Hacks to use your fridge space more efficiently

 Hey all! Fridge space is precious, even more so when you're sharing a small refrigerator with your family and also like to prep things in advance and don't want to hit the grocery store every five seconds (okay I don't think anyone goes to the store THAT much but sometimes it feels like that). All those factors sometimes make "my" shelf of the fridge feel a little bit cluttered. Lord knows I am not a stickler about organization. I am one of those people who is not fazed by clutter in other parts of the house and I can function as long as I feel some sense of order and know where my basic things are (even if everyone I know thinks it's a mess) and I don't expect to be perfectly organized, so it speaks volumes that in quarantine, the fridge situation was getting overwhelming, not functional, and a headache to even think about opening! And when I AM bothered by something, all my close friend and family will tell you it REALLY bothers me. These are a few tips and tricks that have helped immensely in reining things in a little bit and getting the fridge under control. This is in no way reinventing the wheel. This is just practical steps that can be implemented now to calm the storm a little bit.

1. Keep a running list of your produce and somehow indicate on your list what is older and needs to be used first and what is newer and can wait. Those who would like to could keep a running list of everything in the fridge, but I only do this for my produce (in or out of the fridge) because that is usually what I have the most of in my fridge and is also most likely to spoil if ignored and forgotten about. I write up a new list every time I get a new Misfits Market box (which is every two weeks on Sunday), and that list is split into two columns. The left column is the "older" column, where I write down any items I had not yet used by the time that box arrived, and on the right is my "newer" column where I write down any new items I received in that box. The two column system helps me know what is more likely to spoil first so I use it first. All my produce is included on this list whether it needs to be immediately refrigerated or not (though a lot of it does go in the fridge). Canned, dried, or vacuum-packed items are not included on that list because they last pretty much indefinitely until opened. I update my list every night before I go to bed and simply check off any items I have finished. If I used some but not all of an item that day, I do not check it off. I only check off items I am completely out of so I have an accurate list of what still needs to be used up. Do not check off the apples if you have one for breakfast but still have five remaining. Only check off the apples if you have eaten the last apple.

2. Store anything that is ready to go closer to the front of the fridge. For me this primarily includes leftovers, salads, purees I plan to use quickly, and fruit to snack on. This has multiple benefits. The first is that if it's ready to go and within easy reach and you don't have to dig through the fridge and play Tetris to get to it, you will go through those items first. The second is that storing items you're not going to use right away closer to the back helps them to stay good longer because the back of the fridge is cooler than the front, where the door opens and closes and subjects items to the warmer air outside the fridge. The one caveat is that if you share the refrigerator with meat eater (the rest of my family is meat-eating) and they store their items on a higher shelf than you do, this creates an easier pathway for juices from raw meat to drip onto your items and cause food poisoning. For me we have never run into this problem because anytime we have raw meat in the house it's usually pretty well wrapped and not stored right at the front edge of a shelf, and I cannot remember a specific episode where juices from raw meat have dripped onto my items, but it's something to be cognizant of.

3. Consolidate whatever you can in the same container. I find it is much more space efficient to find ways to consolidate items to use fewer containers. For example, I usually assemble and dress my salads and then store them instead of assembling and dressing them when I go to eat them. This means the ingredients are spread across fewer containers to take up less room, and they're already ready to go when I am (the added bonus is that the dressing helps marinate the salad if you do this so all the flavors come together beautifully). I also store things like scallions, ginger, and jalapenos together in the same bag (not yet cut) because none of them take up much room alone but when spread out in multiple bags or containers, they do. Additionally, for most recipes that call for dark leafy greens, it doesn't actually matter if you use that one or swap out whatever you have on hand or prefer. For example, kale could be used instead of spinach most of the time. With that said, if you like to prep your greens in advance and have them ready to go to throw in smoothies, soups, pasta dishes, etc, just store them all in the same container. I currently have kale and collards in the fridge and I do use them differently so I would prefer to not consolidate ALL my greens, but for the excess of both that couldn't fit into their dedicated containers, I threw them into one container and called it "mixed greens" instead of using two more.

4. Not all condiments and produce need to be refrigerated. I never store potatoes or onions in the fridge unless I have cut them but didn't use the whole thing. It's just not necessary. I treat apples, beets, squash, and citrus the same way. These things last a pretty long time unrefrigerated and I'm usually pretty stocked up on those things so to store them in the fridge would take up a lot of unnecessary room in the fridge that would be better used to store items like my greens, cold pressed juices, and some condiments. All condiments don't need to be refrigerated either. Virtually any condiment that is not on the perimeter of the grocery store (ketchup, mustard, etc) does not need to be refrigerated before opening, and they're probably fine unrefrigerated even after opening because restaurants store them on the tables and they're just fine. Restaurants have to follow health department standards to prevent the spread of foodborne illness that are stricter than what most people do at home, and the health department does evaluate restaurants for compliance with said standards, so if they're not getting shut down for storing ketchup at room temperature and you haven't gotten sick from that (even though the packaging usually says to do otherwise), you don't need to store it in the fridge at home either. I have also heard people these days store nuts and seeds (and nuts and seed butters) in their refrigerator. I never have, never do, and at least while I'm functioning on this little fridge space, don't see any reason why I ever would. I have never had issues with those things going bad or getting sick from them, whether I purchased them raw or not, so I judge it to not be necessary or helpful for me to refrigerate them. I think that's more of a trend than anything.

I hope these tips help you keep your fridge a little more organized so you can function. If you have other tips and tricks for how you keep your fridge organized, please let us know in the comments so we can all help each other out.