15 Refrigerator Organization Ideas You Need To Try

It's time to give your fridge a makeover.

Upon first glance, the inside of your refrigerator looks like a giant playground for food storage. There's an expansive interior with tiers of shelves, door shelves, and even a few pull-out bins ready to go. But, without a system in place, any fridge that's neatly stacked with fresh cartons of milk and produce can turn into a disheveled mess... with lots of expired goods.

Enter: fridge organization.

With a new system in place (and a few extra materials), the inside of your fridge will turn into the most organized space in your kitchen. The next time you deep clean your fridge, try implementing one of these 15 refrigerator storage ideas for the ultimate reset.

Related: 12 Foods You Should Never Store In The Refrigerator

Label the Interior

Labels are superior when it comes to organizing your fridge since they also indicate what belongs in each drawer or on each shelf. Label your pull out drawers and door shelves with foods you plan on housing in them so you always know what items are where as soon as you open the door.

Mix Containers & Bags

Reusable bags are quickly becoming an eco-friendly way of storing food not just for their Earth-friendly qualities. These bags, that Kristen Hong mentions in her book Fridge Love, are able to bend into a variety of shapes that makes storing food in the tightest spaces so much easier, plus, they're reusable. Pair these with a few of your containers for endless storage abilities.

Separate Produce

Produce is some of the quickest foods to spoil in a fridge from either not being eaten fast enough or not storing them properly. Brush up on proper storage techniques for all of your fruits and vegetables then place them in an easy-to-spot area of your fridge that's visible at all times. Using the labeling tactic works best for these items so know what's in each bin if you separate all of your items similar to the picture above.

Go for Clear Packaging

Clear containers and packages easily helps you identify what's what in your fridge, taking the guesswork out of it so you can eat your food before it expires. By using packaging that conceals your food all around, you're able to forget what's in the fridge and result in spoiling a few good snacks or leftovers.

Use Clear Bins

Speaking of clear packaging, we highly recommend adopting the practice of utilizing clear bins in your fridge. The clear properties allow you to always see what each bin is holding, and they provide more room for storage and organization inside the expansive interior.

Use Turntables

Running out of room along your door? Place a turntable in the fridge for leftover condiments. These twisty organizational items keep your bottle neatly stacked together and easy to grab by twisting the bottom.

Utilize Door Shelves

Knowing what to store on refrigerator door shelves is vital to keeping food fresh, and since the doors are the warmest spot, they're the perfect place for condiments. That's because condiments have a longer lifespan than sensitive fresh produce and can withstand the constant heat from opening and closing.

Place Leftovers Upfront

Once you've made a nice meal or snack, it's important to keep leftovers at the front of your fridge so they're always in eye-view. This helps the food from getting shuffled to the back where they become forgot about until you're cleaning out your fridge a few days later. Don't forget to store them in the clear containers from earlier!

Arrange Meats & Dairy Together

Meats and cheeses go together in food pairings and in fridge storage, too. House your meats and dairy products in one drawer or bin with dividers so you can always see the specific products when looking for certain items.

Maximize All Angles

One smart way to utilize your fridge storage is maximizing all angles, even those up high. We love how Lela Burris chose a fridge organizer that attaches to the bottom of a shelving unit to hang smaller items like these yogurt cups. If you're running out of space on the shelves or in the drawers, try this hack to get more storage out of unused spaces.

Move Expiring Food to the Front

Notice some produce or beverages about to expire as you clean out the fridge? Find them a spot front and center so you know what to eat the following week. This storage tactic will keep you from wasting food by always reminding you what's in your fridge when you open the doors.

Replace Original Packaging

Sometimes original packaging can be too bulky and absorb a lot of unnecessary space within your fridge. Consider ditching the original packaging of some items, like eggs, and use space-saving alternatives like these egg hangers to keep your shelves open.

Use Dividers

Most of the time, the drawer housing your deli meats and cheeses doesn't come with enough storage space. It's a smaller drawer in terms of depth as others, so having dividers within this drawer keeps items extra organized instead of stacking them on top of each other. Do y

Create a Snack Bin

Do you have a lot of cold items you like to snack on routinely? Store them in a clear bin to call your "snack bin" full of foods you know you need to eat first to prevent them from going to waste.

Don't Forget Your Freezer

Organizing your fridge is an amazing home practice, but don't forget about the top or bottom freezer! Stack your frozen bags and boxes together with the labels facing up so you always know what you have on hand and keep similar items housed together to eat them before they get freezer burn.

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Read the original article on Southern Living.