Organizing my fridge and labeling everything has been on my list of things to do for a while now so as soon as I put these labels on I couldn’t wait to snap some pics. I actually needed to do a fair amount of grocery shopping when I took these photos so this is not a post about my fridge must haves because that is something I’m thrilled to share with you. We were out of a lot of food we keep on hand (Dr. Pepper to name one!) so stay tuned for that post and IGTV episode. In the meantime I’m excited to share how I organize our food in the fridge.
PURGE AND CLEAN
I mean, this is self-explanatory really but get rid of any old food (check expiration dates), condiments you never use and random things you’ve been keeping in there. For example, small jars of jam you got at a hotel that you thought were super cute so you took but you’ve never used? Tip: these are really cute but maybe put them in the pantry (as long as they’re unopened) and bring out the next time you put together a charcuterie board! Take out each drawer, shelf and bin and wash in hot soapy water and dry before returning to your fridge.
CHECK INVENTORY
As I was putting each food item back, I started taking inventory of anything I needed or what I realized I had a lot of. For example, we love hot sauce so I made a mental mark that we’d probably want to designate an area for all of our spicy sauces!
DECIDE WHERE YOU WANT EVERYTHING TO GO
Everyone has different needs and eats different foods so once you’ve emptied your fridge and cleaned it out then you can really access what kinds of foods you keep on hand. This helped me see what space made the most sense for each category and helped me choose the place where I wanted everything to go. Traditionally you see refrigerator drawers filled with vegetables and fruit but for us, we keep a lot of fruit on our counters so having a drawer just for fruit would be a waste of space for us. I decided our love of cheese would go in a drawer instead.
LABEL IT
When I came across these custom labels on etsy by Vinyl Goods Co I knew I wanted to use them in our fridge (and pantry…blog post part 2 coming soon)! The farmhouse calligraphy script font was just perfect for our style and I loved that I could custom design exactly the categories that made sense for us. I mean, have you ever seen a label for a fridge that says “cookie dough”? Probably not. But in our house, we always have it on hand! Once I decided each category I wanted and the color and size I needed, I emailed Tiffany at Vinyl Goods Co and shared my list with her. For all of the clear bins, I choose white and then black for the labels on each shelf to make them easy to read. Here’s what I ended up with:
Leftovers
Refreshments
Milk
Snacks
Eggs
Specialty
Sauces
Veggies
Fruit
Cheese
Protein
Condiments
Dressings
Butter
Spreads
Yogurt
Briny
Spicy
Cookie Dough
The labels were really easy to transfer onto each surface and they included instructions for how to do so. With each label I got more and more excited to finish!
MAINTENANCE
The only way for your fridge to stay organized is by weekly check ins. Every time I take something off a shelf, I give a quick glance at what else is over there. I wipe down bbq sauces and make sure things are staying in place. I find that every time I grocery shop I end up doing a bit of maintenance to keep things nice and organized. This has been especially helpful when we have someone care for Milly. I love that they can easily find her snacks and since we added a bin just for Milly she can choose her snacks and the nanny can find her lunch easily because it is all contained.
What I love about an organized fridge is the more organized you keep it, the less chance of food going to waste! It also discourages you from buying things you don’t need. I hope this helps inspire you to organize your fridge. I’d love to see your photos and hear about any other ideas you come up with as you organize. Post your photos on instagram and tag me! xoxo, B