 4. It gets the job done though!

Keeping the fridge & freezer organized is one way that I save money and make my monthly meal planning work.

If I can't see what we have or don't have I end up buying something we already have or not getting something I thought we had. Everything has its place so that I can glance quickly and see what I need to add or take off my grocery list.

Usually, the fridge is almost empty by the time I go to the store. Since I only shop 2 weeks at a time, most of the stuff in the fridge (with the exception of condiments and such) gets replenished when I go to the store.  I take advantage of the fridge being almost empty and clean any shelves or drawers that are empty before I go to the store :-)

To make meal planning, shopping, and cooking easier and more efficient I've divided my fridge and freezer into "zones". Here's how it looks:

The fridge:

• Since dairy stuff like yogurt & tub butter is small, it sits next to the eggs on the top shelf.
• I keep meet that I am thawing {and the bacon} in one of the small drawers.
• In the other small drawer goes all of our cheeses- shredded, blocks, sticks, all the cheese!
• The middle shelf is really a catch all. Left overs, snacks, tall drinks (including my iced coffee pitcher which was in the dishwasher when I took this picture), sometimes bread and such. Mommy Machine Secret: I keep this shelf with lots of height so that I can see anything that ends up shoved to the back.
• The lower shelf is for soda and snacks for the kids. {Another MM Secret: I take the lids off of the snack tupperware in the morning and put it back on at night- this way the kids can grab a handful on their own during the day and I don't forget to cover the snacks up at night since the lid is right there}
• I keep fruit and veggies in separate drawers. I also keep those single-serving fruit cups in the fruit drawer.

The fridge door:

This is the hardest section to keep organized! Things tend to get tossed in and I'm always having to reorganize. These are the "zones" that are the easiest for me to maintain...

• Butter and cream cheese gets stored in the top left compartment.
• We usually have 2 gallons of milk in the fridge at all times- we love milk! Sometimes one carton gets kicked out so that my iced coffee can reside in that space, otherwise the coffee goes on the middle shelf in the fridge. There is usually just enough room for my half and half and cream.
• The middle shelves are just for sauce- yes, I only keep sauces in this space. Soy, strawberry, spaghetti, BBQ, steak,  pizza, taco- it has to be a sauce! {MM Secret: this helps when putting things back after cooking, you know, that crazy time when you just want your kitchen to be clean so you are stuffing things back in the fridge without thinking about where you got them}
• The bottom shelf is everything else- condiments, dressings, jelly, syrup, etc.

The freezer:

• Next to the ice, I keep all my sweet stuff! Easy access.
• Bottom shelf is meat, chicken, breads. We do have a deep freeze that keeps all of our ground beef.

The freezer door:

• Ice packs and frosty cups on the top.
• Frozen fruits and veggies on the bottom shelf.
• I also keep a box of baking soda in there :-)

I hope that some of these ideas help you too!

Do you have a good fridge/freezer organizing tip? Share it with us in the comments section. We'd love to hear it!