How to Organize Your Refrigerator and Store Food the Correct Way

Raise your hand if you love cleaning out your cabinets on the first of the year! I’m not sure when I started this tradition, but on January 1st for many years, I have cleared out our pantry, medicine cabinets and refrigerator. Out with the old, in with the new.

I can usually fill a tall kitchen garbage bag with jars, cans and boxes of outdated food. All expired medicine and prescriptions get flushed down the toilet. It’s very important to dispose of pills properly to protect animals that might get in your trash. After that, I toss anything I can’t identify in the freezer (LOL!) and refrigerator.

Even though this post was published last year, I thought it would be helpful to share again. Many of you are creating new resolutions, and home organization is an easy place to start. You’ll feel awesome after cleaning out everything and seeing all that space!

An empty or almost empty refrigerator is the ideal time to clean it and make some changes to keep it organized. The photos below were taken last summer after we returned from our family vacation. We were going to be gone for a week, so I tossed just about everything. I kept salad dressings and condiments and other items that have a long shelf life.

Even though our refrigerator has shelves and bins, it needed smaller storage solutions to keep it better organized.

I did a bit of research that all pointed to bins for maximizing refrigerator storage. I was looking for smart ideas on versatile containers that store with style, because I want it to be sensible and neat at the same time. Here are some refrigerator organization tips (including photos of our refrigerator) that will help extend the freshness of your food and make everything easily accessible for your family, especially the little ones. I’m also including a list of food items that should never be stored in the refrigerator. Lastly, have you ever been confused by the food product dating and what each date really means? Below is the short version, for more details click here to read the USDA guidelines.

• A “Sell-By” date tells the store how long to display the product for sale. You should buy the product before the date expires.
• A “Best if Used By (or Before)” date is recommended for best flavor or quality. It is not a purchase or safety date.
• A “Use-By” date is the last date recommended for the use of the product while at peak quality. The date has been determined by the manufacturer of the product.

How to Organize Your Refrigerator and Store Food the Correct Way

Here’s the low down:

1. Group similar food items together. It’s actually one of the first home organization tips I ever got, and it makes a lot of sense for everything in your home from art supplies to the clothes in your dresser.
2. Store meat and deli cold cuts in the lowest part of the refrigerator where it is the coldest. Our refrigerator has three drawers on the bottom, the very last one is labeled “Vegetables” but I now use it to store meats.
3. Determine which fruits and veggies last longest in which environment, depending on your refrigerator, you can adjust the humidity in certain areas to be drier or more humid. In general veggies prefer high humidity and fruits prefer low humidity.
4. Doors are the best spot for items that don’t need the coldest storage. Items like condiments go in the doors, and I keep the most used ones like ketchup, mustard, mayo on the top shelf. Salad dressings, and other less frequently used condiments can go in the shelf right below.
5. Make the healthy choices easy to grab. Prepackaged veggie sticks with “to go” size dips and fruits go in the door on the bottom shelves to make it easy for the little ones to get. It also makes packing lunch for school a snap, I can just reach in and add them to their lunch boxes.

 

| these InterDesign refrigerator bins from Bed, Bath & Beyond made my organization super easy |

| a lazy Susan makes it easy to see yogurt, applesauce and fruit cups and I don’t knock them over any more when trying to reach something in the back |

| two bins are used to neatly store ice tea and low-fat chocolate milk |

| all cheeses are grouped in one drawer so I know where to find them |

| meats are stored in the lowest drawer where it is the coldest |

| Catherine grabbing some tangerine wedges |

| a bit of a fuzzy photo, but wanted to show the Arm and Hammer that I hang in the middle of the fridge to absorb food odor |

Here is an illustration from food and refrigeration experts on where to store food and I followed it the best I could, our refrigerator is a side-by-side, but with one door. I made some modifications to make it work for our model.

 

As promised, here a link to 18 Foods You Don’t Need to Refrigerate from the Farmer’s Almanac website (the copy is below too). Some of these foods I knew not to refrigerate, but I was really surprised about the citrus!

Humans have been preserving food with snow and ice for at least 3,000 years, but the first commercial refrigerators, produced around the turn of the 20th Century, were a game-changer. Home refrigeration units made it possible for the first time in history to keep perishable foods fresh in quantity.

But every advance comes with a dark side. In the case of refrigerators, one downside is that many people store everything in the fridge, regardless of whether it needs to be. While some foods absolutely require refrigeration, many don’t, and others that should be left at room temperature. Here’s a list of foods that do better if you skip the fridge:

1. Tomatoes: If you take nothing else away from this article, please heed this. Never, ever, under any circumstances, store tomatoes in the refrigerator. Tomatoes begin to lose their flavor and texture when put in the fridge, turning mealy, mushy, and flavorless. Leave them right out on the counter.
2. Potatoes, sweet potatoes: Yes, potatoes are supposed to be kept in a cool, dark place, so the fridge should be ideal, right? Wrong. The refrigerator is actually too cold. Low temperatures wreak havoc on potatoes’ natural starches, affecting both their texture and flavor. Instead, store them in a paper bag.
3. Apples, Pears: You can refrigerate these fruits, but you don’t need to. The cold air inside the refrigerator tends to break down their crisp texture. Leave them out on the counter. But if you prefer your fruit cold, go ahead and refrigerate.
4. Peaches, plums, cherries: Stone fruits should not be refrigerated. Store them out on the counter and enjoy them as soon as they’re ripe.
5. Oranges, lemons, limes, clementines: Store citrus fruits on the counter. Keep close tabs on them, though, as one moldy fruit will spread.
6. Berries: Fresh berries aren’t meant to last long. Leave them out and enjoy them over a few days.
7. Melons: Store whole melons on the counter. The refrigerator will turn their flesh mealy. Once cut, leftovers can be stored in the fridge.
8. Bananas: Refrigerating bananas will turn their peels prematurely brown and change their texture. Store them out on the counter and peel and freeze them for banana bread once they become overripe.
9. Onions, garlic: Storing these pungent alliums in the refrigerator will not only impart their smell onto other foods, but will also soften them over time. Store them in a paper bag.
10. Honey, jam, maple syrup: Honey and real maple syrup will crystallize if stored in the fridge. Store them it at room temperature and out of direct sunlight. While it’s fine to refrigerate jams and jellies, it’s also OK to leave them out after opening.
11. Avocados: Store whole avocados on the counter. If they’re very soft, you can get a few extra days by putting them in the fridge, but you’ll pay for it in flavor. It’s better just to enjoy them right away.
12. Bread: While many people refrigerate bread to keep it from going stale, doing so actually dries it out faster. Store it in a dark cupboard or bread box.
13. Butter: There’s nothing worse than trying to spread rock hard butter. The good news is there’s no need. Depending on temperatures, you can store butter on the counter, covered, for a week or so. The best plan is to refrigerate butter and take it out one stick at a time. If the weather is very hot, you may opt for smaller quantities.
14. Peppers: Store peppers in a paper bag. The refrigerator will soften their crisp texture.
15. Winter squash: Store acorn, spaghetti, and butternut squash right out on the counter.
16. Pickles: Pickles have enough sodium—a natural preservative—to keep them safe for a long time. The only reason to refrigerate them is if you prefer to enjoy them cold.
17. Coffee: Refrigerating coffee beans or grounds saps them of moisture and flavor. Store them in the cupboard.

And here’s a puzzle for the ages:

18. Eggs — to refrigerate or not to refrigerate? In Europe, no one refrigerates eggs, but in North America we do. Does that mean we don’t need to? Turns out European eggs have a different production process and carry a much lower risk of salmonella. Here on the other side of the pond, it’s a good idea to refrigerate them, unless they’ve been boiled. Hard boiled eggs are safe to keep out on the counter for a few days.

 

Sarah O’Brien

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How to Organize Your Refrigerator and Store Food the Correct Way