The Greatest Strategy to Set up a Small Fridge

Use these easy suggestions and storage options to prepare your small fridge and maximize the house on the similar time!

Is it bizarre that I’m nervous to point out you guys inside my fridge? You all are an intimidating bunch. 😉

I nearly scrapped this put up altogether as a result of I used to be considering, “What in the event that they assume we eat the entire incorrect meals? What in the event that they assume I’ve every part within the incorrect place? What if they only assume I’m unusual?” (Which I’m, however that’s a narrative for one more day… 🙂 )

However in the long run, it’s simply meals. And it’s considerably organized meals, so I assumed perhaps if my concepts might assist another individuals, sharing could be price it.

Earlier than I soar into the tactic behind my insanity, although, I assumed I’d begin out with a number of caveats:

• There’s not one “excellent” technique for organizing a fridge. Individuals have completely different meals preferences and house wants and so no two fridges will probably be precisely alike, and that’s completely okay.
• Our household has numerous bizarre meals points. Donnie has a sensitivity to grains so he eats primarily meat and veggies. Connor doesn’t love meat and prefers to eat principally bread and cheese, although we do handle to get him to eat some meat for protein’s sake. Caleb is allergic to peanuts, so we don’t maintain peanut merchandise in the home. I’m a considerably choosy eater. How’s that for a troublesome mixture? 🙂
• Due to the aforementioned meals points plus the truth that I don’t like to cook dinner, meals at our home are tremendous duper easy, so we might have much less substances in our fridge than many individuals.
• We don’t stockpile meals. Our home is small and neither Donnie nor I like litter, so for this part of our lives, we’re primarily shopping for meals for 2 weeks’ price of meals and that’s it.

Organizing a Small Fridge Step by Step

As a result of we’re already working in a small house, we have to declutter as a lot as potential. Right here are some things we do earlier than we truly begin organizing. 

Clear Out the Fridge and Toss Expired Objects

I wish to take every part out of the fridge and throw away the expired groceries. Then I take every drawer and shelf out one after the other, clear them, allow them to dry, then place them again the place they belong. 

Kind Meals into Classes

Whereas the drawers are drying, I start dividing the meals by class so I can see precisely what I’ve. I type out the cooked (and prepackaged) meals, fruits and veggies, dairy (eggs and milk), condiments, meats, and cheese. 

Consolidate Objects If Needed

There are occasions the place I’ll find yourself with duplicates of things like sauces, shredded cheese, condiments, and many others. Whereas I’m cleansing out the fridge, I’ll take the time to mix the gadgets if I’ve two of the identical factor opened. 

Restock the Fridge

I load gadgets again into the fridge, beginning with the meat. I all the time wrap it up and maintain it close to the underside of the fridge so it doesn’t leak and contaminate different meals.

Then I place the fruits and veggies again into the drawers. After that, I fill the remaining cabinets with leftovers, snacks, drinks, and many others. And I end off by putting the condiments within the door of the fridge.

I purposefully I took these photographs on a day that I went grocery procuring, so this actually is what our fridge appears like once I get again from the shop.

How We Set up a Small Fridge

Whew! Okay, now that you just’ve seen the cleansing out course of, let’s dig into how we organized our small fridge!

Earlier than we renovated our kitchen final 12 months, we had a monstrosity of a fridge.

It was so large that it was interfering with the structure of the brand new kitchen, so we donated it to a non-profit and downgraded to a smaller fridge:

Whereas the smaller fridge allowed for our desired kitchen structure, it has positively been a studying course of to strive to determine one of the best ways to prepare it.

Now that we’ve had our new kitchen for a number of months although, I feel I’m lastly getting the hold of it. I usually store for 2 weeks’ price of meals at a time, and that is what our fridge appears like on grocery day:

The one factor that I didn’t have the day I took these photographs that we’d usually have in our fridge is leftovers, and if we had them, they’d share the spot with “tonight’s dinner.” Listed here are a number of the methods which have labored for us to maintain the fridge organized:

1. We don’t use fridge mats.

I debated backwards and forwards on this and even requested a bunch of fellow organizing bloggers their ideas on mats vs. no mats. They have been cut up down the center, and since when doubtful I wish to maintain it easy, I opted for no mats and have been pleased with the selection.

Our cabinets are simple to wipe down and might be eliminated pretty shortly for a deep cleansing, so mats haven’t been essential for us.

2. I take advantage of bins to corral completely different gadgets.

For cheese and bread (sure, I maintain bread within the fridge as a result of it stays longer that approach), I’ve bins that assist maintain the like gadgets collectively in order that they’re not floating round in all places. This makes it simple to seek out what we’d like, and we will even pull out the entire tray after we’re making lunch in order that every part is definitely accessible.

I take advantage of the inbuilt bins for fruit, veggies, and lunch meat, they usually work like a attraction– I suppose these fridge designers actually do know what they’re doing!

3. I don’t go overboard with bins.

Sure, I understand I simply confessed my love for bins, however I’m additionally tremendous cautious about the place I select to make use of them in our fridge since it’s so small. Too many bins can truly hinder the pliability of the house relatively than assist.

I attempted bins for drinks at one level, however they ended up seeming too fussy for me and have been getting in the way in which, so I now depart the Cherry Coke (my weak point–eek!) and different drinks of their unique containers, and they’re much simpler to get to that approach.

4. I clear out condiments usually.

I’m all the time amazed at how shortly condiments can accumulate. When the cabinets within the door of the fridge are packed full, I would continually discover condiments that have been well past their expiration dates. So now I maintain the variety of condiments to a minimal as a result of I do know there aren’t many who we truly use.

I additionally attempt to do a fast date examine each time I unload the groceries and throw out something that’s previous its prime.

5. I put like gadgets collectively.

This can be a good group rule basically, however I discover that in a small fridge particularly, it’s actually vital to place like gadgets collectively so you will discover issues simply.

I’ve a container for frozen veggies, I stack the meat all collectively (and put the ice cream in entrance as a result of it’s crucial, clearly 😉 ), and the entire boxed gadgets go collectively on the underside shelf.

(It was driving me nuts that the ribs wouldn’t match with the opposite meat. I nearly took them out for this photograph however left them in for the sake of complete transparency!)

In order that’s how we manage our small fridge! It took some trial and error to give you the proper system for us. And typically relying on our meal plan for the week, not every part matches in there all good and neat. 

Usually although, that is what our fridge appears like and since every part has its personal designated spot, it stays fairly tidy.

Need to save this put up to reference later? You should definitely pin the picture under!

[Psssstttt… Find our very best home organization tips and tricks all in one place here!]

What are your favourite suggestions for conserving the fridge organized? I’d love to listen to about them within the feedback!

Thanks a lot for following alongside! Have an exquisite day!