Kitchen Organization Day 5: The Refrigerator

You’ve made it! Today is the last day of the kitchen portion of our organization mini-series!

I hope you have made tremendous progress and I’m so happy you have been with me on this journey. 

There is one final spot left to organize in the kitchen and we will be done. 

So let’s get our coffee brewed and get down to it.

Refrigerator Organization

Now, there are a lot of different ways to organize your fridge but I’m going to clue you in on how I have found it to best work for ADHD. 

How often do you forget that produce in your drawers and then it goes bad? 

If you are like me, that happens a LOT. I get so tired of wasting money on produce. 

My trick today will help with that!

Let’s get started!

1. Pull EVERYTHING Out

Yes, I mean everything. Start with a completely empty fridge.

Spray and wipe down everything. Pull out the drawers and wash them if you need to. We want it sparkling. 

This is also a good time to check any dates. 

Anything expired or going bad, pitch. If you have meats close to date, put them in the freezer now. Are any leftovers older than a week? Pitch them.

Ok. Whew. Done with that. 

2. Put Big Items Back

Take all your gallons of milk (or milk alternative), juice, or tea, and get them back on the big shelf. Make sure you put the jugs that expire first in last. 

This is also when I put any leftovers that are still good back on the shelf. Get those situated on whichever shelf you want them and make sure they are towards the front so you don’t forget about them. 

Any thawed meats can be returned to the shelf at this time as well as bags of flour if you keep your flour in your fridge. 

3. Lunch Items

This next part is what I call “lunch items.” These go in the smallest drawer on my fridge. 

Here I put sliced ham, turkey, bologna, hot dogs, smoked sausage, and sliced/shredded cheeses.4.

4. Condiments

Okay, here is where I’ll start sounding weird. Just bear with me. 

Put all your condiments in the BOTTOM DRAWER. Yes. You read that right. 

I have a reason. I promise. Just try it. If you don’t like it, you can always change it later.

Grab your ketchup, mustard, mayo, pickles, or anything like that, and organize them in the bottom drawer of your fridge. 

These things are the least frequented items so they shouldn’t be taking up valuable space in your fridge. 

5. Produce 

Here is where the ADHD hack comes in. 

Instead of throwing all your produce in those bottom two drawers, we are going to put our produce in the door!

Why the door? It is right there in front of you as soon as you open it. Everything is easy to see. 

I originally thought it wouldn’t work because the drawers are supposedly adjustable for produce humidity but I will tell you from using this method for well over a year, THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE. 

I have not had anything go bad faster being in the door vs. the drawer. It made zero difference whatsoever except now I use all my produce before it goes bad!

I try to do two shelves of veggies and two shelves of fruits. I do occasionally still need the second to last drawer in my fridge for stuff like salad mixes or big heads of lettuce/cabbage but everything else goes in the door. 

Bags of carrots, cucumbers, zucchini, mushrooms, peppers, brussel sprouts, all of it goes in the door. 

I also find that putting any berries you have into mason jars with lids before putting them in the door makes them last twice as long. I HIGHLY recommend using jars over the plastic containers you buy them in. 

6. Miscellaneous 

There may be other items not discussed here such as eggs, butter, cinnamon roll cans, etc. For these items, just look at the space you have left and determine where is the best place to put these items. 

My fridge has a small shelf between drawers where I keep my eggs and butter but I know not everyone has that same set up so this part is really up to you. 

Whatever you do, make sure these items have their own spot. If you take them from there, put them back there. 

The Wrap Up

There you have it! The end of our kitchen organization series. 

We have tackled all of the main problem areas in the kitchen and hopefully, you have made great progress. 

There may be things we didn’t touch on in your own kitchen that still need work. That’s okay. You can use the skills you have learned throughout these posts to organize those areas on your own. 

If there are any areas you would like me to cover as always, don’t hesitate to reach out and ask. I would love to help you however I can!